Planning Commission

FAIRMONT PLANNING COMMISSION The regular meeting of the Fairmont Planning Commission was held on July 19, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. at the Public Safety Building located at 500 Quincy Street. President Straight called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and asked for a roll call of members. ROLL CALL OF MEMBERS MEMBERS PRESENT MEMBERS ABSENT Commissioner Yann Commissioner Blickenstaff Commissioner Richardson Commissioner Parker Commissioner Majic Commissioner Colley Commissioner Carpenter Commissioner Greene President Straight Commissioner Yann motioned to excuse Commissioners Blickenstaff, Parker, Colley, and Greene from tonight’s meeting. Commissioner Richardson seconded the motion. Motion carried 5-0. CITY STAFF City Planner – Sandra Scaffidi Senior Staff Assistant – Maria Cipolla PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM June 21, 2017 Commissioner Yann motioned to approve the minutes. Commissioner Richardson seconded the motion. Motion carried 5-0. PUBLIC HEARING FOR July 19, 2017 None PUBLIC HEARING TO SET FOR AUGUST 16, 2017 None NEW BUSINESS None CITIZENS PETITION (For items not listed on the agenda) Citizens must register in advance with the recording secretary) None OTHER BUSINESS 1. Commissioner Comments: Commissioner Richardson – Job Well Done! Commissioner Yann: We had a presentation a few weeks ago, that Sandra [Scaffidi], Maria [Cipolla], and Martha [Richards], put together. Jesse Richardson is a lawyer from WVU and professor. If you didn’t attend, you really need to attend if they offer it again. We all learned from it. I would recommend the BZA and Planning Commission attend one of his presentations. It should be required. What I got out of it was, we can’t rule on emotion. There were a lot of hypothetical situations brought up. Jesse explained every one of them. If we use  emotions, it is going to lead to a law suit. Commissioner Richardson was there. He and I brought up situations we thought would be pertinent and Jesse shot us down. President Straight: The good thing about the presentation was Jesse Richardson brought up a lot of good points. We have to be consistent with the decisions we make because people are just waiting to drop hammer on us. I think the more consistent that we are as a Board, and the more informed that we are to make these sound decisions, I think will be good for the City. Commissioner Yann: If you didn’t get anything out of the presentation, you at least received a good meal out of it (laughter). Commissioner Majic: How was the attendance for that working session? President Straight: It was good. Sandra Scaffidi: City Council had a good turnout. President Straight: It was me, Houston Richardson, Frank Yann, Walt Colley, Tom Mainella, and a few others. Commissioner Majic: Any plans to have it again in the future? Sandra Scaffidi: Yes. Commissioner Majic: I would definitely be interested. Maria Cipolla: We are trying to do one before a BZA meeting or when there is nothing on the agenda for BZA. It directly impacts the BZA and most of them did not attend. He covered a lot of information on zoning, variances, conditional and non-conforming uses, and grandfathering issues. We will be extending the invitation to everybody on our Boards and Commissions. He can’t give us direct legal advice for specific issues the City is having. Sandra Scaffidi: I know the Code can be a little dry, but I thought it was really interesting. President Straight: He was very informative. Everything we asked had to be hypothetical. Commissioner Yann: He was very knowledgeable. You may not like the answers you got, but gave the right answer. Sandra Scaffidi: We could have kept him there another two hours. Commissioner Majic: Just one more quick comment. I want to offer an apology to Sandra [Scaffidi] and the Commissioners. These last couple of meetings I haven’t been available. I know they have been last minute call- ins that weren’t received until later which is my fault. I recently took a new position within my company. They relocated me out of town about an hour and half north. It has been bit of a challenge, but I’m working through it. I wanted to let you know that if it does become a problem, obviously, I will have to put in my resignation. I do want to continue to be a part of this Commission. Again, I apologize. Sandra Scaffidi: Thank you. We are all learning here; even the people that have been on the Board for a while are learning new things. 2. Staff Updates: Sandra Scaffidi: We just received a partial draft of our Comprehensive Plan. It isn’t quite going in the direction I was expecting it to go. Our consultant is coming down next week. She is going to talk us through it and share her reasoning on some things. Hopefully, before the August meeting, we will have a real draft that I can share  with all of you. You can make your comments and hopefully we will get it in the direction that you want it to go in. That is all for now. ADJOURNMENT President Straight: Do we have a motion to adjourn? Commissioner Yann: I moved to adjourn. Commissioner: I second the motion. Motion carried 5-0