Agenda - 10-07-2008- 7b - Laserfiche WebLink

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2$6 I) F"T ®-I~TI~Y-1~T®~' API~I~~'6~EI) YE+ T ~'Y~ ~ O C C 1 However, not all the public comments are being included in the TPR. Instead only those 2 corni~nents deemed as "not too controversial or are not significant changes to the meaning of the 3 objective" are included. (i. e. comments deemed "controversia!"are being excluded!) 4 In contrast, the Coalition strongly recommends that all public comments received to date -and 5 for as long as the Public Hearing is open - be included in the TPR. The Planning Board should 6 solely be responsible for selecting which public comments to incorporate into their 7 recommendations rather than for Planning Department personnel to filter the comments that will 8 be considered. Such filtering could all too easily be mistaken as staff censorship and/or 9 usurpation of the Planning Board's role." 10 Personally, I do not think the filtering is intentionally censorious, but rather the result of the work 11 load and time constraints placed on the Planning Board and Staff. Whereas planning 12 department staff unsuccessfully attempted - over a period of four years -- to update only the 13 rural watershed, residentially-zoned sections of the county's land Use element, the Planning 14 Board has the responsibility (supported by staff) to spearhead a complete update of the entire 15 eight-element Comprehensive Plan in less than two years, while also conducting its regular 16 business, reviewing the Buckhorn Village proposal and integrating eight county advisory boards 17 into the plan update process. In this context, it's not unexpected that atime-saving mechanism 18 such as comment filtering was utilized. 19 20 Still, even if the filtering was done with the best of intentions, the effect is the same -some 21 public comments both from the Coalition and all other concerned parties who took the time to 22 engage in the process are not getting the full attention of the Planning Board during their 23 meetings. Rather, as this process comes to a close some public comments, whether 24 controversial and/or progressive and forward-thinking, will only be taken up by the Planning 25 Board if an individual board member takes it upon his/herself to bring specific items to the 26 board's attention and advocate for changes to the Plan. 27 28 'Therefore the Coalition strongly encourages the County Commissioners to make sure 29 that 30 31 1. all public comments are treated equally in the review process, 32 2. the Planning Board has sufficient time to accommodate an equitable review 33 process, and 34 3. the commissioners vote on the Comprehensive Plan takes place no sooner than 35 30 days after the Planning Board's written recommendations are made available to 36 the public. 37 38 Any adverse consequences of extending the process to accommodate equitable public 39 participation is small compared to the benefits, especially for a document intended to have such 40 long-lasting influence. 41