Planning Commission adopts new public-comment and hearing rules; applicants' time cut to eight minutes

The Metro Nashville Planning Commission on a unanimous voice vote adopted changes to its rules and procedures to add a public comment slot at the start of meetings and to alter how planning hearings are run.

The amendments create a 20-minute public comment period at the beginning of each meeting, limit individual speakers to two minutes, reduce applicant presentation time from 10 minutes to eight minutes (with up to two minutes reserved for rebuttal within that eight), eliminate a five-minute allowance previously afforded to "organizations," and remove the requirement that commenters choose "support" or "oppose" when they speak during a public hearing. The rules will be applied at upcoming meetings and staff said they will monitor and return with adjustments if needed.

The change to add a designated public comment period implements a state law requirement that boards provide an opportunity for the public to speak on agenda items; staff said the new slot is intended mainly to let people speak on items that do not otherwise require a planning commission public hearing (for example, mandatory referrals or street renaming) and to permit comment on items for which a public hearing had previously been closed but remain on the agenda.

Planning staffer Lisa Milligan, who presented the amendments, said the commission took the Metro Council's approach as a model and proposed a 20-minute cap total and two-minute speaker limit. "Per state law, you can set a time specific parameter and you can set limits on how long each person can speak," Milligan told commissioners.

Milligan and other staff also recommended shrinking applicant presentation time to keep hearings moving. "Applicants' time be reduced from 10 minutes to 8 minutes. They can still maintain the 2 minutes time for rebuttal," Milligan said, adding that the eight minutes should include all persons associated with a project, such as owners and engineers.

Some commissioners raised procedural concerns during deliberations. Commissioner Dunden said the previous practice of separating speakers into "for" and "against" had helped clarify commenters' positions and worried that removing the buckets could make it harder to interpret remarks. Milligan and other commissioners argued the change would reduce implicit bias and let people express nuanced opinions without selecting a binary label. Vice Chair Farr and several other commissioners said they supported trying the new rules with the option to revert if problems emerge.

Vice Chair Farr moved to adopt the rule changes and a second was recorded. The commission voted in favor; minutes note the motion carried and the amendments are now in effect.

Staff announced procedures to implement the new rules immediately: staff will have a clipboard at the meeting entrance so people may sign up for the new public comment period and commissioners reiterated they could reopen a previously closed public hearing if the commission chose to do so.

The commission clerk will publish the revised rules with meeting agendas and staff said they will track whether the changes require future tweaks after several meetings.