One of the Planning Commission's most important jobs is to be "a hearing body" for the City Council on land use issues.
But, rather than the public, they heard from Mayor John Marchione. "Mayor John" made a visit to the Planning Commission this week (1/16) to introduce himself and bring them his top three priorities:
1) "Budgeting for Priorities" - John and council's new program is a plan to prioritize and measure for the best uses of city funding BEFORE money gets spent. Public input up front is a key component.
2) "Customer Service" training -- to promote safety and courtesy -- will take precedence over "efficiency" e.g. better to be safe, than efficient.
3) "Achieving greater predictability of our Permitting System" for the betterment of the whole community --- to help speed the process and improve results.
1) "Budgeting for Priorities" - John and council's new program is a plan to prioritize and measure for the best uses of city funding BEFORE money gets spent. Public input up front is a key component.
2) "Customer Service" training -- to promote safety and courtesy -- will take precedence over "efficiency" e.g. better to be safe, than efficient.
3) "Achieving greater predictability of our Permitting System" for the betterment of the whole community --- to help speed the process and improve results.
To improve the permitting system John plans to re-write our outdated "Community Development Guide". It's not readable or workable as it stands now.
This Guide governs Public Notice and Reviews (7) of land use permits ranging from felling hazardous neighborhood trees to plating major land use development projects and annexation. Last year, it was used to guide the city on Tent City permits....and not very well at that.
When a commissioner asked Mayor John which issues the people were most interested in, John smiled: "traffic, traffic, and growth" and not all in that order. He said the electorate understood the relevance of Redmond's two urban centers in offering a variety of housing choices for all generations. Plus, land east towards the Cascades is "saved" from sprawl.
On regional issues John said neighboring cities were frustrated with Redmond in the past because our council and mayor were fractured and couldn't decide amongst ourselves. So we were easily dismissed by Bellevue, Kirkland and others.
The Planning Commission welcomes public comments by email at planningcommission@redmond.gov or during their 7pm Wednesday night meetings in City Hall. They are citizen volunteers and receive no remuneration.
This Guide governs Public Notice and Reviews (7) of land use permits ranging from felling hazardous neighborhood trees to plating major land use development projects and annexation. Last year, it was used to guide the city on Tent City permits....and not very well at that.
When a commissioner asked Mayor John which issues the people were most interested in, John smiled: "traffic, traffic, and growth" and not all in that order. He said the electorate understood the relevance of Redmond's two urban centers in offering a variety of housing choices for all generations. Plus, land east towards the Cascades is "saved" from sprawl.
On regional issues John said neighboring cities were frustrated with Redmond in the past because our council and mayor were fractured and couldn't decide amongst ourselves. So we were easily dismissed by Bellevue, Kirkland and others.
The Planning Commission welcomes public comments by email at planningcommission@redmond.gov or during their 7pm Wednesday night meetings in City Hall. They are citizen volunteers and receive no remuneration.
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