Those who oppose projects considered by the Jefferson County Planning and Zoning Commission now have a little more time to make their cases against them.
The board voted unanimously May 12 to change its bylaws and give those speaking against planning and zoning requests a maximum of 15 minutes, with no one speaker allowed more than three minutes.
Before the change, which took effect June 9, the commission allowed for 10 minutes of opposition comment, with no one speaker allowed more than five minutes.
“I think it’s a good idea,” said chairman Jessie Scherrer.
“It gives more of a chance for opponents to voice their concerns, and gives a chance for more people to speak. If they’re organized, three minutes should be plenty of time to present their concerns.
“We want everyone to have a chance to be heard.”
Planning commissioner Tim Dugan noted that board members may always ask questions of any speaker if additional information is needed, with the time to ask and answer questions not counting toward any time limits.
“If you have questions, you can ask them,” he said. “But three minutes (for any one speaker) is good. Some people get up there and ramble and ramble.”
County staff said the County Council received a number of complaints about the limited amount of time people had to speak against recent controversial cases, which led to a discussion about the bylaws.
The applicant for a planning and zoning request still will have 10 minutes to present the case, and the time allowed for those speaking in favor of a case will remain at five minutes.
“These people are generally professionals, (like civil engineers who most often represent the applicants in cases). They know how to be concise,” Dugan said.
After opponents speak, the applicant’s rebuttal time will remain at five minutes.
In another change, the county’s planning staff will no longer give the P and Z board its recommendations about whether an application should be approved or denied.
“Instead of a recommendation, the planning staff will let the commissioners know if this project checked all the boxes the developer needs to check other than maybe two, and the planning commissioners will decide if the developer needs to check all the boxes or not,” County Services Director Eric Larson said.
“We don’t want to put the planning staff in a position to determine whether something is recommended for approval or denial.
“This is really an opportunity for our Planning and Zoning Commission to play a larger role in the process.”
Larson said that change was made on advice from the County Counselor’s Office.
He also said many other planning commissions throughout the region don’t get recommendations from the planning staff, just information about if the proposed projects meet codes and regulations.