Summary of the July 27th, 2006 meeting

Hello neighbors,

As you might have suspected, last night's meeting was contentious. It started with Commissioner Chair Del Shirley reviewing the commission's report for the attendees in the audience. He then read into the record, many letters from residents all of which were in support of the 1501 population projection by 2026. There was one letter from Matt Conser, a developer, against that projection. Councilor Smith submitted written material citing sources for his support of a 1798 projection.

Several residents attended, giving testimony for and against, most in support of the 1501 projection.

One newly appointed commissioner, arriving late, and not having attended the past two planning commission meetings, chose to remove herself from the bench stating she could not sit up there with the other commissioners because she was not in support of their report.

At near the end of the hearing, a resident suggested to the Commission that they recommend to the council, both population projections be given to the residents as two separate items to vote on. The Commission motioned and passed that two population projections be put on the ballot for November, and allow the residents to choose the population they wanted. One concern was the possibility that there might be a tie since residents might vote for both in favor or something to that effect. Commissioner Wagner noted that it was no different than voting for two candidates for office, saying rarely is there a tie and if there was, a coin toss could solve it. Additionally, they also recommended to the council that the Buildable Lands Inventory methodology be put on the ballot.

It will be interesting to see how the Council responds to this request as they have already expressed there desire by motioning and passing to have the County extend the population projection to 1798 by 2026 at the last meeting of July 24th, Councilor Casper being the only dissenting vote, bypassing the voters altogether, then rescinding that motion and replacing it with a recommendation for the 1798 to be considered by the Commission. I suspect it was because there were additional public hearings scheduled and testimony from the public hadn't been heard yet - like the meeting of last night, and the next upcoming meeting in August.

If you care at all about your voting rights in Tangent, you need to come to the next meeting, August 7th, 2006, 7:30 PM and let the council know. Tell them what population you’re willing to support.

Thank you,

Seaton