Changing the Subject?

Here's a question: while residents are asking why the City wants to eliminate the Planning Commission, the City has circled back to the boat ramp project.

Convenient timing. Let's look at what it might be covering for.

The Planning Commission Meeting

Today was the first Monday of the month. That's when the Planning Commission is supposed to meet. It didn't.

Not cancelled. Not rescheduled. Just gone. Check the City's “Events” calendar yourself: there isn't a single future Planning Commission meeting on it.

Here's the part that should bother you: the City claims it's still asking residents to weigh in on an ordinance that would eliminate the Planning Commission. But how exactly are you supposed to "weigh in" on eliminating a body that's already been wiped off the schedule? That's not a public process. That's a decision dressed up as one.

The City Would Be Reviewing Its Own Projects

This isn't a small procedural detail. Think about what the Planning Commission actually reviews: development applications, including ones for City projects. Projects the council itself proposes, authorizes, and funds. Right now, that review happens separately, by an independent body, so the officials who greenlight a project aren't the same ones deciding whether it meets the City's own rules.

Eliminate the Planning Commission, and that separation disappears. The council would be reviewing applications for its own projects: approving the plan, then turning around and approving whether the plan complies with code. That's not streamlining. That's the City grading its own homework.

"Not Enough Volunteers"?

The official reason is a lack of volunteers. Two commissioners resigned back in January. Two other’s terms end in August.

Since January the City has sent out more than twenty citywide emails, about meeting agendas, garden tours, the boat ramp, website photos and the property tax.

Not one of them asked residents to volunteer for the Planning Commission.

If the seats were really the problem, you'd think at least one of those twenty-plus emails would have said so.

This Isn't About the Boat Ramp

So why is the boat ramp being brought up right now? Look at the timing. While residents are asking the City about the deleted Planning Commission, the City brings up a project that has nothing to do with it. They are trying to change the subject.

Don't take the bait. The boat ramp isn't the issue, and it was never meant to be. It's a distraction.

What You Can Do

Email the Mayor and City Council today. Tell them plainly:

• You oppose eliminating the Planning Commission.

• You support keeping an independent citizen forum where residents, not just elected officials, get to review land-use decisions before they're finalized.

Silence gets read as consent. Don't let this one slide through on a distraction.