The Planning Commission watched two short videos from the YouTube channel Sitting Beautiful Basics on the history of U.S. city planning and basic land-use tools, a staff member said during the Oct. 8 work session.

The videos, which staff said would “satisfy your all’s training requirement as approved in your bylaws,” run together in under 30 minutes, Chris (staff member) told commissioners before playing the material.

Commissioners heard material that traced planning from pre‑colonial cities through colonial town forms, the rise of sewers and parks, the development of zoning and suburbanization, and later reactions such as Jane Jacobs’s critiques. The presentation highlighted familiar planning authorities and milestones mentioned in the videos, including the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Supreme Court decision Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty.

Commissioners did not take formal action on the videos. Chris told the commission he planned a separate staff presentation on the local zoning code at the next work session; he said that presentation would follow the staff training sequence and cited a future meeting slot for a zoning-code discussion.

No other formal direction or vote occurred regarding the videos; the presentation was informational and intended to meet the commission’s in‑service training requirement.