CC_Minutes_2012_0917 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Regular City Council Meeting Monday, September 17, 2012 Page 10 was followed and for however long it took. Mr. Trudgeon suggested that this would require the City Council to meet on a night other than their regular business meeting (e.g. Thursday evenings for the next three months) for listening sessions in neighborhoods, communicating with business owners and advisory commissioners, holding public hearings. Mr. Trudgeon suggested that those listening sessions would ultimately serve to hear public testimony, and at the end of that process, they would be better served to make a quick decision. While the Comprehensive Plan process took one (1) year and provided good and wide-ranging discussions, Mr. Trudgeon opined that he didn't envision this process to be that involved. Mr. Trudgeon observed that many of those discussions at the Steering Committee level were often repeated over hours and hours at the City Council level. Since these lis- tening sessions would be public meetings, Mr. Trudgeon suggested that the vision- ing happen in the City Council Chambers, perhaps around the work session table; and provide for public testimony, open houses, listening sessions, and work ses- sions, but all in the public view and right at the policy-maker level, allowing a deci- sion to be made more efficiently,but still allowing adequate time to get there. At the request of Mayor Roe, Mr. Trudgeon stated that the final product outcome, whether an updated Twin Lakes Master Plan, City Code revision, or a combination, would be at the discretion of the City Council, and could be a document embodying statements and priorities to consider. Mayor Roe noted that this would serve for a decision by the City Council, with no perception that staff had defined the decision. Councilmember Pust noted that the 2007 AUAR was built on the 2001 AUAR, and simply tweaking it again would not allow for a fresh look. However, Councilmem- ber Pust noted that there had been substantive changes in the Twin Lakes are, in- cluding the Wal-Mart development, providing another reason for a fresh start. While having the City Council do it may be preferable, Councilmember Pust noted that this created a timing problem, since two (2) incumbents would be leaving the body at the end of 2012, and new members not on board until January; creating a question of whether January was too late to start this project. Mr. Trudgeon concurred that timing was an issue, since staff was seeing more inter- est in the Twin Lakes area, and impacts for further delay. Mr. Trudgeon suggested that one remedy would be to require a mandatory Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) for any development application, since the previously AUAR would no longer be in place. Mr. Trudgeon noted that the City Council can order a discretionary EAW at any time, and by creating such documentation in the interim, through amendment to City Code, could make sense. However, Mr. Trudgeon opined that he hated to see such a burden placed on smaller developments that may occur in Twin Lakes. Mr. Trudgeon noted that a policy or ordinance could be put in place during the interim to cover the City and allow development to proceed un- der those provisions.