HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-1119 Public Forum Document Submitted
Nancy Parker - 456 Euclid St., Ashland
I wish to speak to you tonight about the "Citizens Planning Advisory
Committee," or CPAC. This committee was established in our Municipal Code
approximately 30 years ago and remains part of Ashland city law today.
According to this law, Section 2.27, "CPAC shall be an advisory body to
the City Planning Commission. Their recommendations and comments on
planning issues shall be considered fully by the Planning Commission in
reaching decisions, and shall also be forwarded to the City Council as part of
the written record of hearing. CPAC shall be given the opportunity to review
and make recommendations on the following matters:
1. All changes in the Comprehensive Plan text or maps.
2. All changes in the Zoning Ordinance, Subdivision Ordinance, Capital
Improvements Programs, etc.
3. In addition to the items noted above, CPAC may review any other planning
issues the CPAC chair finds to be significant in relation to the Comprehensive
Plan, implementation measures, or citizen concerns.
Continuing... "There shall be sixteen voting members of the CPAC. At
least one member shall be chosen from each of the eight neighborhood areas.
No more than three members shall be engaged in the same primary source of
income." Close quotes.
This committee, which remains part of our law, was dissolved by then-
mayor Cathy Shaw back in the 1990s. No vote was taken, as far as I can
discover. It was simply dissolved.
I believe you should consider reestablishing CPAC for a number of
reasons:
1. CPAC allows for much-needed citizen education about complex planning
issues that come before the city, and allows for citizen feedback on
controversial issues, bringing citizen voices into the process before such issues
are "done deals."
2. When controversial issues, approved by CPAC, are subsequently enacted
into law, such actions would be met with wider acceptance.
3. CPAC goes some way toward meeting Goal #2 set forth in the city's strategic
plan, to promote enhanced citizen communication and involvement.
4. No other existing city commissions, mechanisms or processes meet the
demographic diversity or functional requirements of the CPAC law.
CPAC is city law. Do we ignore the "shall's" and "must's" set forth in our
municipal code or do we abide by them? Could actions and decisions that
should by law have gone before CPAC, but did not, be called into legal
question?
I urge you to re-implement the CPAC law, if only as a one-year pilot
program. If, after that, aspects of CPAC are found to be unworkable, the
program could be modified or adjusted.