2007-03-02 TGP AMENDMENT - Laserfiche WebLink

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GRAHAM:We do not have any testifiers signed up at this time. Is there anyone here in the public that wishes to testify on this matter right now? Looks like no one. We have no one. So, Commissioner Rho, you have a comment? RHO:I have a quick question. I probably just missed it. On page 4 at the very top, the Commission has 60 days to send it back to the County Council; and then on the bottom of page 4 when the Planning Director does an amendment the Commission has 120 days. And I think both were increased from 30 days. I just wondered what the reason was for 60 and 120, and -? YUEN:Well, both were actually 90. Under the current ordinance theres 60 days for the public hearing and then theres 30 days for the Commission to make its recommendation. So you go through the mechanics of after 60 days you say move to close the public hearing and then you have 30 more days to take a vote and send a recommendation. You dont have to take thefulltime,butthatsthetimelimitsunderthecurrent.SothatswhyIsaythecurrent timeframe is 90. And what we did in this is that we rolled the two timeframes together and we made it 60 days for the Council initiated ones and 120 for the Planning Director initiated ones. And frankly the reason was the expression by the County Council of a desire to tighten up the timeframes a little bit so that they, if they initiate a General Plan amendment then theyll get it back -- it has to go to the Planning Director and the Planning Commission per the County Charter -- but they want to get it back within, you know, a reasonable timeframe. And certainly any General Plan amendment is important and nobody should feel rushed to do it. By the same token 60 days for the Planning Commission is going to be a minimum of three meetings for the Commission to consider and take a vote on the amendment; and we felt that that was enough time for the Commission to review something where they basically have an advisory power on something that does eventually have to go back up to the County Council. GRAHAM:I might also add just a comment for the new members of the Commission, that Commissioner Iwashita whos not here today took an active interest in this particular item, this General Plan Amendment revision. And his concern more was that he felt as Commissioner Domingo said before that the General Plan is an important long-range document; and I think he was somewhat concerned about tightening the timeframes a little; and his feeling was more that we dont need to take steps to facilitate these processes since they are long term and shouldnt necessarily be more easily modified. So I just wanted to advise you guys that he did take an interest; and thats my understanding of the general tone of his concern. Any other comments? Commissioner Domingo. DOMINGO:It seems like the amendments and the bill is designed to facilitate the processing of the General Plan review; and I guess with this it would probably require additional personnel to fulfill that task. YUEN:Well, I dont think that the, you know, we have vacancies that were trying to fill in the Planning Department now. These changes themselves dont cause more work. And on this basic subject of facilitate/shorten, I do think that besides the timeframes, there are changes that are made in here that clarify existing procedures and are an improvement. My last pitch on the timeframes would be that I think that the timeframes that are being proposed here are more than reasonable for the Director and the Planning Commission to review and think 7EXHIBIT B