Havre de Grace planning commission delays vote on rules and procedures

The Havre de Grace Planning Commission on June 26, 2025 voted unanimously to postpone consideration of a proposed set of rules and procedures so members could review a city-attorney draft distributed at the meeting.

Chair Volney Ford distributed “Draft No. 2” of the planning commission rules and said the document had been reviewed by the city attorney and should be studied line-by-line at the next meeting. "I think the best thing to do with this is to not try to wade through this thing tonight until we can go home and digest all of the things that she is proposing," Ford said at the start of the discussion.

Members said they want time to consider several substantive items before adoption. Commissioners discussed whether to retain the alternate-commissioner position (the council preferred keeping it) and whether the role and voting status of a city-council liaison should be described in the planning-commission ordinance. Ford noted the council recently amended the ordinance to make the council liaison a nonvoting participant after a request by a council member earlier this year.

A motion to postpone the item to the commission's next meeting was made and seconded during the June 26 meeting and was approved in a roll-call vote with all five commissioners present voting yes: Mary Miller, Janice Chan, Chip Place, Ed Garono and Chair Volney Ford.

The commission asked staff and the city attorney to bring a redlined version for line-by-line consideration at the next meeting and to highlight any areas that would require a city-code amendment.

The commission did not take any other action on the rules at the June 26 meeting.