That, plus the fact that Town Planner Ashley Hahn Morris
runs a tighter meeting than Planning Commission Chair Ruth Platner.
By Linda Felaco
If it weren’t for the Ranallis, the Groundhog Day meeting of
the Planning Commission might have been as short as the January 23 Citizens Forum. Though they still managed to get out of there in less time than they
spent masticating
the Rehill subdivision last week.
First, the planning commissioners pronounced themselves
satisfied with their Subdivision/Land Development Regulations & Zoning Ordinance Re-Write.
Indeed, some members confessed that they couldn’t tell the difference between
the latest version and the last go-round. Next!
Low
and Moderate Income Housing – Program
Analysis, according to Platner, was “just on there in case we wanted to
talk about it.” And for the most part, they didn’t. Ashley informed the
commissioners that she’s sent out an RFP for someone to gather up the data
they’re seeking, and they all seemed satisfied that they were on the right
course. Next!
The planning commissioners are still in a state of high
anxiety over the
dreaded H-5554 and S-533, which never went anywhere in last year’s General Assembly and
haven’t even been submitted in the current session, and have written a memo
to the Town Council expressing their alarm. They’re all
convinced, despite the complete lack of evidence from an extensive network of
ears to the ground explicitly listening for said evidence, that these vile
pieces of legislation that aim to destroy life as we know it will not only be resuscitated
this year but will actually be passed.
Ruth insists that the fact that she keeps
getting alerts about the bills from the Audubon Society means that they are
demons yet to be slain. Although strangely enough, when I visited the Audubon
Society’s web site, I wasn’t able to find any mention of these dire threats—even
among their listing of bills
of interest from last year’s
legislative session. The commissioners are losing sleep over the thought
that the bills might be submitted after the February Town Council meeting and
somehow speed their way to passage before the council meets again in March to
express its displeasure with them. So they decided to draft a letter to have at
the ready to send to our statehouse delegation the instant said bills are
submitted. Assuming they ever are. Whew, glad that’s settled.
Last but not least, the request from the
Ranallis to change the zoning on their property at 2183 Matunuck Schoolhouse Road from C-1 to residential because they’re no longer using it
commercially. The planning commissioners showed some commendable consistency on
this score by being as reluctant to change the zoning for the Ranallis as they
were for Ted
Veazey last year. Though to their credit, they were also
unwilling to tell the Ranallis they couldn’t live in their house anymore and
spent the bulk of the meeting trying to come up with a compromise solution that
would allow them to continue doing what they were doing without changing the
zoning.
First came a discussion of the scheduling
of the various hearings that would need to be held on the matter of the zoning
change. It was suggested that a joint Planning Commission–Town Council public
hearing be held the way it was done last year for the requested
zoning change for the YMCA camp. Ashley didn’t seem to think that had
worked as well as others thought it had. Ruth felt that it was important to
make it clear to the public that they needed to attend both hearings because
the Town Council wouldn’t know what had been said at the Planning Commission
hearing.
Which seemed strange to me. To the best of
my knowledge, the Town Council isn’t barred from attending Planning Commission
meetings, and anyway, through the magic of Clerkbase, they could always watch
the hearing from the comfort of their own homes. So it seems to me if the Town
Council isn’t getting the public input from the Planning Commission hearings,
it’s because they don’t want to. In which case it’s pretty much pointless for a
member of the public to speak at the council meeting either.
But I digress.
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| Commercial property? |
The Ranallis’ story is actually pretty
complicated. The zoning change request was triggered by a complaint to Building
Official Joe Warner regarding the fact that the Ranallis were now using the
part of their home that had formerly been rented out by the Charlestown Gallery
as living space. In the meantime, they had obtained permits to renovate their
garage to create an art studio only to be told that the permits had been issued
in error and that they couldn’t use the space for their intended purpose,
namely, as a space where they could pursue their hobby of painting, because it
constituted an expansion of the residential portion of the premises beyond what’s
allowed in C-1 zoning.
In a rare triumph of common sense, the
planning commissioners pronounced themselves unwilling to penalize the Ranallis
for the town’s error in issuing the building permits and were focused on
crafting a win-win solution. Ruth discussed the various activities allowed by
both uses, commercial and residential, and felt that there was enough wiggle
room that the Ranallis should be able to get some sort of special use permit
that would obviate the need for a zoning change. The suggestion was made that
perhaps the studio space in the garage could be classified as commercial if the
Ranallis were to, say, offer it for rent to art teachers to teach classes in.
Ashley agreed to speak to Joe Warner further to find out what the possibilities
were. So for now, at least, it looks like the sacrosanct Comprehensive Plan
will be safe from this particular assault.