Kalamazoo Planning Commission recommends two candidates to City Commission

At its March 6 regular meeting, the City of Kalamazoo Planning Commission voted to recommend two candidates — Zach Wilson and Thomas Castrizo (who also goes by Dr. Kaye) — to the Kalamazoo City Commission to fill two vacant planning commissioner seats.

The recommendation followed interviews by a three-member interview committee made up of Commissioners Michelle Audette Baumann, Shardae Chambers and Mitchell Curtis. "Both of the candidates that we had were very good," Commissioner Shardae Chambers said during the meeting. The commission moved to forward the committee’s selections by a voice vote; no members voiced opposition.

The committee told the commission it had received several applications but narrowed the field to three interviewees. One of the three was later found to be ineligible because the applicant did not live inside city limits. The committee recommended Zach Wilson, described as a resident of the Vai neighborhood and a business analyst who has lived in Kalamazoo for a couple of years and is active with Link Kalamazoo, and Thomas Castrizo (Dr. Kaye), described as a long-time Douglas neighborhood resident, a professor at Western, a former neighborhood board member and a past member of the city’s dangerous buildings board who has worked on projects including Bates Alley.

Commissioner Michelle Audette Baumann made the motion to recommend the two candidates; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. The commission’s action was a recommendation only; the Kalamazoo City Commission will make the formal appointments.

Commissioners also used the meeting to note that there were no public hearings on the agenda and that no members of the public offered non-agenda comments. In other business, staff announced several upcoming Imagine Kalamazoo open houses and workshops, and commissioners offered parting remarks: the meeting included recognition that this was the final meeting for Chair Milliken and Commissioner Chambers, who are completing their second terms.

Next steps: the City Commission will consider the Planning Commission’s recommendations at a future meeting; no date for that consideration was specified during the March 6 meeting.