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Commission debates outreach approach for UDC rewrite; staff and consultant to coordinate engagement
Summary
Commissioners discussed options for public outreach on the Unified Development Code rewrite — including a subcommittee, open houses, surveys, business and HOA outreach, joint meetings with the UDC consultant, and use of a dedicated project website — and staff warned about staff capacity constraints.
Commissioners discussed multiple outreach strategies to gather public input for the city’s Unified Development Code (UDC) rewrite and for broader planning topics, and directed staff to evaluate options while noting existing staffing limits.
Why it matters: Public engagement will shape how the UDC rewrite addresses business and resident concerns about development procedures and local codes. Commissioners said they want broad, accessible input from businesses, homeowners associations and residents, and they emphasized using the consultant already under contract to amplify outreach work.
Discussion covered creating either a formal subcommittee or informal commissioner outreach; holding open houses or ‘‘coffees’’ at neighborhood businesses; deploying an online survey with open‑ended questions; and using a dedicated UDC project website where citizens can post questions for the consultant to review. ‘‘We’re paying somebody to be that, especially during the UDC rewrite. So we might as well utilize the funds we’re already spending,’’ a commissioner said of the consultant’s role.
Staff cautioned that adding meetings or a standing subcommittee would increase staff workload. Commissioners suggested alternatives that reduce staff burden, including rotating commissioners for outreach visits or having the planning consultant attend joint meetings with the commission to gather comments directly. Staff also described a previous UDC rewrite website used to collect weekly consultant pull‑downs of input and suggested similar tools could be used again.
Staff agreed to examine outreach options (survey, open house, dedicated website, joint consultant meetings) and to return with a recommended approach that accounts for staff capacity and the consultant’s schedule. The commission also discussed adding a dashboard item to collect direct public feedback in the future.
No formal outreach subcommittee was created in the record provided; direction to staff was to report back with options and a plan for public engagement tied to the UDC rewrite schedule.
