On Tuesday, the Oakley City Council is set to begin interviewing applicants as the city is set to reestablish its Planning Commission.
Interviews will occur during Tuesdays city council meeting and they seek to appoint 5-members.
The move comes after the council held a work session in January to discuss the possibility of establishing a seperate planning comission. It was followed by an April meeting where the council was presented with results of its community survey.
According to Survey Results, 88.8% surveyed want the city to re-establish the planning commission as a separate body from the city council. Meanwhile, just 12.7% are in support of the City Council continuing to act as the Planning Commission. Oakley currently has Citizen Planning Advisors, just 24.6% are in support of continuing that model versus establishing a separate Planning Commission.
At the June meeting, the council agreed in a 5-0 vote to re-establish the Planning Commission. This was followed by the July 13, 2021 City Council Meeting, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 06-21, which amended and updated the Municipal Code regarding the Planning Commission.
Staff solicited applications during the period from August 13, 2021 to September 10, 2021. A total of 13 applications where received and have been attached to this report. Staff will ask the City Council to conduct interviews of the 13 applicants, rank the 13 applicants using a forced ranking, and then appoint 5 of the applicants to serve on the Planning Commission. After the 5 are appointed, Staff recommends that the City Clerk then draw lots to determine the terms of the office for the initial appointments.
The applicants include:
- Ravinder S. Batth
- Shannon Shaw
- John B. Amie
- Leamord Price
- Al Bergman
- Diego Verduzco
- Edward J. Cire
- Chandan Joarder
- Don M. Aguillard
- Oleksii Chuiko
- Leland Fried
- Conan Moats
- Jacqueline de Guzman
According to the Staff Report, as a matter of order, the City Council will still need to rescind Ordinance No. 06-09, which allowed the City Council to assume all responsibilities of the Planning Commission. That action would come at a later date but before the first Planning Commission meeting.
The Planning Commission will be tasked with:
- Deciding on all matters referred to by the Zoning Administrator, Parcel Maps (fewer than 5 parcels), Conditional Use Permits and Design Review (when not a Staff level approval).
- Making recommendations to the City Council on all proposed development agreements, zone changes, zoning text amendments, adoption or amendments to specific plans or the General Plan, and other legislative land-use matters.
- Periodically reviewing the Capital Improvement Program.
- Approving, adopting, or certifying environmental documents, to the extent required under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), for any matters for which the commission is the deciding body.
- For matters in which the Planning Commission acts as a recommending body, it shall make recommendations concerning any CEQA documents in conjunction with its recommendations concerning the merits of the proposed actions.
The City Council will appoint five Planning Commissioners to serve four-year terms. (The initial appointment will require a staggered appointment of 2 and 4 year terms.)
To review the applicant applications, click here.
Oakley City Council Meeting
Tuesday, October 12, 2021
6:30 PM
Full Agenda
