One isn’t enough to merit reviews

Deirdre Newman

It will be more difficult for one member of the City Council to bring

a land-use decision made by lower committees and commissions up for

the council’s review after a Tuesday vote.

The council decided 4-1 to require a simple majority vote -- 4-3

-- for the council to reexamine decisions on projects made by the

Planning Commission, the planning director and the city’s

Modifications Committee -- a staff committee that has decision-making

authority over small zoning code issues. Councilman Dick Nichols

dissented.

With the vote, the council is reverting to the way it handled

reviewing decisions made by lower city bodies before 1998. At that

time, the council decided it should have the same authority as the

Planning Commission, where only one commissioner could call up a

decision for review, a power the commission still has for city bodies

lower than it.

But now, a council majority decided to show more interest in

reviewing decisions before taking them on.

Two residents took issue with the council going back to a higher

threshold than the Planning Commission’s to trigger a review.

“You are our elected representatives,” City Council candidate

Dolores Otting said, “[the commission] shouldn’t have more power

[than the City Council].

Otting also asked City Council members not to change the procedure

to thwart the efforts of Nichols. This issue first came up in the

City Council after some members worried that Nichols was taking too

many Planning Commission decisions into his own hands. Since that

time, council members and commissioners have had to deal with

somewhat unclear rules on what the procedures should be.

“You should examine in your conscience and your hearts why you are

doing this,” Otting said. City Councilman Steve Bromberg, who

initiated changing the procedure, said that was not the reason.

“There’s nothing devious about this being brought up,” Bromberg

said.

It’s not fair for proponents of projects to have to come back to

City Hall and potentially hire a lawyer just because one city

councilmember isn’t satisfied with a Planning Commission decision,

Bromberg said.

The new procedure will add the requirement that the city

councilmember who wants a review state a reason why before a vote is

taken on whether to review it.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers government. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at [email protected].