BRADENTON — At Tuesday's Manatee County Commission meeting, board chair George Kruse initiated a conversation on reimagining the planning commission—an advisory board that makes non-binding recommendations to the BOCC on land use issues. Kruse would like to follow the lead of many other Florida counties and allow each commissioner to appoint a planning commissioner for their district.
Kruse pointed out that the seven-member board currently comprises two commissioners from District 1, two from District 3, and two from District 5, with one vacant seat. He noted that districts 2 and 4 currently have no representation on the board. Kruse said that he would prefer that applicants face a planning commission that is representative of the BOCC so that the process is more meaningful regarding what will happen when the item comes before them. Kruse explained that the board could effectively disband the current planning commission with a supermajority vote and then proceed to make appointments.
Another issue raised was the uncompensated commission's often low attendance at meetings. Commissioners Tal Siddique, Mike Rahn, and Amanda Ballard expressed interest in paying the volunteer commissioners a stipend to encourage them to participate more often.
Commissioner Jason Bearden called the board a "developer recruiting tool" that is most effective at giving builders a preview of how developer-friendly a member can be before attempting to elevate them to higher office. Bearden said he'd yet to receive helpful information from the planning commission and would favor county commissioner-appointed alternatives.
Commissioner Robert McCann agreed with Kruse, echoing Bearden's description of a "rubber stamp" board. However, he said he didn't want to see highly qualified candidates limited by the one-per-district ratio and favored keeping the seven-member setup with two planning commissioners serving at-large.
Several commissioners expressed concern about moving too quickly, with Commissioner Ballard saying she would prefer to allow appointments to expire rather than "blow up" the current board. Commissioner McCann, seconded by Commissioner Bearden, moved to authorize staff to come back to the board with a plan to begin the process of clearing out the planning commission and replacing them on a commissioner-appointed basis.
The motion was approved 4-3, with commissioners Rahn, Ballard, and Siddique in opposition.
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nhughes
Isn't the Planning Commission an advisory board? Shouldn't advisory boards provide recommendations based on their collective knowledge, study and deliberation -- not be a "rubber stamp" for the BOCC? What's wrong with the Planning Commission making a recommendation that the BOCC disagrees with? Different opinions lead to a more thoughtful discussion of the project. I understand the need to have broad membership on the board to bring in voices from all districts. "Blowing up" the current Planning Commission isn't a good way to get to that end.
Wednesday, March 26 Report this
David Daniels
I haven’t yet seen the meeting discussion, so I hesitate to comment. Mr. Kruse certainly has shown he is moving in the right direction to better governance. But Won’t this make the planning commission even more political? An advisory board should be making recommendations based on merit and land use codes. I suppose the idea is so that a simple 4 person bocc majority can’t stock the planning commission with “like-minded” members. If it is currently just a developer rubber stamp then it should be blown up.
Wednesday, March 26 Report this