I'm pretty interested in the balance between having overall city policies that make sense, and allowing the community to have meaningful participation in project-specific city decision making. In that context, I found this article in the Southwest Journal fascinating. The article may have left some stuff out. But it gives the impression that a number of people in the neighborhood, including the neighborhood association president, felt that the City could and should deny a conditional use permit for a check cashing business simply on the basis that the neighborhood was opposed to it. To these individuals it felt like an offense and disrespect of neighborhood input that the Planning Commission approved the CUP in spite of the neighborhood opposition. Whether or not SJ oversimplified the situation in Tangletown, the idea is out there in some parts that meaningful neighborhood input means doing what neighborhoods want, plain and simple.
The story underscores the following facts: A) neighborhood input is advisory. B) neighborhood (or other) input is most relevant to the degree that it bears on the findings that must be made for different types of development applications. (For example: whether the neighborhood wants a check cashing business is not particularly relevant to the consideration of a conditional use permit. Whether and how such a business can be made compatible in design, traffic impacts, noise generation, etc with surrounding properties is the subject at hand. And approval can be conditioned on such factors.) There are a lot of directions we could go with this. But I'd be interested to hear other stories about neighborhood input on development projects, and what people learned about the kinds of input that was appropriate/inappropriate or effective/ineffective. After we trade some illustrative stories, I was thinking we could try a Issues List conversation on whether and how neighborhood input can still be meaningful, even where it must be balanced against overall city policies, and limited by the particular context of the decision at hand? Tom Leighton City Planner Seward http://www.swjournal.com/display/inn_news/news01.txt REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
