I
spoke with an Ordinance Review Committee member about
the meeting held on Thursday, August 4. At that meeting,
the ORC members were supposed to discuss the proposed
changes to Gray's Zoning Ordinance. The previous Council
worked for almost two years on the changes, but they
never noticed, and neither the Manager or the Planner
ever told them, that the Ordinance requires the ORC
to review all amendments before adoption.
When the current Council discovered this, they told
the Planner to send the proposed ordinance to ORC
so they could review it at their next meeting. The
Planner never did this. The meeting members showed
up, but they could not get that work done.
I have been on town Committees before. The point of
committee work is to learn, to inform the Council,
and to help move the process along. If the Committees
are not properly informed then they cannot move the
process along.
First, the Planner didn't inform anyone that the ORC
needed to review the changes, and then he didn't send
the ordinance to them as instructed. My opinion is
that the Planner needs to shape up or ship out.
