Board votes to repeal comprehensive-plan ordinance on first reading; staff recommends adopting plan by resolution

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen debated whether to treat the city's 2045 comprehensive plan as an ordinance or a resolution and on April 27 voted on a repeal of the existing ordinance on first reading.

Planning staff and the city attorney explained that while a comprehensive plan can be adopted via ordinance, many municipalities now adopt plans by resolution to avoid creating binding legal obligations that an ordinance can imply. "When you pass it as a resolution, it's endorsed by the board, but it does not become binding," city legal counsel said during the discussion, adding that cities the staff reviewed commonly adopt comprehensive plans by resolution.

Board members expressed differing views: some favored keeping the plan as an ordinance to make the plan harder to alter, while others favored the flexibility of a resolution and the legal protections it provides. After discussion, the board voted 5-2 on first reading to repeal the current ordinance; staff advised the board they could adopt the plan by resolution at the next meeting and that procedural steps require a repeal by ordinance completed on two readings.

City staff said they would circulate the research on other cities' approaches and that a second reading and a companion resolution could occur in a subsequent meeting to avoid a gap in guidance.