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Planning commission asks council to shift development-plan approvals to commission; council told ordinance change required
Summary
The planning commission introduced a resolution urging more public engagement by moving development plan approvals from the technical review committee to the planning commission consent agenda; staff said an Article 21 ordinance amendment would be required to effect the change.
The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government planning commission introduced a resolution at its May hearing asking the council to change the process for development-plan review so that technical-review-committee-reviewed plans would appear on the planning commission agenda as consent items and the commission could pull plans for further discussion when public health, safety or welfare concerns arise.
City staff advised council members that the planning commission’s recommendation does not alter the substantive development standards; rather, it would change the approval process. To implement the commission’s recommendation, staff and the law department said the council would need to amend Article 21 of the ordinance governing development process to make the planning commission the approving authority for those development plans rather than the technical review committee.
Staff explained the proposed process would leave routine development plans on the planning commission consent agenda for final action if no questions are raised, but would allow the commission or any member of the public to ask that a plan be pulled for a separate discussion or hearing when there is a potential public health, safety or welfare issue that the technical review committee did not identify.
Council members asked whether the change must be made at the Thursday regular meeting; city law staff said any change to an item already docketed would require action at a regular council meeting. Several council members (including Councilmember Brown) indicated they planned to return on Thursday to propose clarifying amendments to the notification language associated with the change to ensure the council’s intent on “enhanced notification.”
The planning commission’s supplemental resolution was provided to council as supplemental information and was not part of the commission’s final report packet used to form the ordinance before council.
