Speaker numbers apply only to this recording. Names come from transcript evidence. “Possibly” marks uncertain attribution.
The meeting was called to order at 6:00 PM by the Chair. A quorum was present with three members absent. The agenda was approved unanimously. Principal Planner Derek Dunworth clarified that the draft mobile vending ordinance was delayed for additional outreach and analysis, with a revised target of early 2027. Staff announced the hiring of Associate Planner Hadley Ward. The Chair made announcements regarding community events and called for applicants for upcoming Planning Commission vacancies.
Okay, it is six o'clock, and we like to start things on time, so I'm gonna call this meeting to order. Um we do have a quorum. We do have um three members absent, but we are quorum. We're very grateful for Rachel tonight because she is voting. So excellent. Um with that, can I get a motion to approve the agenda? So all those in favor? Aye. Aye. Okay, thank you so much, guys. Um staff. Yes, thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair, Derek Dunworth, Principal Planner. Good evening, Commissioners. Um first I would like to clarify in case there's any um lingering confusion or concern about the reason that you are not considering the draft mobile vending ordinance this evening. We did do the public hearing notice in accordance with state regulations to notice an ordinance amendment 20 days prior to a public hearing. We did that. Uh in the interim three or four weeks, it was decided that because we were uh we are working to put together a very fair, very transparent program for both mobile vending and sidewalk vending, that we wanted to take more time to do additional public outreach and do some more analysis of the draft sidewalk ordinance that that we currently have, and so we are doing those tasks, and uh City Manager uh Dunstan has directed staff to continue that work, and so we anticipate at this time that the mobile vending, the draft mobile vending ordinance would come before planning commission early-ish in 2027. We'll depend on our path through the additional outreach and our path through doing additional analysis on the sidewalk vending side of things, and we want to make sure that we have given it a very rigorous review and made sure that we have done everything we possibly can to reach out to and receive feedback from the various stakeholders, the sidewalk vendors, the mobile vendors, the business community at large, all the business stakeholders. Uh so that's why that's not on this evening's agenda. If anyone is here to speak to the mobile vending ordinance, they can of course use public regular public comment. Um, and so beyond that, I just want to let you all know that on October 12th, our associate planner Hadley Ward started. So I'm pleased to announce and beyond pleased to announce that plannings is fully staffed at this point. Um Hadley came to us from City of Woodlands. She has considerable experience with woodland sidewalk and mobile vending ordinance, but she comes to us with a lot of other research uh background and processing background. She's been a technician, she's been an assistant planner, so she's working her way through the various roles, and we're very excited to have her. She actually prepared one of the materials that's a hard copy for you this evening for the general plan update item. So delighted to be able to share that news with you. And I will share that with everything else that's going on, not just community development staff, but public work staff, fire staff. Um we are working police to really all the departments. We are working through a process improvement process. We are taking a look at our pre-entitlement, entitlement, post-entitlement, internal processes for shepherding uh discretionary entitlements and administrative entitlements through our process, and we're working through that to identify where our gaps are, where we lack technology, and where the people can make up the gap until we get said said technology, and so we're doing all of that uh in preparation for what we anticipate to be a fairly heavy workload between all of our usual business. Um we are expecting some projects to be coming in, if not immediately after the election, very soon thereafter. We are expecting quite a bit of work to come in the door after the holidays. So we're doing that work alongside all the other work. So I don't have too much else to report on in terms of projects. The downtown projects have are continuing a pace. If you've driven past 500 G, there is a foundation not just framed up but poured. I mean, that it's moving along. And so if anyone has any questions about any projects, if I have an update, I'm happy to provide it or bring it back or provide it as an email at another time. So thank you. Thank