Coffee County planning commission adopts per-item public comments with three-minute limit

The Coffee County Planning Commission voted May 27, 2025, to allow public comments on individual agenda items as they are presented, and to impose a three-minute time limit per speaker.

Commissioners said the change is intended to keep public testimony fresh and relevant to each item so members and the public hear comments immediately before deliberations and votes. The motion to change the public-comment procedure was made during the planning-commission meeting and carried with the board’s assent.

Commission members and staff discussed several related suggestions submitted by constituents, including longer advance notice for rezoning ads, online posting of rezoning applications with maps and proposed uses, and a written feedback form available at meetings. Planning staff said state law requires advertisement in a newspaper of general circulation 14–15 days before hearings, and that mail notices are also timed to that statutory window; staff said online posting of additional materials might be possible but noted procedural limits on releasing some materials before the planning-commission review.

During the discussion commissioners and staff agreed that taking comment when an item is fresh in the public’s and commissioners’ minds would reduce confusion that sometimes occurs when the public-comment period is held at the start of long meetings. Commissioners asked staff to verify whether the per-item-comment practice can be applied to both planning-commission meetings and full-county-commission meetings; staff said they would follow up.

The commission conducted a voice vote after a motion to adopt the change; the chair called for those in favor to say “aye,” and the motion carried. The commission also agreed the three-minute limit would apply to each speaker addressing an agenda item.