With the two “new” items on the Feb. 18 Town Council agenda, I wonder if staff has already given up on what this current mayor/council wants. With both agenda items, the sign ordinance and group home ordinance, they clearly want to revisit past items that were exhaustively discussed.
Why? To impose their partisan positions?
The staff report for the sign ordinance item states: “The Town's sign ordinance has been periodically updated and modified over the years to respond to changing needs and desires for signage in the Town. A major revision was completed in November 2021 to bring the regulations into conformance with the 2015 U. S. Supreme Court ruling that sign regulations needed to be content neutral. The last update was approved by the Town Council in October 2023.” (Historically, staff kindly left out the potentially illegal repeal, thus forcing re-instatement of the ordinance.)
The staff report for the group home ordinance item states: “Following an extensive process by the Planning and Zoning Commission, the Town Council approved a major revision to the Zoning Ordinance to address community residences (otherwise known as group homes) in May 2022. The Council approved some minor modifications to the regulations again in May 2024.”
Both agenda items then state: “At the Town Council meeting held on January 21, 2025, the Council directed staff to again review and revise … but no direction was given as to the issues that need to be addressed or the goals to accomplish. This item (s) has been placed on the Council agenda (2/18/24) so the Council can provide staff with further direction on what changes should be considered by the Planning and Zoning Commission.”
The haste demonstrated by this newly elected majority is clear. And you’ll see it time and again. Get ready for some directionless, chaotic discussion.
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