OCEAN CITY – The upcoming joint meeting between the Mayor and Council and the Ocean City Planning Commission apparently can’t come soon enough as the rift between the two bodies on certain issues appears to be widening.
For the last several months, the planning commission has been reviewing and holding requisite public hearings on maybe a dozen proposed code amendments. After the proper protocols are followed, the planning commission typically sends a favorable recommendation to the Mayor and Council for further discussion and a vote one way or the other. It’s been a standard practice for years.
How the process works is, the planning commission gets a recommendation from the staff on a proposed code change needed to address a specific issue. After vetting the issue, the planning commission, as the hearing body for the Mayor and Council, holds the requisite public hearing. After the public hearing, the findings of fact and transcripts are forwarded to the Mayor and Council along with a recommendation.
It’s important to note the elected officials are not beholden to follow the recommendation of the planning commission and make up their own minds on a specific issue or code change. More often than not, the council tends to follow the recommendation of the commission, but lately there have been more than a few occasions when the Mayor and Council went the other way.
For example, last week the Mayor and Council had before them recommendations from the planning commission for two proposed code amendments. One would modify pyramidal zoning, or zoning in which different mixed uses would be allowed in certain zoning districts. The second would address garage parking for multi-family residential areas.
There is nothing that “appears”.
Walks like a duck…
If it smells fishy…..
Something is a brewin again.
Reminds me of the edict – Do as I say, not as I do. Garages on homes….hmmmm???
City FAIL again. Can’t even get out of their own way. Nothing remains secret. MARK PADDOCK