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0~ <br />MEMO <br />To: Orange County Commissioners, County Manager <br />CC: Jay Bryan, Chair, Orange County Planning Board <br />Tom Altieri, Orange County Comprehensive Planning Supervisor <br />From: Orange County Comprehensive Plan Coalition <br />Date: August 13, 2008 <br />Re: Planning Board's Process for Review of Comprehensive Pian Public Comments <br />The Orange County Comprehensive Plan Coalition has closely followed the <br />Comprehensive Plan Update initiative. Our members have attended public input <br />sessions, advisory and planning board meetings, and public hearings. We have also <br />submitted written comments including specific alternative language for many of the <br />goals and objectives. <br />The Coalition believes that all public comments should be reviewed and discussed by <br />the Planning Board during their meetings. Because time is of the essence, we <br />commend staff for preparing a Table of Proposed Revisions (TPRj, which includes the <br />public comments. This table will be very helpful in facilitating the Planning Board's <br />review in a timely manner. <br />However, it came to our attention at the August 6 Planning Board meeting that not all <br />the public comments are being included in the TPR. Instead only those comments <br />deemed as "not too controversial or are not significant changes to the meaning of the <br />objective" are included. <br />In contrast, the Coalition strongly recommends that all public comments received to <br />date -and for as long as the Public Hearing is open - be included in the TPR. The <br />Planning Board should solely be responsible for selecting which public comments to <br />incorporate into their recommendations rather than for Planning Department <br />personnel to filter the comments that will be considered. Such filtering could all too <br />easily be mistaken as staff censorship and/or usurpation of the Planning Board's role. <br />Thank you for your time and consideration on this matter. We look forward to reviewing <br />the Planning Board's recommendations in advance of the scheduled vote in October. <br />Orange County Comprehensive Plan Coalition Member Organizations <br />Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, Community Action Network, EmPOWERment, Inc., <br />