Petaluma to appoint new members on revamped Planning Commission

Petaluma City Council members on Monday are set to reconfigure a new Planning Commission in what has been billed either as a move toward efficiency or a power-grab by the slow-growth majority.

In June, the council dissolved its former Planning Commission and the Site Plan and Architectural Review Committee, combining them into one seven-member board.

But three former planning commissioners sued the city, saying they were illegally dismissed from their volunteer jobs because the council violated its own rules for replacing sitting commission members.

Since then, the council has passed four new ordinances that change those rules. On Monday, the council is set to reappoint a new, combined board that will consider development proposals in the city of 56,000.

“It's been frustrating. That's the best way of saying it,” said Spence Burton, one of the three dismissed planning commissioners who filed suit. “None of us wanted to sue. The three of us are politically worlds apart, but we agreed on one thing. If you're a city, you do things legally.”

Members of the council's 4-3 majority — a common vote along political lines in Petaluma development issues — say the consolidation will make planning more efficient and cost-effective.

Those who voted among the minority, though, say the majority simply wanted to do away with commissioners and committee members who think differently than they do. “A naked power grab,” is how Councilman Mike Healy described it.

The changes also require that all large developments such as shopping centers and housing subdivisions automatically go to the City Council for final approval.

Petaluma had the three-tiered structure for more than 30 years. Several cities in Sonoma County use a multi-level planning approval, including Santa Rosa, Sonoma, Sebastopol and Cotati.

In the interim, a new board was appointed, retaining only previous planning commission members.

The new Planning Commission to be voted on Monday is billed as a “reconstituted” board.

“As kid, I had reconstituted orange juice. Reconstitution never made things better,” Burton said. “What's most frustrating to me is that it's just not good politics. Now in the next election cycle, the new council could fire everyone again.”

Sixteen Petaluma residents, including seven former members of either the Planning Commission or the Site Plan Committee, have applied for six vacancies. A city council liaison acts as the seventh member.

Terms are four years, but to stagger term-ending dates, as many as three members may be appointed for one, two or three-year terms.

You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 762-7297 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com.