Opinions

Opinion: Planning Commission reflections on March 16 meeting

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By Elizabeth Jordan

Saturday, March 24, 2012

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(Note: These are the observations and opinions of Planning Commissioner Elizabeth Jordan (Ward 9) about matters that came to the Flint Planning Commission March 16.)

Site Plan Review

The commission approved a site plan for renovations to an existing McDonald's restaurant on Davison Road between Dort Highway and Center Road that includes upgrades to make it ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant and to add a second drive-through station. The additional drive-through ordering station will keep the line of cars from backing up in the parking lot. The renovation is part of a larger effort to renovate 4,000 McDonald's restaurants in five years.

Case Review

The Flint Planning Commission hears a rezoning request and makes a recommendation to Flint City Council to approve or deny the zoning change. With an emergency financial manager in charge, the final approval now rests with Mike Brown, rather than council. Periodically, we hear updates to projects or decisions that we previously made. This time we were informed about a series of rezoning requests we considered in the past few months.

Of the three rezoning requests we had considered, the commission recommended approval of two, which involved downgrading the zoning to a less intensive use.

For the one that that the commission recommended that the city council deny, commissioners said they were concerned that the zoning remains with the property even if it is sold. The new zoning would permit a range of activities (not just the one the applicant was hoping to do), many of which might be objectionable on a piece of property that adjoins houses.

The zoning change would have made a community business district property (think branch bank, general retail, etc.) a general highway commercial district (think businesses geared towards motorists such as fast food, motels, car dealerships, etc.), which is a more intensive use. Most of the uses listed in the general highway category have explicit minimum distances the building must be from residences or other requirements to create a screen or buffer.

While some neighbors voiced support for the zoning change, at least one adjacent neighbor objected. With those factors in mind, the commission voted to recommend denial of the rezoning request.

We learned from staff that all of the rezoning requests had been approved by the emergency financial manager, including the one we had recommended against.

(I do not know what the rationale was for doing so, and I admit to doing a double-take. In the time I have been on the planning commission, I don't recall another time when our recommendation was not followed. Under state law PA 4, the emergency financial manager has sweeping powers to make decisions even on matters such as this, which has no bearing on the city's finances but does impact quality of life in a neighborhood. It is troubling to me. The city council is ultimately accountable to its constituents for its decisions. The emergency financial manager is accountable only to the state.)

Digital Sign Moratorium

Legal counsel said that issuing a moratorium on new flashing or animated signs to allow the city time to draft an ordinance regulating them would be legally more straightforward than just applying the moratorium to flashing signs over a certain size. The state prohibits flashing signs along the freeways because of safety concerns so it should be possible to do the same. The legal office will draft a resolution for a moratorium.

Arts Funding Update

The Mayor Dayne Walling said that a $50,000 National Endowment for the Arts grant was submitted by the Greater Flint Arts Council with the city as a co-applicant. While the city would not get any money directly through the grant, it is required to have the city be part of the team to qualify. The city pledged some staff time from the general fund budget as an in-kind match.

The primary goal of the grant would be to update the Community Cultural Arts Plan that was developed in 2003. The timing of that process is intended to parallel the master planning work plan. A group of artists would get a stipend to work with each ward of the city on community engagement. The process would involve both large and small arts groups.

Planning Consultant

Megan Hunter, chief planning officer, said she is writing a memo to the state Treasury Department to get approval to hire Houseal Lavigne as the planning consultant firm after checking five of their references. The emergency financial manager intends to sign a resolution hiring them once Treasury approves the memo.

The state has to approve any contract over a certain amount under PA 4.

Hunter also said she had interviewed three candidates for the two open associate planner positions and had two more interviews scheduled. She hopes to hire at least one person by April.

(This prompted a question for me about whether there was funding secured to pay for these other two positions. We have learned that much of the HUD grant funding that had originally been spread out among the associate and chief planner positions had been reallocated to fully support the chief planner. The balance of the staff planner positions was to come from a local match and I understand that funding has been requested from the C.S. Mott Foundation, but no funding decision has been made.)

Steering Committee Report

I shared a brief report on the March 6 steering committee meeting, including that we had a presentation from Doug Weiland, Genesee Land Bank, on trends in tax-foreclosed properties and a presentation by Alicia Kitsuse, C.S. Mott Foundation, on a symposium she attended on revitalizing legacy cities such as Flint.

I also told the commission that more people attended the steering committee meeting than in recent months. Jim Richardson, the co-chairman, and the mayor noted that there was a sizeable number of community members present. The Flint Public Library is compiling a reference section dedicated to Flint's master planning process and various materials that will be useful to the committee.

One commissioner had a question about the consensus decision model adopted by steering committee. The commissioner was concerned that consensus might be a slow-moving model and there would be times when timely action was needed.

The steering committee decided to go with the consensus model because if an issue is so contentious that all steering committee members cannot support an issue, they would refer the issue to the planning commission rather than push a recommendation over the objections of some.

Ultimately the planning commission has to vote on proposals, but can do so in an informed fashion if they are aware of major tensions that exist in the community.

Another commissioner stated that if the planning commission does have a matter on which it needs input from the steering committee in a timely fashion, it can clearly communicate that deadline to the steering committee.

Public Comment

Sue Hart, from the Disability Network, has attended several commission meetings lately and used the public comment time to ask a question about how people get appointed to the Master Planning Steering Committee. The response was that as vacancies arise a team consisting of the two co-chairmen, the mayor and a member of Flint City Council meet to generate a list of possible candidates and make a selection. Anyone who had an interest in serving on the steering committee was encouraged to let one of those people know.

The memorandum of understanding between the planning commission, mayor and city council lays out some parameters for the steering committee's composition, including at least three-fourths must be city residents representing every ward and balanced in race, age and gender.

The planning commission and the steering committee's meetings are open to the public. The steering committee meets on the first Tuesday of the month at 5:30 p.m., usually in the library's basement meeting room unless otherwise indicated. The planning commission meets at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month at City Hall, 1101 S. Saginaw St.

(Since this was written, I hear that an injunction has been issued by an Ingham County Circuit Court judge preventing Flint's emergency financial manager from taking any action because of a possible violation of the Open Meetings Act by the team that declared Flint to be in a financial crisis. I do not know the implications of such an injunction on the planning commission.)

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Elizabeth Jordan is a lifelong Flint resident who represents the Ninth Ward on the Flint Planning Commission. In addition to working in the nonprofit sector, she is involved with various community initiatives promoting social justice and peace.

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