Good evening and welcome to the mayor and board of alderman public meeting for the 19th of October.

We begin with a Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

For which it stands.

One nation under liberty and justice for all.

We have minutes to approve September 21st, 2023 public meeting.

Move for approval.

Second.

Motion by Otterman McCemChick, seconded by Alderman Russell.

All those in favor?

That is 4 0.

Thank you very much.

With Alderman Shackelford not present, he indicated earlier this afternoon that he would not be here this evening.

So it was good somebody else made a second on that motion, because that's often his job.

Thank you.

Mayor's comments.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Alderman McZemC.

Alderman Russell.

Alderwoman Nash.

I do.

I do.

Ah, settle in.

Um I wrote my comments out so I would stay on topic.

They are gonna be a little bit lengthy, but this is like my platform.

This is my opportunity to voice a concern that I keep having, and I'm just gonna use that voice to elevate an issue that I feel very passionately about.

I've made no secret that I find it challenging, confusing, and quite honestly, simply wrong that we continue to enable development interests to move forward while we consider zoning changes in a designated area, a planning area in the city.

Said another way, I do not think that while we say on one hand that we have a vision for growth that is more sustainable, considers our affordable housing crisis, takes into account pedestrian and cyclist safety, and for that matter, the safety of the motoring public as well, and on which we all agree, um, we say that we have a plan to follow in the 2020 comprehensive plan.

And we say that we need to make changes to our land management code to account for this vision.

Then we choose the East Street Corridor and we acknowledge that this is a special gateway, a special gateway area, and we have a small area plan that passed in 2017, and we embark on an ambitious plan to implement form-based code.

We hire a consultant, we engage in a public process.

And in fact, ironically, the second draft of the E Street Form based code came out this past Tuesday.

And that's what we do on one hand.

And on the other hand, we completely allow development interests to proceed and ignore the work that we're doing over here.

Um also on Tuesday in this very room, those inconsistencies were on full display.

The city's planning commission met after another incredibly long meeting, um, about six hours.

Um, and it was largely because of this back and forth, these back and forth attempts to adhere to the vision documents that I've referenced.

Um, and I'm not alone in my frustration.

That frustration was expressed specifically at the three-hour and 52 mark.

One commissioner stated, we're all frustrated that the city doesn't have the regulations that we'd like to see.

End quote.

Four minutes later, another commissioner repeats that the commission can't utilize form-based code as it is still in draft, and the East Street Small Area Plan doesn't have a design code.

At the four-hour 44 43-minute mark, um, another commissioner tried to add a condition that future site plans for the property be subject to approved form-based code.

Um, and then at this, this is when our legal team waited in and they discussed that the board of Alderman, we could pass form-based code, but that the board would then try to grandfather in, could potentially try to grandfather in existing master plans into that form-based code.

But he did express this could be legally problematic.

And then planning staff goes on to say at the four-hour 56-minute mark that you know we can talk about form-based code implementation.

And she talked about the importance of the legislative process while those changes are being considered.

And quote, and this is important, she said it is so critical that we allow the process to happen, and that we do not make presumptions about what this form-based code might look like.

Um I would like to move an ordinance forward to public discussion that does, in my opinion, just that.

Every time we want to update our zoning, development projects will rush in to beat the clock and adhere to rules that were to potentially pass as much as 10 years ago.

This cannot stand.

And so I will bring an ordinance forward that pauses final site plan or preliminary subdivision plat review and approvals in areas where the city planning department, under the instruction of the Mayor and Borderman, the Board of Honorman, that's us, is actively considering comprehensive rezoning.

Which this ordinance would include the consideration of form-based code.

The moratorium, and I will use the M word, and believe me, it's taken me a long time to get there.

But the moratorium will be rescinded after some period of time after the start of the recomp the comprehensive rezoning efforts by the planning department or upon the adoption of new zoning regulations.

One year, two years, we'll put up we'll put a bookend on it, we'll be reasonable, but I'm open and I'm really open to how long this could take, because it's not, it's the staff that would move this forward.

And I've sent a staff, I've sent two staff a draft to review, and I'm hoping that we can have this conversation as soon as possible.

My thought is that we must press pause.

We must let the planning department focus on bringing the form-based code recommendations forward.