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Planning board backs procedural change to remove $200 fee for citizen text-amendments
Summary
The board unanimously approved a staff-and-counsel-backed change to the text-amendment process: citizen requests would first go to Town Council (public comment at council) for referral to staff/TRC/planning board, eliminating the $200 direct application fee for citizens.
The Town of Nashville Planning Board voted unanimously to recommend a procedural change to how citizen-initiated text amendments are handled.
Under the proposed change, citizens who request text amendments to town ordinances would present their request and rationale at the Town Council public comment portion; the council would then refer the matter to staff and the TRC for formal review, rather than requiring citizens to pay a $200 application fee and file directly with planning staff. Planning staff (Sean) said council would still place requests on its agenda in advance (staff suggested a five-day packet deadline so council has time to prepare) and the TRC and planning board would continue to conduct public hearings and make nonbinding recommendations to council.
The TRC had mixed views in advance of the meeting; some TRC members preferred retaining the $200 application and full TRC review initiated directly by applicants. After discussion the planning board approved the procedural change and asked staff to refine verbiage and a five-day lead time for council packets.
Next steps: staff will prepare revised ordinance language for council consideration and include the new flow in the council packet.
