October 15, 2011 P&Z Meeting Minutes DRAFTOctober 25, 2011

DRAFT

Meeting Minutes

Town of Dewey Beach Planning Commission Public Hearing

Meeting Time and Date: 9:00 am October 15, 2011

The meeting was called to Order by Co-Chair David King, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and Roll Call. Planning Commission members present were: Jim Dedes, Gary Mauler, and George Metz. Town Code Enforcement Officer Bill Mears was present his official capacities. Mayor Diane Hanson and Town Commissioners Marty Seitz and Joy Howell were also present.

Purpose. The purpose of this meeting was to review progress in implementation of the 2007 Dewey Beach Comprehensive Development Plan so as to prepare the Municipal Comprehensive Land Use Annual Report as required by the Office of State Planning Coordination.

Minutes of Prior Meetings. After appropriate motions and seconds, the minutes of the May 6, June 11 and August 19, 2011 meetings were approved by unanimous voice votes of those members present at each meeting.

Review, discuss, and complete the Municipal Comprehensive Land Use Annual Report.The Planning Commission worked off two documents, 1) a summary of goals and objectives taken from the CDP, and 2) the letter from the OSPC and format for the required annual report. The PC decided to go through the list of goals and objectives, and to use this process to raise flags where issues need to be addressed.These discussions resulted in the attached draft report addendum.

In addition, these discussions resulted in uncovering major issues to be addressed during the upcoming review and possible amendments to the 2007 Comprehensive Development Plan.

  • Need to get written feedback from OSPC asap
  • Implement own building inspection office/process and update to enforcement of 2009 or newer International Building Code (more stringent, and more responsive to coastal concerns)
  • Review need for GIS system for archiving zoning variances and building issues, and seek state/county help if a priority
  • Remove “completed” items from plan
  • Much of the work called for in the plan will require resources not currently available to the town; need to prioritize and seek State help for much of this (e.g., traffic counts, road modification to enhance pedestrian safety, implementation of GIS system for planning use)
  • Need to define the meaning of “year round”, e.g., sleepy in winter? Like July 4th every day of the year?
  • Add pedestrian walk way to solve pedestrian/bicycle safety (get DelDOT and State economic development experts here on July 4th weekend;make Bayard Ave 1 way as alternative pedestrian and bicycle route?)
  • Remove telephone poles from sidewalks (pedestrian safety issue)
  • remove the term “urban” growth, not appropriate for Dewey; replace with “town”; also review other possibly inappropriate words
  • Training goals for employees, especially seasonal employees: what is their job; what are the jobs of other town employees
  • Do we want to use a survey instrument to guide this update effort? If so, how to proceed? IPA thinks this is too soon. Maybe a limited survey would be useful?
  • Plan needs to be taken to heart, reviewed by all town employees, reviewed regularly by Town Manager and Town Commissioners – prioritized and updated
  • Who should be the “owner” of the CDP?
  • Need to communicate emergency management and response plan to residents, property owners and visitors

In the final few minutes, there was a Planning Commission consensus that the Town Manager is the person/entity that should take ownership of the Comprehensive Development Plan and work to ensure it is effectively implemented, and that the Planning Commission should review progress and relevancy at least once per year.

Dates for future Planning Commission meetings were identified: All on Saturdays at 9:00 am

-Nov 19 Public Hearing and Meeting

-Dec 17 Workshop and Meeting

-Jan 7 Workshop and Meeting

-Jan 28 Public Hearing and Meeting

-Feb18 Workshop and Meeting

-Mar 17 Workshop and Meeting

-Apr 28 Public Hearing and Meeting

-May 19 Public Hearing and Meeting

A lingering question at the end was whether or not to have a citizen questionnaire, and if so how to approach its creation, distribution and analysis. It was felt that the agenda for the next Planning Commission meeting should include a discussion about a survey/questionnaire.

Adjournment. A motion was made to adjourn. This was seconded and passed by unanimous voice vote (approx. 11:07 am)

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