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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Minutes - Planning Commission - Meeting Date: 12/5/2013 WORKSHOP MINUTES CITY OF GLENDALE PLANNING COMMISSION CITY HALL CONFERENCE ROOM 2A 5850 W. GLENDALE AVENUE GLENDALE,ARIZONA 85301 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5,2013 5:00PM CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at approximately 5:00 p.m. ROLL CALL Commissioners Present: Chairperson Petrone (Cholla), Vice Chair Larson (Mayoral) Commissioner Penilla (Sahuaro), Commissioner Lenox (Barrel), Commissioner Johnston (Cactus), and Commissioner Aldama(Yucca) City Staff Present: Jon M. Froke, AICP, Planning Director, Deborah Robberson, Deputy City Attorney, Tabitha Perry, Assistant Planning Director, and Diana Figueroa, Recording Secretary. ITEM 1. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION PROCESS Staff provided a presentation on the Citizen Participation Process and addressed any concerns or questions. Chairperson Petrone explained the purpose and reason for this agenda item. He said there had been some difficulty in a previous case involving the neighborhood notification letters not getting to the neighborhood citizens. He indicated the error was unintentional, however, because of the problems that occurred, the Commission decided to review and make recommendations to the current process. Tabitha Perry, Assistant Planning Director, stated the purpose of the Citizen Participation Plan is to ensure that applicants pursue early and effective citizen participation in conjunction with their land use applications. She said this gives them the opportunity to understand and try to mitigate any real or perceived impacts their application may have on the community. In addition, this will ensure that the citizens and property owners of Glendale have an adequate opportunity to learn about applications that may affect them. She added this allows for them to work with applicants to resolve concerns at an early stage of the process; and facilitate ongoing communication between the applicant, interested citizens and property owners as well as city staff and elected officials throughout the application review process. 1 Planning Commission Workshop Minutes December 5,2013 Ms. Perry reviewed the following steps in the process. She provided a Citizen Participation sample letter for their review. She also reviewed the notification process of other valley cities. Key steps in the Citizen Participation Process: • Prepare a CP Plan using the information provided in the CP packet. • Your plan will include a neighborhood notification letter. • Submit the CP Plan to the project planner for review. • Implement your CP Plan once it is approved by your project planner. • Prepare a CP Final Report after the implementation of the CP plan is finished. • Submit your Final Report to your project planner for review. Chairperson Petrone stated some of the concerns he had were that some of the forms he had seen did not have the proper notification. He said he knows the city has previously won awards on implementing this process, however, the Commission believes that as with anything, things can be improved. He recommends the city obtain the official mailing list, city staff mails the notifications and the applicant pays for it. He explained they wanted to avoid having the potential "Fox in a Hen House" or the "Green Horn" doing it on their own for the first time and either by intent, design or mistake have people affected and not get notices. He said that even if this happens once or twice, there was a permanent result once the construction starts and the project was built. Commissioner Aldama agreed and added they did not want to give staff additional work, however, want to ensure that the citizens are getting the information that they need with whatever it takes from staff. He said this should be at the applicant's cost not the city. Ms. Perry stated Surprise and Goodyear were the only cities that mail the notifications and charge the applicant. She explained Glendale's process again and the safeguards they use including sending post card, site postings, and having postings on the website. She talked about the level of responsibility for both the city and the applicant in regards to the issue. She added that after researching this issue, it was clear there was not a perfect answer to ensure everyone receives a notification. Commissioner Aldama agreed there was no flawless way to do this; however, if the city were to send the notification letters with the proper official log, people would not see it as junk mail. Chairperson Petrone stated the envelope should have an official Glendale logo with the Planning Division clearly stated as a notification letter. He said having the city involved in the mailing would make the process more clear and concise to everyone. Commissioner Penilla noted they did not want to give staff more work or burden them. However, with the current process, they really never know if the notification letters were actually sent out. He said this was just an effort to improve on the process. 2 Planning Commission Workshop Minutes December 5,2013 Ms. Perry thanked the Commission for their suggestions and attention. She asked them to email Diana Figueroa, Recording Secretary, with their final recommendations on this matter. OTHER BUSINESS As no further business was discussed,the meeting was adjourned. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 5:44 p.m. 3