Oakley Survey Shows 88.8% Want City to Re-establish the Planning Commission

On Tuesday, the Oakley City Council will hold a work session to discuss the results of its survey on whether or not the city should move forward with relaunching its planning commission.

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.

The City Council is now considering whether to:

• re‐establish the Planning Commission as a separate body
• or keeping the responsibilities of the Planning Commission as they are currently set up, which includes a small group of residents who serve as Planning Advisors

The Planning Commission is a committee made up of five or more individuals who have been appointed by the governing body (city council or board of supervisors) to review and act on matters related to planning and development.  The role is to act as an advisory board to the city council to provide recommendations or be a decision making body to ensure development is consistent with the General Plan.

The city first had its planning commission back in 1999, however, by 2009, due to lack of development, the council took over the duties and did away with the commission. However, over the years, the idea of bringing it back has been brought up several times but its not gone anywhere.

In January, the council opted to move forward with a survey to ask residents for their input rather than just kill the idea–however, the concern is that they do not have enough people participating in the Planning Commissioner Advisory Role it currently has. The survey was released in February and the results are now in.

In total, 304 people visited the topic with 134 registered responses.

Are you aware that the City Council currently acts as the City of Oakley Planning Commission?

• Yes – 79.1% (106)
• No – 20.9 %  (28)

Are you aware that the City of Oakley has a Citizen Planning Advisor group responsible for the review of subdivision’s and projects to determine consistency with our adopted Residential and Commercial Design Guidelines?

• Yes – 47.8% (64)
• No – 52.2% (70)

Are you in support of the City Council continuing to act as the Planning Commission?

• Yes – 12.7% (17)
• No – 87.3% (117)

Are you in support of the City Council re-establishing the Planning Commission as a separate body?

• Yes – 88.8% (119)
• No – 11.2% (15)

Are you in support of the City Council continuing to use the Citizen Planning Advisors instead of re-establishing a separate Planning Commission?

• Yes – 24.6% (33)
• No – 75.4% (101)

If a separate Planning Commission was established, what is your level of interest in serving the community as a Planning Commissioner?

• Very Low – 12.7% (17)
• Low – 11.9% (16)
• Not Sure – 33.3% (42)
• High – 21.6% (29)
• Very High – 22.4% (30)

Based on the information in this survey, do you feel like you would apply to be a City of Oakley Planning Commissioner?

• Yes – 45.5% (61)
• No – 54.5% (73)

If the City Council chooses to remain and act as the Planning Commission, what is your level of interest in serving the community as a Citizen Planning Advisor?

• Very Low – 17.2% (23)
• Low – 16.4% (22)
• Not Sure – 28.4% (38)
• High – 20.1% (27)
• Very High – 17.9% (24)

Based on the information in this survey, do you feel like you would apply to be a City of Oakley Citizen Planning Advisor?

• Yes – 43.3% (58)
• No – 56.7% (76)

To review the survey results, click here.

For the full agenda, click here.