In the board because saying that no board in a city basically we're not allowed to serve on a multiple different boards and not dealing with some different conflict of interest uh regarding different boards, city employees, um in different departments in the city, and I'm trying to get some context as we do appointments awards to get some clarity on some of these things.

Question we're gonna answer.

And Mr.

Chair, this is when the understanding that's been related to me from the law department that section twenty-six of the city charter prohibits a city council member from simultaneously holding other public office, which is what being on the board of RTA is considered to be a public office.

So that's that's our understanding uh in terms of this specific board appointment.

Uh because RTA board is is a public office.

Councilman.

Yeah, good.

Anybody else?

All right.

Without objection, uh the appointment of Chanel Smith Wiggum to the Greater Improvement Regional Transit Authority is approved.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Please keep in touch.

I will keep in touch.

Okay.

All right.

That leaves us with one last issue to resolve today, and that would be the City Planning Commission.

We have Mr.

Anthony R.

Whitfield with us today.

Mr.

Whitfield and um Mr.

Director Chief, I think it's director member Smith.

Yeah.

But it's not an appointment, they don't get aid.

We have a couple of things that we're required to have council members on who are not paid members under the double office thing.

We can't vote on that.

Okay.

Um while we kick those issues over.

Um next up is City Planning Commission.

We have uh director, right?

Uh Bursman with us and um uh and uh Mr.

Anthony R.

Whitfield.

Um before we begin, director, would you like to say anything?

Thank you, Chairman and committee members.

I'm very pleased to be here with Mr.

Whitfield today to um recommend him for your approval uh and nomination to the Cleveland City Planning Commission.

Mr.

Whitfield has served on our uh voluntary design review committees for several years and also brings a diverse and robust background in terms of engineering and technical development expertise, community development and engagement, and the design review uh purview of city planning.

So he knows our policies and practices very well as well as having more multiple hats and serve different roles in the continuum of development that comes through city planning.

Thank you, Director.

Uh Mr.

Uh Whitfield, would you like to say anything before we begin the grilling?

Well, thank you.

Good afternoon, good to see all of you and uh thank uh director Mersman for uh glowing remarks.

Um most of them are true.

Um but it's been a pleasure to serve throughout the design district so many years.

It's been uh about fifteen years for me.

I mean um twenty now.

I've uh spent fifteen years as director of economic development in Fairfax Renaissance Development Corporation and remaining five years as my own consultant and I still am engaged in design review and chaired uh Southeast Region Design Review for about four years.

You know, currently serving on the Euclidean corridor of Buckeye and design review.

Um and uh it's just been a pleasure to to do that and to help strengthen the design that we put forth in our city.

So we have some new more uniformity in the work that we do.

Uh thank you.

Uh my question to the planning commission uh nominees is always the same.

Are you prepared to spend all day Friday with us?

Um these commission meetings can be very long.

Uh longer than the Wednesday mornings or whenever you're your uh uh design review committee met.

Um do you have the time on Friday mornings still until morning to afternoon for this?

Yes, I do.

I've been there a few times.

Uh and uh it's uh it's difficult but we plan for it.

So I understand how that works.

And uh I don't have a problem with it.

These can be some of the longer conversations and more detailed conversations that really require people to pull parts and things as part of the um councilman.

Thank you, thank you.

To the director.

Um how many positions are all of them filled right now on city planning?

To the councilman through the chair, there are seven members of the city planning commission with Mr.

Whitfield's addition, all of them will be filled.

We also just came through council with legislation to allow us to appoint two paid alternates.

So we'll be posting for those that passed fully, I believe, on October 6th.

So we'll be bringing two recommendations for alternates in front of you too in the near future to help round out and when our um formal commission members are not able to join, we'll be able to alternates.

One of those seven is council members life.

There is a designated council seat on the planning commission.

So um is Mr.

Whitfield replacing somebody.

We have had a vacancy for a couple of months.

There was a woman named Isabella McKnight who is on planning commission who I believe moved away.

And so we've been working to that fill up that vacancy.

Okay.

Um one of the things I wanted to mention to uh Mr.

Whitfield.

Um we know that the whole construction um with regard to new housing, the the whole um process is evolving and changing and has been changing over the years.

And we're seeing more and more uh requests for modular homes in the city and I've just been working with and been working with Habitat for humanity for a long period of time.

Um and they just have put up ten houses in the community and I'm very um very supportive that I've advocated uh modular homes for a long period of time.

Um there's still issues pertaining to manufactured homes because the issue pertaining to getting a mortgage or securing a mortgage on that type of unit of construction.

But one of the challenges that we have continue to have in our neighborhoods is the issue with front load garages.

And that is something that is just um hurt me to no end.

Um as it pertains to this whole problem or objection or reluctance to allow front load garages in the city.

I live on a street where I have a front load garage.

My neighbor on the other side uh and across the street has a back has a freestanding garage.

Um my whole street is like that.

Front load garages, standalone garages in the backyard.

Um and those the homes were built in the sixty four, sixty-five.

Okay.

I I don't understand.

We we we permitted it then.

They were allowed to construct then.

These were stick built homes.

But now um there's this objection to front low garages.

And I I don't know what your position is or if you've even had an opportunity to think about that.

But I think we have to be creative.

We have to be flexible.

And when we have folks that are willing to invest in our neighborhoods.

Um willing to build new and or desiring to put up a front load garage.

I think we need to be we need to be supportive or we need to be understandable, understanding that request and figure out how we can make it happen.

Uh especially on we've got eighteen thousand vacant lots and we'll never be able to fill those lots and th they'll be vacant until the second coming under the present process, okay.

We've got to s we've got to jump start new housing construction in the city.

So I'm on board for modular, I've been on board for a long time.

But um this whole uh reluctance um to have front low garages is just to me it's my body.

So what's your thoughts?

I agree.

I agree.

I'm on board with the modular housing.

I think it's um it gives an alternative to stick building and other forms of housing that we're gonna build.

The front load garage has been a discussion we've had in design review for years.

Uh we've seen many photographs of neighborhoods as one of this and one of that.

And I think the concern has been and pardon the the the expression looking like a pet word quilt.

Okay.

Where's the symmetry?

What do things look right?

Similar.

Um because I talk with people who are looking at housing uh they'd like to see some symmetry.

So but there may be some areas where we should just only have um attached to detached from the rear.

Okay.

And those that are in the front.

So not one end one or the other.

I don't think the alternating uh designs work very well in my opinion.

Uh I would like to see uh move forward and have further discussions about how we address that kind of housing.

But the idea of having um uh module housing, I think is a is a great great thing.

Okay.

I think it's probably the fastest way we're going to address housing uh moving forward.

Okay.

So you're you're on board with the modular homes, but you still have issues pertaining to fr front low garages.

I have some.

Okay.

Not that they're bad, but it's how we can figure cluster of homes.

Okay.

Well again what I'm looking for is flexibility.

Um again I live in what they call the Northwood development.

It's a complete mixture of that front load backyard garages all the and I see nothing wrong with with the in fact it's a higher highly desirable area to live in and um and it was allowed in six sixty four sixty five in that period of time uh built uh then by um I think well I'm trying to think of well built by Carl Millstein that was the developer, the builder at the time and so um I just want to I want to figure out how we can we can jump start to new housing and if people um if people are willing to come in because the reason I said there were two gentlemen who wanted to build two houses in the Glenville neighborhood Martha St.

Clair on a street that had you know abandoned homes, empty lots and these two guys got jerked around for years.

I mean they just got jerked around for years because they want to be front old garages.

And I just said to myself look at this street.

And we've got two minority uh individuals who want to developers want to build no houses and they're not they're getting their chain pulled here.

It really upset me.

So I I'm hoping that we can have some flexibility maybe some creative approach to new housing construction in the city.

That's my point of I think uh that's terrible not to be able to build new houses.

Yes.

Uh but I also think we should give consideration to how we do that again it's it's you know all of one or all of the other some in some neighborhoods.

Yeah no I would say I could envision where they might work but that again becomes how we look at design we want to do in the way else the councilman started No my question I definitely would ask for Miss Woodfield.

I know City Planning Commission have different goals and different things that they prioritize when they're looking at each case that is um before them.

I will ask what is your thoughts or what would be a resolution if a council member don't support the uh project and the commission wants to support it.

How do we would join that situation to the chair Ms Woodfield That's a good question.

And I think it takes uh some time sitting across the table to have a conversation a real conversation um to understand where the differences are and how we can resolve it.

If it's a technical issue we can generally find a way to resolve that.

If it's just something we just don't like uh and it's very personal that's another situation I won't call anybody out but I think it's the conversation that needs to take place uh and and to work through a resolution rather than to hire fight over a committee.

Okay.

So therefore you're trying to find a medium to see what we could do or are you talking about straight legal technicality saying hey we are not buying what the council person looking for we just looking at what the law states or the policy states.

Oh I I think the former is preferable.

You should sit and have a conversation with the council representative and try to find a way to make it work.

Uh the legal fight us it takes a very long time and it's very expensive and we might get what you want and to your point councilman um who have neighborhoods and just don't get developed.

And I think and the work that we do is important to figure out how to make it work it's a user solution and trying to figure out how not to make it work.

Because we as a city in our communities and our our residents suffer because of that to your point uh council just too many vacant lots in this city and there are too many people who need homes and we should get about business and try to make that work and wait for work to and sometimes maybe it's a change of building cover.

I don't know I mean I won't see that's out of the the realm of kind of possibilities but I think the kind of conversation needs to be on the table.

Okay, so um through that point the way the city planning commission set the agenda are you familiar with that process?

If so can you elaborate some people and if you as our own at least understand how that starts I'm not sure I understand the question for the planning commission.

The agenda with things come up do you know how it gets scheduled out generally speaking yes.

Could you elaborate on um I don't set the agenda I'm not sure what how does the planning commission work on things that go before the planning commission direction to the councilman through the chair we usually receive outreach from an applicant either through filing a building permit or through direct contact to our department depending on where that is located within the city and what the improvement is it may be scheduled for a design review advisory committee if it's in a design review district.