Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Is the Planning Department Fixing the Contest to Give May Town Center Developers the Edge?

An Enclave reader points to a problem with the sequence in the Planning Commission's agenda that would approve the May Town Center alternative plan BEFORE the public hearing on May Town Center:
The Planning Commission agenda calls for the proposal for the ... Alternative Development Area [containing the May Town Center development] to be voted on by the Commission BEFORE the public comment on May Town.

Technically/procedurally this is ok, since the ... vote [on the alternative] was postponed after last year’s session, and so can be voted on without further comment. But from a "spirit of the rules" point of view this is pretty outrageous, since they would essentially be pre-approving May Town before all the studies are in and all comment. (Never mind that the ... staff was ready to vote yes WITHOUT a decent traffic study and WITHOUT an economic analysis) ....

I heard none of the commissioners realized that the ... [approval of the alternative] was on the agenda before discussion ... rumor has it that [Commissioner] Andrea LeQuire was pretty unhappy when she found out.

Another example of the planning department staff manipulating the process.
Sounds like a good time to flood the commissioners with e-mails, letters, and phone calls asking for a delay in voting on the alternative development area plan until after they hold a public hearing on May Town Center. The Commission already approved the Scottsboro/Bells Neighborhood Plan, which seems at odds with the May Town Center alternative. Commissioners thoughts on the alternative before they deferred it last August after the jump.

1 comment:

  1. How do you email the commissioners when most don't have an email address posted online to do so? When you email the staff and ask them to pass it forward to commissioners, do you think the commissioners have time to read them before the MPC meeting? Most are always running late.

    Bernhardt is setting the Maytown deal up. He likes it and has some connection with the firm that designed it. Makes you wonder why the Planning Staff sponsors lengthy community meetings for a community plan when a little money and pressure directed toward the right people will destroy the entire plan and the wishes of the people.

    I think more and more that this city is run by the rich, powerful, and crooked minority.

    ReplyDelete