The only item on the PLANNING COMMISSION agenda was pertaining to the sign ordinance that is currently being written for roof, secondary roof, and marquee signs. In order to deal with issues about those flashing digital signs, a decision was made to recommend that no decision be made. Councilwoman Ann Carter reported she felt it would be better to restrict those signs in the proposed ordinance change so the Planning Commission could look at a complete ordinance pertaining to digital signs. This was agreed upon by the Planning Commission and will be presented to Town Council tomorrow night. The proposed change would require that a CUP would be required for these signs in those three situations only. While this could create a bit of extra work for Planning Commission and Town Council in the short term, unlike tabling the issue and simply allowing any such signs to be put up anywhere and anyway, this insures that citizens that might be affected (either the business that wants the sign or residents into whose bedrooms the signs might shine) have a chance to have a say.
I would like to commend Ms. Carter on taking this approach. In doing it in this manner, it allows an opportunity for those affected to bring forward their concerns and any alternative suggestions they may offer. This effectively allows citizens to have a much greater say in the overall ordinance, while preventing a flood of these types of signs in areas where they could be placed now and then grandfathered in should a more restrictive ordinance be the desire of citizens.
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An additional issue pertaining to the inconvenience created by using the new pattern of meetings that the Town Council has currently established was brought to the floor and a discussion was held on whether or not the old pattern should be re-established.
In the old pattern, the Planning Commission held a work session the day before the Town Council and the Planning Commission's Joint public hearing. The Town Council would recess for an hour or so to allow the Planning Commission to meet, discuss the proposals and comments made in public hearing, and then make a recommendation to the Town Council. Following the brief meeting/recess, the Town Council took up the issue, considered the Planning Commission recommendation, and, typically, voted on the issue. With the exceptionof the initial Planning Commission works session, all of the above activity occured during a single meeting.. This pattern significantly reduced the amount of time that Town Council members had to research issues and to hear from citizens on the subject.
The new pattern allows a two week time period for Town Council to do any additional research, process additional information, and hear from citizens before they vote of something. Personally, I like the new style better simply because of a greater opportunity for citizens to voice their concerns. This newer pattern brings Christiansburg into alignment with most other jurisdictions in the state.
One suggestion was to have the meetings held at the same time and people can simply choose which meeting to attend. (While citizen input is not part of these planning commission meetings, this would mean that citizens would be forced to decide which of the two meetings, where business that affects the town would be conducted, they would choose to attend. This is particularly troublesome since the Town does not record these meetings and the minutes of these meetings are often several years old before they are completed and made available to the public.)
A decision was reached based upon the fact that the new timing was done
at the request of Town Council and would continue as such unless the
Town Council wished to do differently.
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A further concern was raised concerning whether or not decisions made by the Town Council and Planning Commission were being affected by 'intimidation' caused by people recording and writing about the meetings on the internet.
This meeting is up on the citizen's webpage:
http://historiccambria.com/Public%20Documents/audio%20files.htm
The first 33 minutes contains the discussion on the sign ordinance. Further concerns as to the timing of meetings and the impact of people recording and writing about the meetings upon the decision-making process follow this at the 34 minute and 42 minute marks respectively.
Please note that I do not and have not EVER edited any of the audio recordings that are posted for citizens to listen to. Everything I have said and wish I hadn't is there for anyone to listen to:)