The Good news--Someone finally listened. Maier and McVoy did not vocalize their approval or disapproval in a vote on Ordinance 2015-12 on September 15. Even though Maier and McVoy voted against this on September 1 at the the First Public Hearing, at the Second Public Hearing on September 15, they were not given a chance to vote. It is now being called a "procedural error" and procedure is not always a top priority of this "visionary" commission. The mayor did not care about getting McVoy's or Maier's vote on the record; she already had her three votes.
The proposed amendments provide clarification, edits and additions to the following sections of the LDRs:
Article 2 - Division 1: Administration, Section 23.2-36 – Rezoning of Land and Future Land Use Map (FLUM);
Article 3 - Division 2: Zoning Districts, Residential Districts, Section 23.3-7 – SF-R – Single-Family
Residential; Article 3 – Division 6: Planned Development, Section 23.3-25(e) – Mixed Use Urban Planned Development..
On August 5, 2015, the Planning & Zoning Board, at its regularly scheduled meeting, discussed the proposed amendments to the LDRs and voted 7-0 to recommend approval to the City Commission. Well, no surprise here.
On August 12, 2015, the Historic Resources Preservation Board, at its regularly scheduled meeting, discussed the proposed amendments to the LDRs and voted 6-0 to recommend approval to the City Commission. Again, no surprise here.
These Boards are rubber stamps for staff and staff can fall back and use their votes as proof that what the city is doing is all above board and in the best interests of the city and that the public got a chance to express their approval or disapproval at their meetings.
At its meeting of September 1, 2015, the City Commission voted 3-2 to approve the ordinance on first reading and to schedule the public hearing for September 15, 2015. The reason that McVoy and Maier voted against it on September 1 is because this item was agreed to be discussed at a workshop. That didn't happen. This "visionary" didn't care about discussing this. The matter is way too extensive and if there is one commissioner on the dais that can explain it all and feel comfortable with it all, please come forward. Do you know how these changes might affect your neighborhood?
At its meeting on September 15, 2015, three members of the City Commission voted to approve the ordinance. However, due to procedural issues, staff has recommended that the public hearing be re-advertised and conducted again.
And the bad news is that this really needed to be workshopped with extensive discussion but they just want to get the vote finally finalized and keep the residents all in the dark.
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