Attending a Planning-Related Public Hearing

Hi,

I am Dave and I'm an undergrad student at WSU and as part of an assignment for a class, I must attend a planning-related public hearing [[and do a subsequent summary/analysis/critique paper). The meeting can be of planning commissions, zoning boards, zoning boards of appeal. Others may be accepted possibly, but those are the best candidates as said in syllabus. City council meetings are generally not planning-related, but there are times they are and it must be verified as an important component of the agenda.

I would prefer it be somewhere closer to where I live or reasonably close to Wayne State. I live downriver, in Riverview to be exact and commute/can drive.

I am coming here because I am having trouble finding any indication of the schedule for the city of Detroit's planning commission but also, would prefer to check out what's going on in this regard, in the city of Detroit. This isn't the first time finding something on the city website has proved difficult or is non-existent. I will cut the city some slack, but a proposal is due Tuesday and I probably wouldn't have much time to make communication through mediums like email/phone [[in-person may work) unless city buildings will be open Monday, unlike public schools [[which is is not the case apparently).

If anyone has any suggestions on or can provide information on:

A.) Detroit's city planning commission schedule [[and agenda if possible)

B.) Any recommendations for planning-related public hearings aside from Detroit

I'd love to read suggestions.

Thanks,
Dave

http://www.detroitmi.gov/Default.aspx?tabid=2557

Just call them.

Here's a thread about the City Charter Revision Commission. Meetings are coming up, in about 10 days and beyond...

http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...sion-Phase-III

ptreo, Charter Revision Commission is not a Planning Commission or a ZBA.

Every City and most townships in the regions willhave these that meet regularly. My advice is to start calling the City/Township halls of places that you may find interesting.

Trying to find information about upcoming planning-related municipal public hearings on the Internet is difficult, even with those municipalities that routinely post their Boards and Commission agendas on the Internet.

Generally, the larger the city, the more often their Planning Commission and ZBA will meet. I don't know about Detroit, but in the larger suburban cities and townships they generally have regular meetings [[the ones with the public hearings) no more than twice a month. They will sometimes have study session meetings [[discussion only - no decisions) on the weeks between their regular meetings. These boards and commissions generally set their next meeting's agenda during each meeting based on the planning director's recommendation, so you don't get a lot of advance notice about a specific public hearing.

My advice is to find a nearby city or township that
a) updates their website on a weekly basis
b) has already posted the 2011 meeting schedule for their boards and commissions and which shows that they have at least one regular meeting per month
c) call that municipality's planning director and tell them about your assignment and ask if there is an "interesting" rezoning [[or special land use) request that is about to go on the planning commission's agenda.
d) if there is, try to first attend the informal study session [[if they have one, these are public meetings that anyone can attend) so you can hear the petitioner present their case, the planning director's assessment of the parcel in question and the surrounding land uses and then the commissioner's questions. Depending on the chairperson and/or the commission's rules, you might even be allowed to ask questions of the chair during their discussion about the rezoning case, otherwise you might have to wait until the public comment section of the study session agenda
e) attend the planning commission's regular meeting which has the public hearing for the rezoning request on its agenda. In most municipalities, the planning commission is a recommending body that is appointed by the elected mayor/city council/township board. The planning commission's decision is in the form of a recommendation to approve, approve with modifications or deny. This recommendation is forwarded to the elected body and should be based on their assessment as to how well the request fits their municipality's master plan and planning philosophy.
f) attend the city council/board of trustee regular meeting which has the public hearing for the rezoning request. This public hearing will include the written planning commission recommendation, simplified presentations from the petitioner and the planning director and comments from the public. Their final decision can be based on many different factors in addition to the issues considered by the planning commission.

The Detroit Board of Zoning Appeals meets on Tuesdays at 9:00 am in the CAYMC 13th floor auditorium [[I believe it was recently renamed the Erma Henderson Auditorium). The City Planning Commission meets on Thursday around 5 or 6 in the City Council chambers on the 13th floor. The City Council's Planning and Economic Development Committee meets every Thursday at 10:00.

Caveats: Most offices in CAYMC are closed this Monday for the Martin Luther King Holiday and on Tuesday due to a furlough day. Because of this shortened week, all of those meetings are likely postponed or their schedules are otherwise modified. The City website gives you information about the functions of those meetings, however, you would not be able to get new meeting time information or agendas for the meetings until folks return to their offices on Wednesday. As I often ask my seventh grader...how much time did your teacher give you to complete this assignment, dear? ;)

If you can find e-mail addresses for elected officials in the various cities that you're interested in, try e-mailing them. Maybe they will check their e-mail and can point you in the right direction to find what you need. Also check the newpapers, I THINK that by law all public meetings have to be publicized somehow to citizens.

Thanks for all the input! I appreciate it. A couple of people sent me PM's, too.

-Dave

http://www.detroitmi.gov/CityCouncil...9/Default.aspx

"Watch Council Sessions", left hand side.