Evening and welcome to the June 3rd, 2026 regular meeting of the Town of Erie Pointing Commission.

The time is now 6 30 p.m.

and I'm calling this meeting to order.

Please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Commissioner Booth.

Present.

Commissioner Lee.

Present.

Commissioner Dreck.

Present.

Commissioner Sawish.

Live from Town Hall.

Commissioner Schatz.

Here.

Vice Chair Brodus.

Present.

Chair Hempel.

Here.

We have a quorum.

Thank you.

We have an agenda before us this evening.

Does staff have any changes to the agenda?

No changes.

Who would like to make a motion?

Motion, directly?

Second.

Second by Booth.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed say no.

Motion passes unanimously.

This brings us to approval of the May 20th, 2026 pointing commission meeting minutes.

Do we have any changes or request to make a motion?

Move to approve.

Second.

That was Brodus and Dreckman on the second.

We have a motion and a second.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed say no.

Motion passes unanimously.

This brings us to the public comments portion of the meeting.

This is for public comments intended for items not already scheduled on the agenda to be discussed.

Is there anyone in the waiting room signed up or in the audience?

I do have one signed up.

It is Sam Badger, so we're gonna allow him to talk.

Uh one second, let me go through my script and then we'll so public comment is limited to three minutes per person.

When you are called upon, you are required to state your name and place of residence for the record.

If you are appearing on behalf of a person or organization, please provide the name and place of residence of the person or organization you are representing.

Public comment is not an interactive question and answer form, but rather a time for you to state your comments on a particular item or issue.

You will be given an audible warning when you have 20 seconds remaining at the three-minute mark, the light will turn red for in-person, and I'll ask that you finish your final sentence.

If you are giving comments virtually, we will ask that you wrap up and mute your microphone.

Uh and we'll go to virtual.

Yes.

Great, thanks.

Uh my name is Sam Badger.

I live in the Parkdale neighborhood at 1324 Brookfield Place, Erie, Colorado.

Eight zero zero two six.

Um so yeah, I'm here to talk to you today about the um the parkdale school situation and um how it fits in with our parks.

Um going back to last year, a bunch of us neighbors realized that we were kind of lacking in parks.

Um we went back and forth with the town and the developer and everything.

And it sounds like you know, we we got our open space allocated near our neighborhood.

It's not really use usable by humans, it's a wetland, which is you know, fine, I guess.

Um the developer paid a fee in lieu of uh park dedication.

And then they, you know, we we were told we were going to be given a school, like the par the Parkdale school.

Um as we were talking about the park situation, the town's stance was like, well, you know, it's okay you guys don't have a neighborhood park going in in your park because the school is gonna be going in and you'll be able to use their fields and stuff, and um so that was like a big negotiating factor when we were going back when residents were going back and forth with the developer in the town, was that we would be getting this school.

And then I think just a few months ago, I haven't seen the official communication, and I'm trying to find out more about it, but I hear now that the school in Parkdale is being delayed potentially indefinitely.

I'm trying to find out more about it, but I hear now that the school in Parkdale is being delayed potentially indefinitely.

Um I'm not sure what the story is there, but I just wanted to point out that you know if that school isn't built, it leaves Parkdale both without without a neighborhood park, without like a decent place to participate in any sports like it within the neighborhood, and it's a big neighborhood.

And you know, our our wetlands or our open space is wetlands.

So you know, we that I know the developer paid this money, this fee in lieu of park dedication, which of course impacts the total cost of the neighborhood and is kind of uh included in our bonds that were taken out for the neighborhood.

I guess it kind of just feels like you know, the the new residents in Parkdale are paying for for other people's parks and not really getting not really being represented.

Um I'm done.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else on the line?

I don't have anyone else signed up but one other um guest in the waiting room.

So if you would like to speak, please raise your hand and we can call you into the meeting.

And no hands are raised.

Okay, thank you.

Um if you have any more specific questions that you'd like answered, you can email planning at eerieco.gov.

Uh we won't really get into parks and um fees and lows at this meeting right now, but just for your information.

Uh the we have two items on the agenda for general business.

Again, my goal is to have the meeting finished by 30.

Our first item is 2026 334, election of chair and vice chair of the planning commission.

The time is now 636 p.m.

So I sent out my procedure plan for this election for review yesterday.

Um I'm gonna read through this plan, go through it once in case you didn't have time to review it.

Uh, I'm gonna read through it in full.

Um, and then we can discuss if anybody would like to propose changes.

Um I'm following the uh planning on running this for both chair and then vice chair.

I discussed it with staff and legal.

Uh they didn't have any issues with it.

Um, and I just found this in Robert's rules.

It seemed like a good way to do it.

The last election felt a little weird.

Um, so this is kind of the the route that I figured would make the most sense.

We'll start with the chair election.

Um, after the chair is elected, we'll do vice chair.

Um, obviously the chair can't be vice chair.

Um process will be the same for both.

Uh I plan to preside over both elections, even if I'm not re-elected chair.

So if that's an issue for anyone, we can talk about that at the end.

Um, so the steps will go, we'll open the floor to nomination.

Step one, you don't need to be recognized to nominate anyone, you don't need a second.

So just say your name and I nominate this person.

I will announce that commissioner being nominated, uh, just for the record, so it's clear.

Um I'll ask if that nominated commissioner wants to be the chair or vice chair.

I think it's nice to uh want to be in that role.

Technically, we can elect anyone to be chair, but you know.

Um Robert's rules allows for speeches.

I don't plan on doing speeches from the nominated commissioner, but again, if we want to change that, we can.

After all nominations were received, I'll close the nomination with the phrase I'm closing nominations without objection.

Um if someone has an objection because I didn't give enough time to make a nomination, just speak up and we'll have a nomination.

Um we'll be doing the ballot vote.

So I created that sheet with uh all the names and the item or the position that we're filling, and then the vote number in case uh we don't get a majority.

I just wanted to mark vote number one, or if we get to a second round of voting, mark vote number two, just so uh we don't get the the papers mixed up in the as the secretary's counting.

So that was the reasoning behind that.

And again, I just threw all the names on there so we didn't have to scribble anything in.

Um staff will collect the ballots, count them, and then they announce the outcome just with the commissioner name elected to the position that we're voting on and then the vote count that they received.

Uh, we don't need to do the full vote breakdown if there's more than four votes for someone.

Uh, but if there's not more than or if there's fewer than four votes for someone, uh, you'll announce that no commissioner has been selected and we'll do a revote.

Um that'll just effectively clear all the the nominations.

So we'll go through the full nominating process just so it's clear that uh we do that.

Um those are my plans for the election.

Anyone have any comments or request to change?

Actually just thought of something, seeing as how everybody has iPads.

Do you have pens?

There should be pins in front of us.

Okay.

Okay.

So we'll start with the chair election and I'll open the floor to nominations.

Um I nominate Ben, the current chair.

Uh that was Vice Chair Brodus nominating Chair Hempel, and I accept that nomination.

I would like to nominate Commissioner Salash.

I accept.

Yeah, that was Commissioner Booth nominating Commissioner Sawish.

Sounds like enough silence for me.

I am closing the nominations without objection.

Okay.

Uh please fill out on the ballot uh mark chair for this one, mark one in the top, and then your vote.

We didn't cue up the elevator music, so sorry about that.

Or the Jeopardy music.

Oh yeah.

And Chair Hamhill, did you want us to announce the votes?

The numbers as well.

Just the number of votes that the winner received.

Okay.

So we have five total votes for Commissioner Sawish as chair.

Okay.

So Commissioner Salash will assume the role as chair for one year without objection.

I'll continue to the vice chair election.

Okay.

I will open the floor to nominations for vice chair.

I would like to nominate Commissioner Dreckman.

Okay.

We have uh Commissioner.

Nominated by Commissioner Booth.

And she accepted.

And I'd like to nominate Vice Chair Brodus.

Accept.

We have Vice Chair Brotus accepted the nomination by Commissioner Hempel.

Um closing the nominations without objection.

We'll do a ballot vote.

Um, we already did that.

So for this one, fill out vice chair, vote number one on the top, and then your vote for vice chair.

You're right, we need elevator music.

Yeah.

That'll be your role for next year.

Get on that.

I'll bring my boom back.

Okay.

I have five total votes for Commissioner Dreckman as vice chair.

Okay.

Thank you.

Commissioner Drekman will assume the role of vice chair for one year.

Chair Sawish, would you like to take over or should I continue presiding?

Um with the next item that we have coming up, I would uh prefer if uh Commissioner Dre or Vice Chair Dreckman and myself were to lead the conversation if you're fine with that.

Yep, thanks to spine.

Thank you.

Okay.

So we do have one additional uh officer that needs to be elected.

Um I want to check with staff and uh uh deputy town attorney on this one.

Um per code, there are three positions that would need to have an election.

The chair, vice chair, and a secretary.

Obviously, I know that staff are the ones who generally will take all the notes and everything like that, but um it is by code something that we are supposed to vote on.

So um I just wanna real quickly um I wanna have a moment for the deputy town attorney to um cooperate that and verify that yes, in fact we are by code supposed to have a secretary possible section three-1-4 of the code does provide that each board or commission shall elect a chair, vice chair, and secretary from among its full membership.

So uh there is a code requirement to elect a secretary, um, which I think the uh rules of procedure, I think which predate the the code which was uh revised in no November of 2025 also contemplates a secretary.

Um and looks like the duties and and responsibilities are consistent with what is in the code.

Okay, so obviously we have staff who does the secretary duties for us because of the nature of our order commission.

Um I'm assuming, but by code, we're required to have a secretary as one of the officers of this body, correct?

Uh by code, it does require a secretary to be elected from the body, yes.

Okay.

So I just want to confer with uh the commission up here.

Does anybody have any objections to us also electing a secretary?

Um and question then becomes for deputy town attorney whether or not we have to notice that since we are taking an official vote.

We did notice the election.

I'm just looking to see how the uh the the agenda was noticed.

Uh we did notice election of the positions or election of officers.

Yeah, it does the notice or the agenda doesn't specifically reference a uh election of a secretary.

Uh yeah, I I would suggest that this is the I think I don't know the the history of the code and whether a secretary was provided uh required prior to November of 2025, um, but I would suggest that uh we notice at the next meeting or notice for the next meeting and elect a secretary at the next meeting.

Okay.

I am fine with that.

Is anybody have any objections to that?

Question.

Please.

What is the what do you expect the role of the secretary to do?

I I would assume that if uh there was the off chance that staff wasn't able to attend for whatever reason, um that would be the individual to potentially take notes.

Um I don't think we've ever had uh somebody from staff not in attendance for one of our meetings, as long as I can remember.

Um you're correct.

Okay, so one please.

Sorry.

On the when we sign uh a vote.

There's two signatures, right?

Does the second one say where you usually sign now?

Does that say secretary or is it a for resolution?

Is that what you're asking me?

Yeah, you well, except if we go this route, then we have the secretary's name.

Correct.

Um that is a good item.

Um I'm gonna turn back to the deputy town attorney on that one.

Obviously, since this is gonna be something that next meeting we'll attend to, um, if you could please find out how that logistically would work out.

Um if we need to have an ordinance potentially for us specifically, where staff are the ones, because um as was just noted, resolutions in all those kinds of things.

Typically, it's the clerk for the council or it's town staff for the planning commission, if possibly we need to have it adjusted for us specifically, or if we need to alter the way that we are addressing those.

Yeah, I will look into that issue.

I also note that the board does have the authority to adopt uh bylaws with the approval of town council.

So I think some of that can be if the board wants to, or the commission wants to uh consider bylaws to memorialize election processes, um, the role of the the chair, vice chair, and secretary, and uh how resolutions are executed.

That's something that can be considered as well.

So I don't think it would necessarily necessarily require a code change.

Um I think that the board the commission does have some authority to establish the process for how you operate.

Okay.

Okay.

Um, we have a number of questions on that.

So if there's anything that you need to find um or look into on the back end, um, let us know.

Um any other questions regarding this, any other comments related uh to the chair, vice chair, or potential secretary.

No?

Okay.

All right, thank you.

So that leads us to the next item on our agenda 2026 335, the discussion of the annual report to town council.

Um Pill, since you were the one who uh initially drafted it, if you'd like to start the discussion on it, um, since I know we're gonna make some changes on it, but some of your thoughts and process when you're going through on that.

Yeah, I'll start.

Thank you.

Um I had so much time to open it, and here we are.

So this is this planning commission annual report to the town council has looked awfully similar for the last.

I don't think I've changed it much since I've been on here or seen it differently.

So I started from that.

Um the mission in the team, it's just an overview of everyone on the commission.

Uh because this presentation encompasses what we did for the last six months.

I put former commissioners Baham and Burns on there just to acknowledge that uh they were the majority of the work was done with them on the commission, but we have our new commissioners as well.

Obviously, I wrote this a few weeks ago, so I have myself as chair changed that.

Um, and then I the other item I just put staff on here because we're not a commission that works alone.

Um I thought it's nice to just acknowledge that the effort of staff that we had seen in the last six months.

Uh the one name that I missed on this first draft was high May.

So uh I started another draft.

I can send that to you, uh Chair Sawish when I get home and have it to you by the end of the week.

Please and thank you.

Uh just PowerPoint.

So hopefully you can handle that.

Um so that's the first page.

I can just blow through it and then we can all talk about it, or we could talk about it page by page.

Yeah, that's absolutely fine.

Okay.

So going over September 25 to May 26, just really high level discussion on the hearings that we heard.

Just had a list of all the the land use cases, uh, the Canyon Creek, Erie PD, Canyon Creek PD, um, which caused some confusion with the public.

So there's notes in the PowerPoint about which of those they are.

Uh Spring Hill, Sierra Vista, and Erie Junction just squeaked in there right at the end of May.

Um, and then just the collection of the UDC recommendations that we saw that staff brought to us that we recommended.

Um I don't go into the details of ultimately how we voted or if we had amendments.

It's not really that important, I don't think, but again, that's I don't think any council members ever asked about how these votes ever went.

Um and then the last one was just bringing up that um as part of those new commissioners.

Uh, we had the rules of procedure review, um, just so uh probably another edit would be the the SERSA and staff training that we had uh earlier this week.

I think that would be a good piece to add.

Uh so everyone's happy that we got uh some legal training as well.

Hopefully, you watch that exciting meeting, Commissioner Booth.

Um, and then the the last one is goals for 2026.

This is always the one that gets talked about the most.

Uh this one was I don't even think I changed this one from our last one.

Uh just because I know that it's it wasn't I don't think worth spending a huge amount of time trying to change this number or trying to change this slide without input from the full commission.

There was one item that I changed on the bottom.

Just you'll see this in the revision that I send you.

So in my communications with uh staff over the last few weeks or month or so, we've been discussing some of the future items, and that work plan was something that was planning to be brought up.

Uh so I didn't capture that in this draft, but I've written those words in the next draft.

So that is the end of the we're not as exciting as some of the other boards, and they have fun pictures and activities.

So that's uh that's mine.

Over to you, Chair Salish.

Thank you.

And uh thank you for putting the effort on this one.

Um so real quickly for the deputy town attorney.

Um again, this is something that was changed in November of 2025.

The uh section 315 of the municipal code of the reports.

It used to be a biannual report to the council, and now it says an annual report.

Is this going to be the only time until next year that we will be reporting in this way to the council?

Do you do by chance no?

I don't it's the only time it requires uh the code requires one uh report a year.

Um it doesn't mean the commission can't get on an agenda uh for additional conversations or presentations to the council.

Um that would just need to be worked through with staff and the town town manager to get on the agenda.

If there was anything else, I guess please.

Uh again with the staff meetings that I had, uh the expectation is that it would just be one.

That's what uh Kelly and Sarah were expecting, it'd just be a singular report.

Yeah, that was my understanding based on what I've seen in the conversations up there.

So thank you.

And if I recall during home rule, we decided it would be one, and if people needed to do more than one, it was optional.

Up to the town council to request.

Yep, and I know uh it's kind of monotony of it when it's literally the same information each spring and fall that these would typically occur.

So um, yeah, totally understand.

So, first off, uh, when we look through this, um, obviously, a mission when personally when I look through this uh mission and team, obviously that's uh something that is very standard.

Um, I don't really see any changes on here besides for you know the uh technical items um in terms of the review of what we've done since the last one seems pretty standard again.

Um now we get into the goals for 2026.

Um we do have a joint study session that is gonna be upcoming in July with the current town council.

Um there was a tentative agenda for that uh meeting.

Um, however, since some of the things that we have seen um or heard from staff, there may be some changes.

We know that uh the very bottom of this list, um, the exploring expanded role uh responsibilities of the planning commission, work with towns on task for PC to support town goals.

Um that is something that I know we have had conversations about, and has been something that um the council was willing to have as a uh discussion item for the future.

So um obviously I don't know what conversations uh former chair Humphill had with the mayor about a tentative agenda for that.

I don't know if there's been anything.

Um personally, I would like to see um some sort of conversation about the rules and responsibilities.

Um we have had conversations in the past about this.

Um we as this current or the previous rendition of it with uh um commissioners Baham and Burns.

There were conversations before that, and then conversations before that.

One of the things that has changed again, um, 315 and the municipal code are bylaws.

Um, I'm glad the deputy town attorney had brought that up because that was something that I also wanted to bring up.

Um, we correct me if I'm wrong uh for staff and for the deputy town attorney.

We as a planning commission do not have bylaws, correct?

There were rules of procedure that were adopted by council by resolution, I believe, in uh 2022.

Um, but the commission has not, to my knowledge, has not established bylaws um since the enactment of the revised boards and commissions code.

Okay, thank you.

Um and also this had come up during the Monday night uh orientation and CIRSA training.

Um, the constant, you know, um look at your work plan, what your work plan says uh for staff and for the deputy town attorney.

Do you know if we have a an official work plan for this commission?

I am not aware, not since I've joined the the town.

Have I seen a work plan?

Okay.

So when I look at this conversation about expanded responsibilities of the planning commission, we have had conversations where we said we have to figure out exactly what it is that we want to do.

We said we have to have these discussions.

When I look at two of the ways where we can have the rules and responsibilities added, knowing that there is also this conversation coming up with the council in July, um, I think two of the goals that we would most likely want to have on here are to draft bylaws in conjunction with the deputy town attorney and staff, because it does have to receive a formal approval.

So, first item um obviously bylaws.

Does anybody have any objections, questions in terms of the by-laws themselves and content-wise, we'll figure that all out.

Um, does anybody have any concerns with us drafting bylaws in 2026?

No.

Okay.

Um, and a work plan.

Again, we don't have a work plan.

Um, we do have you know an advanced agenda that goes out about two to three months currently.

Does anybody have any objections with us developing a work plan?

I'm not saying it's going to be exactly to a T what we're gonna do, we're gonna figure that out because there has never been bylaws or a work plan for this commission.

Um, does anybody have any concerns?

Um questions related to us creating a work plan.

One comment, please.

Um it part of I know the the planning staff has their work plan and a lot of stuff that we see from that.

So I think just making sure we work with staff to incorporate their work plan into ours.

So that'd be my biggest comment.

But I don't have an issue with developing one.

I agree.

Um, you know, when I look at uh council has their work plan that they have every single year.

Um there is a prioritization, and there's also you know how many hours is it gonna take, right?

It's not where we just toss it on there and we say, all right, we're gonna get done in one meeting.

Some of these things might be multiple portions of meetings that we discuss this specific item, whatever might be.

There is then also the aspect of staff time because we know we're a volunteer body.

Um staff is going to do a lot of the legwork in in most situations.

Um, so yes, I 100% agree.

We have to keep cognizant of that, and there would have to be that element in there of what does staff have available and what do we have available in terms of our agendas?

Um, and again, what that work plan looks like, we'll figure that out.

Um, but does anybody have any objections to adding those two items, bylaws and work plans for this body for goals for 2026?

Can I ask another question?

Like, what are some examples of some items that would be in a work plan?

Like, are we talking about like updates to like so many updates per meeting or um so these items on here the UDC alignment with the comprehensive plan, um revisions to the UDC regarding affordable housing?

I know that one is tentative right now based on the comments we received from staff.

Um we don't know if we will or won't need those.

Other code amendments as well as the um you know anything related to the comprehensive plan, those would be items that would automatically go into that work plan because we already know those are items staff already has planned for us.

Okay, in terms of what beyond that, that is the question of that roles and responsibilities conversation.

Where do we fit in?

Um so that does that answer your question?

Yes, and a related question is first of all, I'm not even sure if we're allowed.

Are we allowed to have study sessions?

And assuming we are, do you see foresee that happening?

Because as we start taking on more things, it would take more time.

Um I see it where we would just have less canceled meetings.

Um we're canceling on average one meeting per month.

So, yes, it would be a study session where we're not having anything voted upon or approved.

We're reviewing these different items, and we're working on these different tasks, whatever it might be that we are coming up with.

Okay.

Yeah, I I think it's a good idea that we're talking about.

Um more comments.

Please listen.

Um I know staff is working on staffing right now.

Um we have a budget.

I don't know if we would want to use some of that budget for a potential consultant to help with that work plan to alleviate some of that workload off staff, but I think that you could bring that up because I don't think we've really ever used much of our uh it's on the order of $15,000 budget that we're provided by the council.

So uh some of that could be for training, but back to the work plan.

If we wanted to alleviate some of that workload on staff and bring more in, I think that is something we could propose.

Okay.

Um yeah, that that's a good idea.

And yes, obviously, staff time and resources are the biggest element part of this.

We can meet every single Wednesday that we have on the calendar.

Um, but in terms, as I said again, in terms of the most lift, it's typically on staff, it's not on us.

So I do want to recognize and be cognizant of that because we don't want to overwhelm them or add to what they have on their plates already, um, because that isn't gonna be good for us or them.

Um I do have a couple other ideas, but um before I go into those, um, does anybody else have any thoughts on potential goals, ideas for this body in terms of how we can ourselves not necessarily um roles and responsibilities, even um things that we can do to better ourselves as the experts in planning and zoning within the community or anything that you see as fitting this body well in a in a good fashion?

I mean that's pretty loaded question, so I'm gonna demear right away on that and just say, you know, I I'd like to back up a little bit to the report itself.

Um because we're on the last page, but the second the last page, which I guess I'm hearing is fairly static, uh, though the names may change.

I'm interested, uh, if I may, ask a question of board and staff.

Uh you know, does anyone track statistics on how many cases, the number of units that are approved per year?

To me, when you talk about setting goals, the last page here, it would be useful to track well what is it that's creating the work of the commission.

And I I just don't know, you know, how much this really is a fixed uh thing year to year, and how much we could add some statistics or characterize the work.

So I that's for both board and staff.

Um that that is a is a good question.

Does uh first off, I um I believe I know the answer, but for staff, do we have numbers um that we can pull for these reports of number units that were um approved through that or um anything numbers uh quantitative, anything statistically we can reference as part of these instead of just this development?

Yes, we'd likely have information we could share depending on what you wanted to see.

Um certainly something we could put together or pull.

Yeah, so we probably have some of it readily available on some of that stuff, I'm sure.

And again, I don't know how much it informs the direct question you presented that I threw my hand up, probably inadvisably, but uh I do think from the minimum sort of standpoint, like what are the types of applications?

You know, how many of special review and how many of the subdivision at you know, preliminary plat, how many went final plat, you know, just types of applications numerically, and then some way to characterize within those categories, number of units, you know, intensity of use if it's a zoning case, you know, that type of thing would be useful to me for numbers, not of units.

I think that's a great addition.

Um you can just count what file they are, so like PDs or whatever.

So that information is here, but number of units, things like that that we recommend.

And thinking about it, this doesn't even show what our recommendations are.

Yeah, I can speak to how I built where I got these.

So I effectively just go to the agenda center and go to every meeting that we have and then log what it was and kind of track it in that way.

So for some of these are preliminary plates, some are final plates.

Like we had an SRU a few weeks ago.

So they're they're not necessarily the data you're asking for I agree it'd be nice to have that data but I think it's going to be a challenge to get that information in a feasible way in something that like makes sense for a presentation to council.

That that's my opinion that's why I didn't like go into the detail of each one of them but I yeah it's a can I help you with this presentation yes please so I think a good idea I think that's a super good point and I agree I think we should attempt to do that in some sort of a chart and then we can see what the board thinks about it.

But I I definitely agree that and I mean we can narratively say what's on the slide and I think possibly having a chart to actually show like oh this many site plans this many PDs this many whatever it just might be a little more interesting way to present it.

So I agree with that.

Yeah and I will say uh former chair Zuniga that is something that she did used to do she would actually break out by the actual application what they were so and I think the first uh rendition by former chair Burns also had that on there.

Um I will say one thing that I'm also noticing on here that isn't in here which we probably should address are the number of canceled meetings because it warrants why we are having these conversations about work plan bylaws because we want to help the the community we want to help the council so that they can understand we had probably half of our meetings canceled since the last uh report period um so that way we can also address the elephants in the room on that one.

And another good thing to put in there's number of public comments because that shows the level of interaction with the community.

Yep and we can do that through the uh meeting minutes so that is a good idea.

Yeah.

So please I again I don't know that we try to delay this or anything I mean I think these comments are really useful moving forward whether it's for this particular set of goals or not but I I appreciate that I I just want to observe I was really surprised uh to hear though it's at the source of meeting the other night the board of adjustment has not met since uh Debbie Stamp became the town clerk and she's been a town clerk for a while not not forever or anything but that's usually the sign that your code is working but it also can be a sign when they never meet that uh the word isn't getting out I mean so this data helps us to help again the town be more effective at what's intended which is good planning that involves all people and brings all those values together so appreciate the discussion.

I did have one other comment getting to the last page please I don't see the comp plan on here I mean I see the mission includes the comp plan and the comp plan comes up and down you know the priority list in multi-year cycles where where are we at on that if someone can just remind me I'm I'm roughly aware but maybe uh we can check in on that if someone on board could comment um that one I'm gonna turn to staff I I know that um there have been we we asked about this last year in September when we initially had the roles and responsibilities conversation um and I know Mr.

you're filling in for Ms Driscoll um but in terms of a report on the actual um comp plan itself um there's a number of communities that do this I'm I'm spacing on what the word is that they use specifically for it um but has staff contemplating contemplated having a report at the end of each year that relates the comp plan to all the development that has occurred in the town that has been approved um how it is congruent with it or how it deviated away that way it informs any revisions and updates that might need to come that's a good question um I'll have to talk with our comp plan team on uh the reporting traditionally I don't think we have done a whole lot of that um but that is a great question and I do want to follow up on um we we are looking at doing a some targeted amendments to the comprehensive plan based on direction that we've received already started some outreach on that it looks like we've got a few things on the agenda coming up later in the summer to talk about the comprehensive plan amendments.

I'm not sure if we have any type of study session I don't see one specifically but we can find out for sure what's planned for that to give you a little more information.

I can follow up a little more with our team on uh and we might want to talk to you a little bit more about what an annual report or something would look like.

We could look at some other areas, um, sort of decide what that if that's something you all wanted to see, what what we'd want to uh how we'd want to format that or how it would look.

Yeah, I that is something that um I know uh when we were rattling off all the ideas back in September last year, that is one of the things that some commissions do.

They do work with staff on that end of your report uh in relation to the comp plan and the application approvals, the development that's occurring in town and how it correlates or deviates away so that it can inform future updates.

So you're getting into some of the items for that roles and responsibilities conversation, but it might actually be apt now.

Um can you provide dates in terms of uh not right now, obviously, um, but if you could provide dates on when those are going to be coming forward, because if there are some things that we're saying, um applicability of the comp plan and informed discussion of how it has been applied through the past two years now.

Um if there's anything that we also are identifying as a concern or something to address, we might want to get that to council sooner than later because it has to go through the public process, the hearing process, notice, etc.

Um, so if there are any items, we might want to address those sooner than later.

Um Commissioner Shatz.

Yeah, uh that was a great answer because it went way beyond what I was thinking.

So uh I'm better informed now.

Uh it certainly at my first meeting we talked about proposition 123 and how that is now translating into some comp plan work instead of uh more ordinance and and UDC related work.

So that had occurred to me, but to hear about yeah, maybe there's opportunity to develop some data around it.

Uh that's congruent with the conversation coming out.

I was more of the impression that like let's just put it on here because I think there are functional plans and specific goals that I've already heard of that, probably for this report, as you say, Chair uh saw it.

The council should have a chance to react to sooner than later.

And on the advanced agenda for August 5th.

There is comp plan updates listed.

Yes, that's the one I was looking at for later this summer.

I think there was another one on there too, but it I'll find it.

Maybe later.

That's so not sure what I'm seeing right now.

But yeah, there's another uh 819.

We have one for comp plan updates.

This is pretty preliminary.

I mean, these could change, it kind of depends on scheduling and where we're at on these.

But it could change to the one that we received on the night as of night 519.

So yeah, we'll keep that updated and let you know.

Yeah, I think um we'll need to have some conversations with Josh Campbell or um person who's working on our comp plan.

Um we may need to talk to you guys some more on what you want to see, and uh he probably has some of this data.

We definitely have some of some of the data you've talked about that we report on with building permit numbers and things.

We may need to figure out exactly what we're all looking for, but um, we definitely have data, so we just need to figure out what we want to report, what you want to see.

Well, it sounds like there's other individuals up here besides for myself who like data, so that's a good sign.

Um, and I know this is this is an interesting one because we're talking about the presentation to council that we need to turn into staff for public uh publishing and noticing for the July 28th meeting.

Um, we have to have this in by July 10th, although we have in between there our joint study session currently planned.

So it's an interesting situation.

So the joint oh, between the council and yes, yes.

So presentation.

Um I don't want to get too ahead of this conversation in terms of role and roles and responsibilities.

Um, and the reason is because we do have a few meetings before we have that meeting with council.

We can have these conversations to discuss these different items.

Um, love the ideas that have come up so far.

These are the exact things that I would have in mind of roles and responsibilities because there's different ways we can help the council, we can help this community, not just you know, some of those that other communities are doing.

But remember, we're a home rule community.

We should be also attending to items that are specific to us, our needs and what our community specifically needs.

Um what are the uh, you know, we'll talk more about it, but um the statistics the statistics of the population, the different capacities of our systems, those kinds of things, those are great uh great things that I personally believe we could help to tackle.

Again, I know it's a lot of staff time to even pull that information, um, things like that where we can stay informed, basically becoming the long-range planning commission for the town because that is with a comp plan ultimately what we are supposed to be.

We're supposed to be ensuring all this development is congruent for future development.

And if we're talking about the future and the comp plan, comp plan goes out to I think 2040, 2045 right now, our full build-out.

Um, so uh there's there's a lot of time that is going to be encompassed in that comp plan.

How do we get there?

Um of the things that I will say that when I look at this and hear having before before I go into there, um, any other questions, ideas, anything that comes to mind?

Commissioner Ruth.

I have um a comment.

So when we did our application um for planning commission, in the application it stated several different areas that we should be familiar with in our interview, um, such as the um the capital budget expenditures, all of that kind of stuff.

And I thought it was interesting because I don't know that as a planning commission we talk about some of those items not often in here.

So I was just going to bring up some of those um things that were mentioned in our in our application.

You guys might be able to add more to that.

Which is a good prelude to what I was going to say before I said I'm gonna stop.

Um I when we had this uh roles and responsibilities conversation last time, it was a well, I don't know what that is.

I don't know exactly how we can have input in there, and um it it was uh it was a disconnect that I could see.

And when I look back at that, the the biggest thing that I I think may occur in that discussion is um we we only see certain aspects of the town.

We see the UDC, the the actual applications that come before us, we see a minimal amount of items.

There are all the different items that town town council that some of the other boards and commissions they look at.

Um, and a lot of those do relate back to the work that we're doing here or the potential work that we could be doing.

Um first thing that I immediately see is we unlike some other boards and commissions, uh, tree board and sustainability, um, they would have joint study sessions together um common topics as necessary.

Um, I think that might be something that we could potentially do as well, where we have an annual study session with the other boards and commissions, not just for the uh relationship between the other boards and commissions, but also there are these things that they are working on that directly impact the comp plan, and I think it's uh good idea to stay informed on those, as well as if we are talking about that year-end report on the um applicability of the comprehensive plan, that can also be part of it.

How did sustainability, how did all these different other bodies work to affect the um the comp plan that we have and to promulgate it throughout the community?

So um, does anybody have any concerns or objections?

Obviously, we can talk more about this at a future meeting, um, but having potentially study sessions with the other boards and commissions.

I actually have one addition, which is OSTAP, also looks at the development plans, yes, and has recommendations.

So it actually surprised me that we don't go over those at all.

Yeah, and I know that they have a uh a mild quasi-judicial nature to what they do, so we will have to make sure that we stay out of that because if they're reviewing it and then we're reviewing it, we don't want to have any conflicts there.

Um, but I 100% agree.

Um, one item that came up last night at the council meeting um was ag open space and the applicability to the home rule charter, and that there isn't a single piece of property within the town's portfolio that is part of the reserved open space that is a permanent dedicated, it is going to be open space in perpetuity.

That is a permanent dedicated, it is going to be open space in perpetuity.

That currently does not exist for any of those properties.

But in that situation, we would have to obviously bring in council because they would be the ones of officially applying.

So I think these conversations to have with Ostab and Council in the future would be good ones.

And yes, I 100% agree.

Commissioner Schatz.

Just kind of looking at the clock and the agenda and everything.

I want to bring it back to you.

Are we taking action on this report tonight?

Or where do these ideas go in terms of distilling or jumping off the page later?

Yep.

If necessary, additional drafting or review of the draft presentation of council.

Ultimately, we don't need to have this to the council until July or to staff by July 10th.

So we still have a couple of meetings beforehand.

Is it only one more meeting?

Because don't they usually not do the July 2nd one?

I thought there was something on the agenda though.

Oh, that's fine.

I just they're both available.

Okay.

And so while we're on the slide, one thing I think for goals for 20.

Oh, I guess it's still goals for 26.

Um Chair Solwich has told me, and they've been very helpful.

But for members, if we could review the state plan reviews, or the I'm sorry, the user guides.

Yep.

So I think that's a training that would be very helpful for all of us.

Yep.

And that is actually the next part of this.

So again, I've seen in this roles and responsibilities conversation that there's some things that we just don't know about.

They don't come before us.

With your permission and staff's permission, what I like to do is have a presentation that I will develop of a town hall 101 essentially.

Basically, high level going through everything that's going on at the town.

Again, high level, 30,000 foot view.

We're not talking about you know hours and hours into this, but then laying into some very specific items, and those are some of those items.

Um, not just so we can understand these things, but also so we can be trained on these.

I know the user guides are one of those pieces.

The um the capital improvement fund, the various plans, um, those kinds of things, those are all they have a very specific purpose.

We're not gonna go into every single one of them, but um I think that we would benefit to have that conversation so that when we do meet about rules and responsibilities, we can have a better informed educated conversation about this because we have a general idea why this pertains to us or exactly why it's important to us.

Does anybody have any objections on that?

Please.

I'm not sure I have an objection.

I just think we we probably need to lay it out meeting by meeting.

I mean it's ambitious.

It it is ambitious.

Um, it is um these are things that the planning commissions of the past um that I have been part of or interacted with have not done, even predating my town involvement have not done it is, but we are saying that a lot of our meetings are canceled, and we volunteer our time.

We know that we want to help the community, so we need to find ways that we can do so.

Um, and seeing that there are all the items that council is is is dealing with, have been dealing with the four times a month meetings that they've been going with.

Um, obviously it's you know kind of pulled back.

Um there's there's a lot of things that I think we can assist them with, even to just reduce some of that time that they might be spending on it because we've helped to vet these, we've worked with staff on these.

Um that's what the work plan is all about.

Exactly.

Yes.

So um the work plan is not gonna be one meeting and done.

This is gonna take time.

Um, it will be multiple meetings that we we discuss this.

Um so I'm gonna stop and ask for staff since I know that we've had these conversations.

Um there any concerns on your end um specifically for the deputy town attorney, the bylaws aspect.

Looking at what other communities have done because this is a legal document in a way of what we're going to be looking at.

Yeah, no, on the bylaws themselves, I would look for direction first from the council on you know what we want to include, what the provisions are.

But I think I'd I'd take the lead from you on what needs to be included in the direction we go with the bylaws.

I do want to wait, make one note about the conversation about the roles and responsibilities.

So as the commission's thinking about that.

So I think as you uh mentioned, we are uh Erie is a home rule authority or home rule uh municipality.

Um but the commission derives its authority from the charter and ordinances.

Um so if we uh your authority right now derived mainly as a quasi quasi judicial role um to review certain applications in the UDC, as you're thinking about the roles and responsibilities and what you want to do, it may take uh amendments to the UDC or other provisions of the code.

Um so just factor that in your mind as you um think about what you want the commission to be and what things you want to take.

Um it may take uh code amendments by town council.

It I I 100% agree.

Um any and this has been um you know our previous uh contracted town attorney said the same thing.

Your powers and your roles and authorities are vested by the then board of trustees council.

Um I'm also thinking that the bylaws, because that is by code, we have to have bylaws and it has to be approved by the council.

That might be a good place to have some of these items in there generally.

Obviously, I do um also recognize there could be some ordinance changes because right now it says aspects of title 10.

That is what the code says as as it says right now.

Um, so that is a discussion that will we will need to have.

I agree.

Yep.

So any other questions or comments.

Okay.

Um I know there's a lot there.

Um, so I will be re-watching this to go through a lot of these.

Um these uh having been part of these conversations in years past, um, this is the best conversation that I've seen to date.

So thank you all for all of this.

Um obviously it's gonna be all of us.

I can I can say these are some ideas that I have, but it's not on me, it is on us as a body to decide what is it that we want to do.

This is not gonna be all at once.

This is gonna be some time that it takes to massage this out.

Um, but I'm hoping by next time that we present to council, we'll have a much better idea of what are the other things that we have done besides for the applications, the UDC amendments, the things that have added to what they're doing to help them.

So thank you.

Um this now leads us to uh staff reports.

Um does any does staff have anything to report?

No, we don't have anything major to report.

Just was gonna note uh the next uh several upcoming planning commission dates, just so that you knew or no.

I know we've talked a little bit about them tonight.

Um the next meeting we have scheduled is 617.

The only thing on there currently is discussion of annual report to town council.

So we'll just look to you to let us know if you want to continue to have that one.

Um, and then originally I think some of the documentation we sent out showed that we had a land use case for 7-1.

Um right now that's it's been removed.

We don't have any agenda items uh from staff or 7-1.

Um, but looks like we have some uh for the second meeting in uh July.

Uh we have at least one project that that'll probably go that was moved from 7-1.

There's another one on there that uh we may end up bumping, but I think that's all I wanted to share at the moment.

If there's any questions, let me know.

So the there was a review scheduled for next meeting that got moved to the 7-1 or 7-2.

So that's the one from Josh.

That's it's going beyond.

No.

Let me just make sure I am clear.

Yeah, we we don't have anything scheduled currently for 7-1.

Okay, it's it's empty.

Uh the uh the other date, the 617, the only thing listed on there is discussion of annual report if you want to have that meeting to talk about that further.

Okay, yeah.

No, there had been one that I guess that's been moved.

So yes, there was one on 7-1 that got bumped.

Yeah, that's what it was at.

Yeah, okay.

Thank you.

Okay.

And since I'm on one of the ends, um anything else from Seth.

No, nothing else.

Okay.

Um, since I'm on this end, I'm gonna start down there for commissioner reports.

Uh no report, really appreciate the discussion.

I do want to note as we're looking at calendar that it's uh near certainty right now that I will not be able to be in this room on July 15th, if that's the second July meeting, uh, though uh the disembodied voice could probably join you.

So I just want to give everyone a heads up on that.

So just let you know that what you do for that is you email the town so they can give you an officially excused absence.

Okay.

Yeah.

Um, and and um not going beyond that.

Uh it is something that we will want to probably wrap into the bylaws um and probably discuss with council because my understanding is they're having discussions about a meeting policy.

Um I obviously took up the hybrid approach while I was vacationing in Florida.

Um, so as of right now, I believe uh hybrid is available.

Um that might be something that we have to take action on or um ask council to continue to allow us to do.

Obviously, we have a different situation in terms of just the room as well as the staffing here.

Um, but if you do have a concern and you wanted to join, obviously um I have no objections at the moment of doing a hybrid.

Of course, I'm gonna have to leave it to staff in terms of their ability to do so.

Thank you.

I too will need to um participate remotely.

I've already notified staff uh for the June 17th meeting, so just FYI.

Um I also want to just thank um Commissioner Hemphill and Commissioner Bradis for their service to this commission.

Uh I have not been a long-standing member here um, but for my time, I do appreciate the work that you've done and uh especially appreciate the um training session that you've provided.

Um Robert and Bob's orders.

And thank you.

Um I echo the same thank you to both you guys.

You did a great job.

Very happy with you guys.

Um I appreciated the uh the adventure it was being chair.

Should be fun for you.

And uh what I got.

I'll get to your uh get that presentation over to you.

Thank you.

I've got two things.

First, congratulations to the two of you for taking on those roles.

And the second is Erie Pride is on Sunday two to six.

We currently have I believe it's 44 booths and six food trucks that are gonna be there, plus a full session of entertainment.

So the more you have the merrier we have there, the merrier.

Typically we get around 3,000 people coming through.

Um I would also like to say congrats and thank you to both of you as well.

Um I continue to learn from everyone up here.

Um, so I appreciate that.

And I also appreciate the extra learning opportunities, and I'm hoping to learn more as we go along as well.

And I don't have anything else.

All right, so um noted by the others.

Uh thank you, former chair Hemphill.

Thank you, former Vice Chair Brodus, for all the work and effort that you put into the past year.

Um, obviously we wouldn't be sitting where we are in the ability that we have now without the the leadership and guidance.

So thank you both.

Um, and for the others up here, thank you for uh putting your faith in me as the next chair.

Um I appreciate it.

Um I do have an item.

Uh so real quickly, um for staff.

I know we keep receiving comments about uh the Parkdale school, not just us, but council as well.

Um obviously that is a BVSD consideration.

Um if it might be possible to have something on the website that relays we understand the concerns, however, BVSD is another government agency that we cannot control or dictates when they actually build.

Um yes, they have the bond funding, however, there is a lot that they're going through right now in terms of enrollment issues.

Um so uh I don't know if we might want to talk to communications about that.

Yeah, well I'll bring that over to our team to talk about um and see if there's anything we can do on that front and let you know.

Thank you.

Council had a litany of items related to water.

There were fee increases.

There were some other things that occurred.

Probably the biggest one that is going to affect the town is the emergency resolution that was passed on the 25th, went into effect on the 26th of an annual allocation of the remaining water credits that we have as a town.

There are currently 125 acre feet of annual allocation that are going to be provided.

It's uh four different areas.

Uh contingency use, public projects, economic development, residential development, um, percentages of this allocation.

Um, you might ask why is this important?

Well, this is substantially going to change the growth that we have had.

Um we look at 65% of residential development able to take on that annual allocation.

That is approximately 182 units.

That is it.

Um in comparison, I would I know this has been a down year.

Um we had two years ago, I think it was 900 units.

Last year was 400 to 500 units.

We have been at a growth of 40 percent 2015 to 2020, 39.5% 2020 to 2025.

So this is substantially going to not only affect our population growth, but also our economic growth.

Um, I would suspect that this is an item that we're gonna want to also help council to address because this is a very serious issue, and one of the reasons is because Windy Gap is been delayed, NISP has been delayed, and we basically only have so much water that has to get us through the next five to seven years approximately, unless we're able to find another solution.

So I would definitely highly recommend reviewing the council agenda item from Tuesday, May 25th, where they discuss this because this is going to have serious implications for us.

So um that is all on my end.

Um I'm not going to change with tradition.

So can I have a motion?

Uh motion to adjourn.

Second.

And we are adjourned.

Gavel, please.

Thank you.

Hopefully that was okay.