Workshop expands Planning’s way of looking at things

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At the Oct. 9 Planning meeting, Tom Buford presented an alternative for how commissioners could conduct public hearings. He learned at a workshop for Planning commissioners in Siloam Springs that some commissions hear comments from citizens at the beginning of the meeting but also during discussion of a particular topic.

Buford said a citizen might speak for three minutes during the Public Comments forum early in the meeting but sit very frustrated and unable to provide counterpoint or additional information when commissioners discuss, for example, an application for a Conditional Use Permit.

Woodie Acord said the idea sounded reasonable, and Susan Harman described how the process might play out, eventually stating she did not have an issue with it.

Commissioners parsed the particulars and voted to follow the procedure outlined in Appendix A of the Planning handbook, which follows what Buford had suggested, for future public hearings.

More from the training

Commissioner Abbey Abbey also attended the workshop with Buford, and came back with four additional topics to consider. Folks from other parts of the state told her the local controversy regarding Conditional Use Permits is unique to Eureka Springs because of the plethora of Bed & Breakfasts. However, she learned the commission could attach conditions when a CUP is granted and even require occasional reviews, or automatically deny an application if the applicant is not present at the discussion.

Regarding the town’s Vision Plan, Abbey said she has not seen one and she wondered if they could get copies because she had no way to know where the city stands relative to its goals. Harman asked if the Vision Plan had been adopted by council or was it intended to be a study to guide future planners? Abbey said she had the name of a consultant who could advise them.

Abbey also learned about Municode, an online reference for checking local ordinances and Code. In trying to look up Eureka Springs, she found she was unable to search the document because of the format in which the data was submitted according to Municode staff. Her question was why submit data in a format not completely searchable? Chair Ann Sallee said she would check with city hall about Municode.

Abbey then mentioned the city should revisit the topic of territorial jurisdiction. She noted City Code said the city cannot claim territorial jurisdiction, but, according to her research, that part of Code was based on an Arkansas law that was repealed in 2010, so she contended Code is out-of-date. She stated those with businesses outside city limits do not pay city taxes and do not need a city business license, yet they use the city’s infrastructure and services, so Planning should take another look at territorial jurisdiction.

Sallee suggested they put these topics on the agenda for 2019 since there are only three meetings left this year.

Paper trails

  • Sallee was given copies of the pages from Code that were missing for some commissioners.
  • Sallee said had requested from city hall an itemized list of charges made to their line item in the budget. The expenditures would have been for time spent by City Attorney Tim Weaver on ordinances Planning requested. Sallee said the list she received listed when Weaver worked on an ordinance and for how long, but not which ordinance. She will see if she can get more information before the next meeting.
  • There are two vacancies on the commission.

Next meeting will be Tuesday, Oct. 23, at 6 p.m.