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03 Staff Report - Council/Planning Commission RetreatDRAFT Council/Agency Meeting 12/17/07 Item # TOWN OF LOS GATOS TOWN COUNCIUPLANNING COMMISSION RETREAT WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2007 8:00 A.M. TOWN COUNCIUPLANNING COMMISSION MEETING CALLED TO ORDER Mayor Joe Pirzynski called the meeting to order at 8:00 a.m. ROLL CALL Council Member Steve Glickman, Council Member Diane McNutt, Council Member Mike Wasserman, Vice Mayor Barbara Spector and Mayor/Chair Joe Pirzynski were present. VERBAL COMMUNICATIONS Opened Verbal Communications Mr. Davis • Commented that he felt that Planning Commissioner Thomas O'Donnell favored the developers when making land use decisions. • Called Planning Commissioner O'Donnell a "whore" and was ejected from the meeting. Planning Commissioner Thomas O'Donnell • Commented that Mr. Davis' remarks were inappropriate. Mr. Crites • Expressed opposition towards the Linda Avenue proposed development project. Closed Verbal Communication DISCUSSION The attached exhibit (Exhibit A) provides summary notes from the Town Council/Planning Commission Retreat. ADJOURNMENT Meeting Adjourned at 10:00 a.m. Attest: Jackie D. Rose, Clerk Administrator SUMMARY OF TOWN COUNCIL AND PLANNING COMMISSION RETREAT NOVEMBER 7, 2007 The Mayor made introductory remarks and turned the meeting over to the Facilitator. Les White, who provided an overview of the handouts including brief comments by the Planning Director about additional information regarding projects referenced in the planning process work paper. Key points raised at the meeting include the following: It was stated that it is important for the Chair to run the meetings and ensure that Commissioners direct questions and comments through the Chair, and that the Chair's first priority is to conduct procedurally sound meetings. The Chair needs to ensure that participants are treated with respect and that their views are heard. The Chair needs to exercise authority over the meetings to ensure order and fairness in the conduct of the meetings. Most of the Retreat was spent on the first of the Five Key Issues ---an improved understanding of the roles and relationships of the Council, Planning Commission and staff. There was confirmation of the role of Council to adopt and have ultimate responsibility for interpreting policies and to determine action on certain planning matters, that the role of the Commission is to make recommendations and if it has concerns about policies to take those up separately with the Council, and the role of the staff is to provide objective and factual analysis of planning matters. In interpreting its policies, Council benefits from the experiences of the Commission in applying those policies in the context of the review of permit applications. The importance of the Planning Commission being as factual, objective, and working within the context of existing planning processes and policies was underscored. Council members emphasized the importance of Planning Commission deliberations being as separate and independent of individual Council members' influence as possible. It was also stated that if the Planning Commission wants to understand the reasoning for Council actions on items that the Commission should review the resolutions documenting Council actions on planning matters and other written documentation, as well as reviewing Council meeting videos, and having dialogues with staff. These three approaches will generally offer sufficient explanation of Council actions. In addition, the Planning Commission needs to explain how rules and regulations are applied to specific planning issues to help the Council in understanding the Commission's reasoning and assist in guiding the Council's decision-making process. K\MGR\AdminWorkFiles\2007 Council Reports\SUMMARY OF TOWN COUNCIL AND PLANNING COMMISSION RETREATI.doc EXHIBIT A The Council was very clear that dialogue with individual Council members before a planning matter is acted on is strongly discouraged. It was also noted that if a Council member or Planning Commission member plans to attend the other's regularly scheduled meeting, the Mayor or Planning Commission Chair should be advised in advance, as a courtesy. The Town Attorney provided an explanation of the process for accepting and weighing evidence. The Town Attorney's written summary of that explanation was provided to the Town Council and Planning Commission members after the Retreat. While little time was spent in reviewing the Best Practices document, it was agreed that much of the discussion about roles and relationships centered on aspects of this document and that Commissioners, Council and staff should periodically review the six concepts spelled out in the paper. The Mayor and Chair of the Planning Commission offered brief closing comments about the importance of the candid dialogue that had occurred, the importance of the Mayor and Chair effectively running the meetings, and the need to understand respective roles of the Town Council and Commission while respecting the importance of factual, objective and independent perspectives of each body. It should be noted that no concerns were expressed regarding the quality of staff work by the Planning Department or the Town Attorney. Summary Notes Prepared by: LES WHITE Facilitator N:AMGR\AdminWorkFiles\2007 Council Reports\SUMMARY OF TOWN COUNCIL AND PLANNING COMMISSION RFTREATI.doc -2-