Council Does Nothing Again - Part 2 (The Planning Commission Debacle)

Yesterday we talked about how little this Council has achieved, and we identified one of the key reasons for this is that the Council is continually postponing decisions, requiring a second and sometimes a third meeting.

In addition to the problem of their apparent inability to make decisions, the Council has spent a lot of time hearing appeals from the Planning Commission’s decisions, and this has detracted from the Council’s ability to make any progress on substantive issues. There is a sweet irony in the fact that having radically changed the makeup of the Planning Commission (PC) to the point now where it is almost comical to attend a meeting, the Council now must suffer by spending their time on the appeals. This year we have had more appeals and overturning of PC decisions than in the previous 20 years combined. Not only is this a waste of time and resources, it reflects badly on the City.

WHEN BUSINESS NEEDS TRUMP PEOPLE'S NEEDS

There are several reasons for the problems with the PC. The predominant ethos advocated by the new Commissioners is a pro- business attitude to the extent that they nearly never find a project they don’t like. So they approve converting a commercial area into residential, despite the advice of their staff and the overwhelming opinions of the public. They approve a big, ugly storage facility that is clearly out of place with the neighborhood, despite pleas from the people who are going to have to look at it. They approve a CNG fueling depot which will spill traffic out onto the busiest and most congested part of El Toro, with nary an idea of how many vehicles will actually be there. 

ERRORS IN STAFF REPORTS

The list of ludicrous and ill-thought out recommendations is endless. It results not only from the pro-business mantra spouted by Commissioners Brower and Hamilton, but also from their apparent inability to spot the serious errors in the staff reports that come before them. For example, they enthusiastically approved the U-Haul project without ever seeing a rendering of what the street was going to look like if the facility was built. DUH! They approved a fueling station that would feed slow CNG fueled vehicles into the busiest part of El Toro without any idea of how many cars and trucks this would involve. Etc.

EXIT THE EXPERIENCED COMMISSIONERS

Two highly regard and experienced Chairpersons of the PC have resigned, and while both of them cited personal reasons for their resignations, the message is clear. Indeed, Commissioner Hughes was very revealing in an interview with The Patch and clearly indicted his pro-business colleagues.

"I can tell you on a number of occasions, Brower and Hamilton have demonstrated they didn't know the material and repeatedly asked questions that were stated in the package we had been given," he said. "The new commissioners ... are not interested in open dialogue but would rather take the position they're not going to mess with business.

"Their attitude is (developers and owners) put all this work into it, what right do they have to not support it? My response is why do we need a planning commission? ... That's a stance that represents the businesses and not the residents; we've seen from surveys that less than 3 percent of businesses are owned by residents of the community."

Of course being pro-business is a good thing. The “Brookfield Boys” who now control the Council are all pro-business, and that’s a good thing, BUT (and this is a critical BUT) being pro-business should never be to the detriment of the quality of life of the people who live in our City. While the Council members seem to realize this, most of the time, their junior colleagues on the PC almost never comment on the impact of their decisions on the greater community. The result is that precious Council time has had to be given to reviewing and often reversing the poor decisions made by the PC.

With the December holiday coming up, and this Council having achieved so little, it behooves them to try to spend the final two meetings achieving something. We can only hope that in their New Year’s Resolutions, the Council will resolve to be more efficient and to fulfill all the promises that were left broken to date.