Public commenters and a commissioner urge fuller committee engagement after housing committee resignations

Several public commenters and at least one commissioner told the Planning Commission they were concerned about the level and timing of committee engagement in recent city‑plan work and urged the commission to seek more direct review from standing committees amid reports of resignations from the city's housing committee.

"Apparently, we aren't operating under a legally adopted plan currently, and, therefore, we don't have the right to be amending the bylaws even on an interim basis," Steven Whitaker said during public comment, arguing that a public‑hearing requirement was missed after city council revisions in 2017. "You have not... you have allowed Mike to write your stuff and you have rubber stamped it, and you have left out most of the public engagement, which is required by law," he added.

Commissioners and staff responded that the planning department had met with committees and that some committee input arrived late or in formats that were difficult to integrate. Mike, a planning staff member, said he had met with the housing committee after the March 25 public input session and that some materials were not provided in an editable format for direct incorporation.

Commissioner Peter asked whether the memo about housing committee resignations would be discussed given staff's limited time that night. Several commissioners said they would work to make sure future city plan chapters returned to the commission with clearer committee input and suggested assigning at least one commissioner to attend relevant committee meetings to strengthen communication.

Public commenters suggested the commission reject the draft regional plan or ask the council to refer it back for more committee work. The commission agreed to continue incorporating committee submissions into the plan and to seek better coordination; no formal vote or action on the housing committee resignations occurred at the meeting.