Havre de Grace planning commissioners review rules on records, public comments and site visits during Aug. 21 workshop

The Havre de Grace Planning Commission on Aug. 21 held a workshop to revise its internal rules and procedures, discussing election eligibility, how staff presents applications, what constitutes the official meeting record, procedures for written public comments, and guidance for site visits and commissioner communications.

Commissioners said the draft is intended to reflect recommendations from the city attorney and previous months’ discussion and to clarify how the body treats staff reports, public input and off‑site fact‑finding. Chair Volney Ford opened the meeting and stressed that the session was a workshop and that "tonight's planning commission meeting does not have any public cases. It is essentially a workshop," noting no final votes were expected.

The commission considered several specific changes. On internal elections, the draft proposes that all eight commission members be eligible to vote on leadership even if alternates are not eligible to hold office; commissioners discussed minor wording conflicts between sections that reference "all members" and sections that reference "regular members." The draft also adds a reference to the land‑use sections of the Maryland Annotated Code in the meetings section.

On recordkeeping, Commissioner Jeff (planning staff/director) proposed language that "the complete record of the meeting shall include the minutes, the archived livestream video of the meeting ... and all documents submitted." Commissioners and the city attorney agreed the record should explicitly include archived video as well as written minutes, and several commissioners noted state law requires written minutes while archived recordings provide more detail.

The commission debated how staff should present case…