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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us June 29, 2005 Planners consider wetlands effects By Robert Plain Ashland Daily Tidings As much as 10 percent of landowners in Ashland could be affected by updates being made to the city’s riparian and wetlands ordinance, said John McLaughlin, director of community development, at an Ashland Planning Commission meeting Tuesday night. Although the provisions being added and updated to Ashland’s hydrological laws would only affect property owners who intended to improve their properties, the updates currently being hashed out are expected to increase the scope and scale of the rules protecting wet areas in the city. The city planning department has been working with a citizen advisory committee to make potential changes and revisions to the ordinances affecting riparian corridors, wetlands and flood plains in Ashland. The advisory committee will continue to tinker with the ordinance, which will combine and codify all the existing provisions for these areas, through the summer. In the fall, said Senior Planner Bill Molnar, who has been overseeing the process, the advisory committee will pass the new ordinance on to the planning commission, which could make further changes before forwarding the bill to the city council. The proposed ordinance will likely develop overlay districts for wetland, riparian and flood plain areas that the city recently had delineated by a private company. Molnar said the new ordinance will prohibit new construction, utility installation, the removal of native vegetation and the expansion of lawns in these areas. It will also outline potential exceptions to these rules, he said. Rules clarified Also at Tuesday night’s meeting, the commission was warned not to communicate with a quorum of members about issues related to city planning. Evidently, some members have been e-mailing others about official planning business and not submitting the communications for the public record. McLaughlin said all such e-mails must be sent to the planning department so that they can posted for public scrutiny. Public officials, such as planning commissioners, are prohibited by state and federal law to communicate about governmental business without allowing the public to witness such discussion. Any e-mail sent by a public official about official business is considered a part of the public domain and must be accessible to the citizenry. A quorum — or a majority — of members of a commission or committee are not allowed to converse, either in person or through e-mail, without posting notice to the public that an official meeting is to take place. The commission discussed starting a list-serve, a method of sending a group e-mail, that could be shared with the planning department and any other members of the public. McLaughlin said he would arrange for the city legal department to give the commission a brief seminar at their next meeting about lawful communications, including ex parte communications, which is when public officials have discussions with citizens doing business before them. Recently, there have been accusations that planning commissioners have been improperly engaging in talks with some that have had issues before them. McLaughlin said the legal department is drafting a memo about the issue. The commission also decided to look into having all of its meeting video-taped. Currently, only action hearings are recorded and aired both on the city Web site and RVTV. Most commissioners are hoping they can also have broadcasts of their study sessions and administrative hearings. Commissioner John Stromberg agreed to look into the logistics and costs of televising more meetings. Commissioners John Field and Mike Morris are concerned that a television camera may take way from the casual atmosphere enjoyed currently at study session meetings. Construction OK’d The commission also approved a six-unit subdivision at 945 N. Mountain Ave. Greg White, the owner of the property, was given permission to begin construction even though the road leading to his property has not yet been paved. The commission agreed that because this was the fault of a developer not completing required road work, White should not be adversely affected by this. Staff writer Robert Plain can be reached at 482-3456 x 3040 or [email protected]. 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