03-02-2011 Council Work Session Minutes

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� ORONO JOINT PLANNING COMMISSION & CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION Wednesday, March 2, 2011 5:30 o'clock p.m. potential focus group participants and get people on an e-mail distribution list to keep them informed. Once the focus group is established, Gozola indicated they would like to hold the initial focus group meeting to tell fhem the goals established by the Council/Planning Commission, explain their role in the process,provide background research that has already completed, and bring in expert presenters. In July they would like to meet with the Planning Commission to present options and receive feedback.A second open house would be held in either late June or early July, followed by the preparation of an initial draft ordinance far review by both the City Council and Planning Commission. In August they are aiming for public hearings at the Planning Commission, followed by approval by the City Council. Bremer asked whether this is a realistic timeline. Gozola indicated in his opinion it is a realistic timeline and pointed out that they are only reviewing one section of the code. Kang expressed a concern that a majority of the work with the public will be completed in July and August, which is the time when a number of the residents take vacations and are busy with other things. Gozola indicated he will take that into consideration if the amount of public feedback is minimal. McMillan asked if the open house is a means of finding potential members for the task force or whether Staff would be recruiting volunteers. McMillan suggested the first open house be a more informative session. Gozola indicated that is what he was envisioning for the open house. McMillan suggested that perhaps now would be a time to compile some people for the task force and that she would prefer the focus group be preliminarily assembled in the near future. Curtis stated if the open house is held prior to the ordinance being drafted, it lets the public know that the City is looking for their input. McMillan commented when she thinks of a focus group, they typically have a particular topic that they focus on, and that the Ciry could have like a focus group open house where certain topics of the hardcover regulations are discussed. Franchot asked how many of these open houses Ben Gozola has participated in and what process he has found works best in these situations. Gozola stated you typically hold at least one open house during a process like this. Gozola stated people come to the open houses to learn as well as vent over certain items. Having that opportunity to express their thoughts tends to satisfy the residents that they have had their opportunity to speak on the subject. They do plan to be constantly communicating with people throughout the process and Staff will also available for comments and questions. Gozola indicated they would be immediately responding to questions of the residents. Franchot indicated he would prefer to defer to Ben Gozola on the actual process and to have the group - -----_ _.._ _....__ Page 11