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Appendix 20F-4 Planning Commission Rules

I.    General Procedures

II.    Public Hearings

I. General Procedures.

A.    Chair. The Chair will: 1) conduct the meetings, 2) set up special meetings, 3) control and conduct the public hearings as scheduled. The term of the chair will be one year, and he or she will be elected at the first regular meeting after March 1st.

B.    Vice Chair. The Vice Chair will assume the duties of the Chair in his or her absence. The term of the Vice Chair will be one year to be elected at the same time as the Chair.

C.    Agenda. The Planning Commission will use the same agenda format used by the City Council. The item titled “Items from the Audience”, will be an appropriate time to hear citizen proposals related to the Development Guide or other planning issues. Speakers on any one item, or the amount of time allocated for testimony may be limited to a specified amount of time at the discretion of the Chair.

D.    Relationship with Hearing Examiner. The Planning Commission will occasionally attend and monitor the regularly scheduled meetings of the Hearing Examiner on a rotating basis. The member who attends will report to the Planning Commission at their next regular meeting. In addition, the Planning Commission will meet with the Hearing Examiner on a semi-annual basis to discuss changes to the Development Guide, the resolution of conflicts within it, and additions that address omissions.

E.    Relationship with City Council. The Planning Commission will occasionally attend and monitor the regularly scheduled meetings of the City Council, Planning Committee meetings, and other committee meetings as needed. Members will attend on a rotating basis and will report to the Planning Commission at their next regular meeting. In addition, the Planning Commission will meet with the City Council on a semi-annual basis with a report of activities and progress.

F.    Time and Length of Meetings. Planning Commission meetings will begin at 7:00 p.m. and continue until 10:00 p.m. Continuation of meetings past 10:00 p.m. will require approval of a motion by a majority of the members.

G.    Regular Meeting Date. The Planning Commission will have regular business meetings on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month. Special meetings and study meetings may be held at any time and location indicated in the public notices. The meetings will be held in the City Council Chambers at the Redmond City Hall unless public notice is given that the meeting location will be changed.

II. Public Hearings.

The format for public hearings conducted by the Planning Commission should be as follows:

A.    The Chair, City Attorney or a staff member should read or paraphrase the purpose of the hearing and advise the Commission of the applicable criteria that they must consider in the course of their review. The purpose of this is to advise the Commission before they receive testimony of the particular items they should be considering during the course of the hearing.

B.    The hearing should begin with a staff report to the Planning Commission which may include the staff’s recommendation.

C.    The Commission should direct any questions they have at that time to the staff.

D.    The hearing should then be opened to permit the applicant to make a presentation to the Planning Commission.

E.    Questions from the Planning Commission should be directed to the applicant.

F.    At this time, the hearing should be opened to the audience as a whole. A sign up list should have been circulated before the meeting to determine the number of persons desiring to speak, which may be weighed against the amount of time available for the public hearing. A stated amount of time may be allocated to the hearing, and each person who has signed up given an equal amount of time to speak. Frequently, persons who have signed up waive their opportunity to speak which leaves time for those who wish additional time to speak. If the time allocated for the hearing is exhausted, the hearing can then be continued to another date if necessary. The sign up list also provides the name and address of speakers for the Clerk who is taking the minutes for the hearing. In addition, it provides an orderly process for the calling of speakers and assures that each person is given an opportunity to speak before those who have already spoken are recognized again.

G.    Each person speaking, whether it be the applicant or a member of the audience, should be required to speak from the podium which is connected to the recording machine. Before speaking they should state their full name and residence address. At the time all of the persons on the list have been called and have either waived the opportunity to speak or have spoken, the Chair should ask if there are any other persons who desire to speak. If there are any, those persons should be allocated the same amount of time as previous speakers if possible.

H.    When everyone who wishes to speak has had an opportunity, any persons who have already spoken may speak again if there is time remaining.

I.    If, at the conclusion of the hearing there are still persons wishing to speak who may provide information, then the hearing time may be extended or the hearing continued to a date certain in the future. When the public has completed their testimony, and before closing the hearing, the applicant or their representative should be given a brief opportunity for rebuttal. If, upon conclusion of the rebuttal, there are no more questions for any member of the audience or the applicant, the hearing may be closed or continued until after deliberation.

J.    As photographs, maps, slides, letters, invoices, memorandums, petitions or any other documents of any nature are presented to the Commission in connection with the hearing, each one should be identified at the time it is presented and an exhibit number assigned to it. The Clerk should maintain an exhibit number list, ascribing the exhibit number and date of submission on the face of the exhibit.

K.    Commission members should be recognized by the Chair before asking questions or providing other information. This allows for the Chair to specifically recognize the Commission member by name who is about to speak, so that the record accurately reflects who has spoken.

L.    Each person who speaks a second time or who responds to a question should come to the podium and again re-identify themselves by name; however, restatement of addresses is not necessary.

M.    Any questions by Commission members to any member of the audience or the applicant should be asked prior to the closing of the hearing. Once the hearing is closed, no additional testimony may be taken, and the Planning Commission will be limited to questions to the staff only.

N.    Commission members should avoid whispered conversations between themselves during the course of the hearing. These conversations may not be audible on the tape recording and may jeopardize the record of the hearing since they cannot be interpreted.

O.    It should also be noted that proponents or opponents do have a right to question persons who have given testimony at the hearing. However, these questions should be directed to the Chair of the meeting and not directly to the person who gave testimony. The Chair would direct that person to come to the podium, identify himself and give a response. At the conclusion of the response, any additional questions from that person or other persons should be handled in the same manner. One question at a time should be channeled through the Chair to the person whose response is requested.

P.    At the conclusion of the hearing the Planning Commission should bring a motion to the floor, and initiate discussion. It is preferable that deliberations on the hearing be completed on the same night; however, it is not mandatory and the decision may be continued to a date certain in the future.

    When the Planning Commission does not intend to make a decision on the proposal immediately subsequent to closure of the public hearing, the Chairman shall announce that no further written or oral information will be accepted or considered by the Commission as part of the public record.

Q.    During the course of deliberation, the pros and cons of the proposal should be thoroughly discussed particularly in relation to the criteria to be applied, as defined by the Development Guide or the other guidelines.

R.    Any motion for action should include a statement of findings based on facts presented in the hearing. For example, “Mr. Chair, after reviewing of the file, listening to the testimony from the hearing, and visiting the site, I find that the proposed project satisfies the criteria (or does not satisfy the criteria) for the following reasons:” (list item 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.). It is helpful to draft these in advance of making a motion. At the conclusion of the statement of findings and conclusions, the Commission member should say, “For the reasons I have stated, I move that the application or appeal be (approved, denied or modified as follows...).” If the motion is seconded, discussion should follow. The Chair may call upon each member to state their reasons for or against the particular motion. At the conclusion of the discussion, the Chair should call for a vote upon the motion.

S.    At the conclusion of the vote and the announcement of the decision, the Chair should close the hearing if not closed previously and should at the time advise the audience that the recommendation will be submitted to the City Council, and further public comment, either written or oral, will be governed by their rules and procedures. Once a motion has been made for a recommendation to be transmitted to the City Council, written materials received by the Planning Commission will be disclosed at the next public meeting but will not be considered as part of the public record.

(Formerly Appx. E)