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E-mail StoryOfficials split on planning commission changes
| Thursday, Mar 27 2008 6:20 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, Mar 27 2008 6:20 PM
A proposal to change how Bakersfield planning commissioners are appointed got mixed reactions Thursday.
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Bakersfield City Councilman Ken Weir pitched the idea at the end of Wednesday night’s council meeting and sent the issue to the council’s Legislative and Litigation Committee.
Under Weir’s proposal, planning commissioners would be appointed by council members as they take office, and could be removed by a vote of four council members.
Currently, commissioners serve four-year staggered terms — so Weir can’t appoint a commissioner until next year, more than halfway through his term — and can be removed only by a vote of at least five of the seven members of the council.
“I was very surprised. I’d never heard any criticism before of our policy,” said Councilwoman Sue Benham, who chairs the committee. “In my experience, the system has served us well.”
Councilwoman Jacquie Sullivan, who is also on the committee, said she understands Weir’s desire to choose his representative on the planning commission.
“I think that’s just fine, I think that’s very appropriate,” she said.
Sullivan is the only council member who gets to appoint a commissioner this year. She said she plans to reappoint Jeffrey Tkac, who has asked to serve a fourth term.
“We are political allies, and he’s asked to serve again,” she said.
“We will certainly give it proper consideration in committee and make a recommendation,” said David Couch, the committee’s third member.
The committee is scheduled to take up the issue in June. The April meeting already has the issue of spaying and neutering pets to take up, and no meeting is scheduled for May because of a conflict with the city’s budget meetings.
Weir’s proposal would bring the city’s policy in line with the county, said Ron Sprague, who serves on the Kern County Planning Commission and used to be on the Bakersfield Planning Commission.
County supervisors can replace a planning commissioner upon taking office and at any time afterward, and he thinks that system works fine for the county, Sprague said.
But that doesn’t mean the city should change, he said. “My comment would be, with the city, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”
Former Bakersfield Planning Commissioner Barbara Lomas thinks Weir’s proposal is a bad idea.
“I see the Planning Commission as an independent advisory body, and their main function is to hear public sentiment and concerns,” said Lomas, who served until April 2007 and didn’t apply for another term. “To tie them so closely to a political nature, I don’t think is in the spirit of what a planning commission should be.”
Under the current system, Weir will get to make an appointment in April 2009, when he can retain or replace Russell Johnson.
Johnson is chief-of-staff for Kern County Supervisor Mike Maggard, who held Weir’s seat before taking his current position.
Maggard and Weir have opposing views on The Canyons, the controversial development proposed on the bluffs near Hart Park in northeast Bakersfield.
Weir generally supports the developers plans to build on the hillsides; Maggard pushed to regulate such development as a councilman.
The Canyons is expected to come before the planning commission later this year.
Johnson said Wednesday that he doesn’t think his position with Maggard has anything to do with Weir’s proposal.
THE BACKGROUND
Before 1999, members of the Bakersfield Planning Commission were appointed by the entire council, according to City Clerk Pam McCarthy. The council interviewed candidates then appointed one.
But the council didn’t like the process so now, each member takes a turn at nominating a commissioner. The nominations are subject to the approval of the rest of the council.
Because commission members have no link to council wards, the city drew lots to link the commission seats with wards. That’s why Ken Weir, who was elected in 2006, doesn’t get to appoint someone until 2009.