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“To be specific, the City’s policy for placing items on the Consent Calendar is <br />reasoned based primarily on whether there is public reaction to the item. This has <br />been explained via email from staff to the Commission on several occasions. Yet <br />the Chairwoman continues to routinely pull items from the Consent Calendar. <br />There is ample time to raise questions with staff regarding Consent Calendar <br />items before a meeting. But this approach has not been followed. This has <br />resulted in raising tensions with staff, and in delays which take time away from <br />more substantive deliberations. <br /> <br /> “Some months ago, the Commission was considering the matter of an additional <br />building on the St. Elizabeth Seton Church property. The item was pulled from <br />the agenda at an early meeting the day of the meeting by the Chairwoman. At <br />another of the meetings it was known well in advance that two of our <br />Commissioners would be out of town and unable to attend. Two of the three <br />Commissioners required for a quorum showed up for the meeting, as did a full <br />Council Chamber. At the last minute staff was informed that the Chairwoman <br />would not be attending and was put in the awkward position of informing the <br />packed Chamber that the meeting had to be cancelled. The effect was to delay the <br />project resulting in increased cost to the applicant and City. <br /> <br /> “The Chairwoman recently took part in a workshop concerning the Staples Ranch <br />property. It has been noticed by a number of our community that this was a <br />conflict of interest. We have a Commission member who has routinely recused <br />himself from discussions concerning the Oak Grove project based on where he <br />lives. In this same spirit the Chairwoman should have recused herself from the <br />Staples Ranch discussion. <br /> <br /> “The Chairwoman seems to have little understanding that time is money. She has <br />stated that it is not the Commission’s role to consider the economics of a project. <br />Yet every project we consider has economic underpinnings. The fact that time is <br />money applies not only to the applicants who come before us, but to City staff as <br />well. There has appeared to be little regard for staff’s need to work projects in a <br />timely manner. And the impact of this has been delay and rising tensions with <br />staff. <br /> <br /> “While this Commission does not have the authority to remove one of its <br />members, it can vote on the following motion: <br /> <br /> “It is moved that the Planning Commission vote ‘no confidence’ in its current <br />Chairwoman, Anne Fox.” <br /> <br />Chairperson Fox stated that with respect to Staples Ranch, she had an email from <br />Ms. Harryman with a legal opinion indicating that she did not need to recuse herself from <br />that project because it was more than 500 feet away from her home. The email also <br />indicated that she did have to refrain from discussing Stoneridge Drive. She noted that <br />she would be happy to forward that email to the Planning Commission. She added that <br />PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES July 11, 2007 Page 20 of 27 <br /> <br /> <br />