Re: [RCAC] RCAC Resolution re: Public Notice of Comp Plan Amendment Period

I agree that the Planning Department must post Comprehensive Plan amendment public hearing dates and deadlines, which will be done within the week. Please let me clarify some issues regarding the six-month amendment process and Comprehensive Plan land use change extension period. I also copied the City Attorney because the "extension" period recommended by the Planning Commission (by motion on May 26, 2009) is found in the meeting minutes, but was not part of the Certified Recommendation (CR) that was forwarded to the City Council. Item #1 Staff felt it may be beneficial to have Comprehensive Plan amendments heard twice a year rather than once of year as stated in the Comprehensive Plan. There is no requirement in the code as to when plan amendments shall be heard. The adopted Comprehensive Plan policy states once a year. Staff suggested July and January to coincide with the established Joint Public Hearing Schedule as a public benefit. This change has not been published and staff is working to add this to the web site. Item #2 The so called "waiver" only applies to an extension period for those land use changes that missed the opportunity before the Planning Commission last year when it was deliberating over the Comprehensive Plan. Please keep in mind that Comprehensive Plan amendment fees are required pursuant to Section 10-2171 of the Code, which are needed to recover staff costs for processing and analyzing applications. The Planning Commission is not authorized to waive required application fees. The six-month extension was limited to land use changes only. During the course of the Comprehensive Plan review, the Planning Commission continued to receive land use changes after the official comment period had closed. The Planning Commission doubled the number of meetings to handle the volume of changes, but continued to struggle to complete their review because the number of new land use changes continued to grow. The chair suggested a May 19, 2009 cut off date for new land use changes. As a concession, the Planning Commission asked if the Planning Department could accept land use changes that missed the cut off date. The Planning Commission suggested a six-month extension period after plan adoption. Please note, it will be difficult to determine which land use changes were intended to submitted before the Planning Commission cut-off date. Only those land use changes would be considered for an extension. To date, Mr. Brant is the only citizen to make such a request and his land use amendment, if filed, would fit the "extension" description. Mr. Brant's request would be processed similar to the side by side land use comparison used by the Planning Commission during its review of the Comprehensive Plan last year. There are two other possible amendments that have been talked about, but have not been filed. Those requests do not fit the "extension" description and would be required to pay the $514.00 application fee. In Mr. Brant's case, he sent an e-mail to the general Comprehensive Plan e-mail address, which had closed after the public comment period had ended in March 2009. Mr. Brant was able to provide proof that an e-mail was sent within the required timeframe. Item #3 Staff will track Comprehensive Plan amendments as it does with development plans, text changes and rezoning cases. Due to the adoption of TC-1-10, staff will enhance the tracking capabilities on our website. Item#4 Six months from the effective date of the Comprehensive Plan is May 1, which is a Saturday. Therefore, the deadline is Monday, May 3. Regarding fees, please see Item #2 above. Mitchell Silver, PP, AICP Director, Department of City Planning & Urban Design Center One Exchange Plaza, PO Box 590 Raleigh, NC 27602-0590 919.516.2625 phone 919.516.2684 fax e-mail: mitchell.silver(a)ci.raleigh.nc.us Department: www.raleighnc.gov/planning<http://www.raleighnc.gov/planning> Comprehensive Plan: www.planningraleigh2030.com<http://www.planningraleigh2030.com> Zoning Code: www.NewRaleighCode.com From: Ana Duncan Pardo [mailto:acpardo@gmail.com] Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2010 12:51 PM To: Silver, Mitchell; Meeker, Charles; Crowder, Thomas; McFarlane, Nancy; Baldwin, Mary-Ann; Gaylord, Bonner; Odom, John; Allen, Russell; West, James P. Cc: RCAC; Patterson, Dwayne; Puckett, Debbie; Rosselli, Kristen Subject: RCAC Resolution re: Public Notice of Comp Plan Amendment Period Dear Councilors and City Staff: Please see the resolution below, passed at yesterday's Raleigh Citizens' Advisory Council meeting, regarding public notice of the Comprehensive Plan Amendment period. We have learned since last night's meeting that the cut-off date for amendments has now been properly established as May 1, which addresses one of the requests in the resolution. However, we ask that you also honor our related requests for proper and adequate public notification of the amendment period, as detailed in the resolution below. Respectfully, Ana Duncan Pardo Chair, Raleigh Citizens' Advisory Council -------------------- Resolution regarding proper public notice of the Comp Plan amendment period Raleigh Citizens' Advisory Council meeting, 2/17/2010 Background: On May 26, 2009 the Planning Commission passed a motion that all future comments (concerning the new Comprehensive Plan) be reviewed six months after Plan adoption. There was an indication at that time that Mitchell Silver, the City Planning Director, had provided staff's suggested recommendations for new request submittals. On Feb 10, 2010 a new Comprehensive Plan Amendment Petition form and process was published on the City web site without announcement or links from any other web site pages. On Feb 16, 2010 during a related Citizen Petition item Mitchell Silver indicated requests using the new form could be made without the customary development fee of $514.00 but would need to be received by April 1, 2010. There is some confusion as to the specific dates associated with the Planning Commission's motion to establish a 6 month window for new comments, the process forms involved or that it was without charge. Very little public awareness of this process has been made available. Resolution: As advocates for Raleigh citizens, the RCAC requests the City Planning Department take the following action: 1. Make the process for petitioning to amend the Comprehensive Plan more visible on the City web site with appropriate links to ensure easy public access. 2. Request Public Affairs to announce the amendment process by Mar 1, 2010 indicating clearly the closing date for input, the waiver of customary fees during this window and the dates of the Public Hearing where these new requests will be heard. 3. Establish a web based log to track these Comprehensive Plan Amendment requests from Nov 1, 2009 forward with the location linked from the Comprehensive Plan web page and similarly related city web site pages. 4. Confirm the cutoff date as May 1, 2010 for submitting no-charge amendment requests. Approved unanimously on Feb 17, 2010 by RCAC motion. Ana Duncan Pardo RCAC Chair “E-mail correspondence to and from this address may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties by an authorized City or Law Enforcement official.”