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Transcript of Meeting of April 29, 2000Page 3 of 64
<br />Planning Commission, which were actually more widely discussed, that section of the Planning
<br />Commission powers was taken out. I’ve looked through the history of how this happened. This Charter
<br />Amendment came through the County Council and this section of the Charter was removed between
<br />draft 5 and draft 6, or draft 6 and draft 7, at the County Council level, and there’s not any explanation in
<br />writing at the Council level why this was done, nor is there any other explanation that I’ve been able to
<br />discover. The difficulty that this causes is that the Planning Commission does have rules and regulations
<br />having the force and effect of law, and has had such rules and regulations for about 30 years. To give an
<br />example of the kinds of rules and regulations that they have: The Planning Commission, their actual
<br />powers deal with giving out several kinds of permits, and they’re empowered to give out these permits,
<br />some of them by State Law as passed by the State Legislature, and some of them by County Laws,
<br />passed by the County Council. They have the power to give out SMA permits which are in the shoreline
<br />area. There’s a special permit which is in the Agricultural District, and on the County level, they have
<br />the power to give out something called a Use Permit, where certain uses are generally not allowed in
<br />zone, but can be allowed with a Use Permit. To give you an example of a Use Permit; in a residential
<br />district, if someone wants to put in a church, the Zoning Code, which is passed by the County Council,
<br />says that you can put a church in a residential district but you need a Use Permit from the Planning
<br />Commission in order to get that. So, the Planning Commission has some rules that implement how you
<br />go about applying for, and receiving, permits like this. At really roughly the same time that this Charter
<br />Amendment was being considered, the County Council, in 1996, passed a new version of the Zoning
<br />Code and it said that the Planning Department had the power to enact rules to implement the Zoning
<br />Code, and this was reenacted in 1999 when the Zoning Code was reenacted. So, from strictly a legal
<br />point of view, you have a little bit of confusion here as to whether the Planning Commission has this
<br />power or not. If the Charter had always simply been silent on having this as a power, the Planning
<br />Commission certainly would have the power to enact rules and regulations because both the State
<br />Legislature and the County Council could give them this power on their own, and they have given them
<br />this power through ordinances and State laws that have been put in place. So, that was the purpose
<br />behind putting this back in the Charter, was to eliminate any confusion, or any doubt, that the Planning
<br />Commission might have this power. On further review, and I wrote a letter to the Charter
<br />Commissioners, I don’t think it’s necessary to do this. I think the Planning Commission has the power
<br />without it being in the Charter because I don’t think the intent of the 1998 Charter Amendment was to
<br />forbid the Planning Commission from having the power to enact rules and regulations. I think it was the
<br />intent to not have it be mandatory anymore because it used to say they ‘shall’ enact rules and
<br />regulations. They just, basically, took out that part of it. But I’ve spent a little time trying to - I wrote,
<br />perhaps, too long a letter to the Charter Commissioners going through all of this, but that’s, basically,
<br />the explanation of what was trying to be done by putting this back in the Charter.
<br />SCARR: Chris, our major objection is that the Planning Commission is appointed by the Mayor, not
<br />appointed by the County Council, and that there is very little local input sought or received by the
<br />Planning Commission. We have, many of us in this room, testified many times before the Planning
<br />Commission and been ignored over and over and over again.
<br />RAY: I understand that. That’s really a separate issue from what has been proposed as far as the Charter
<br />Amendment. I just wanted Chris to clarify that, explain it. We are going to take it off so I hope that
<br />pleases you, but I’m saddened that folks don’t take the time to really understand how the process really
<br />works. So, I just wanted to have him speak to that issue again, and we certainly understand your
<br />concerns in regard to other issues regarding the Planning Commission.
<br />SCARR: Thank you.
<br />RAY: The next person to testify is Del Pranke.
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