Commission and staff agree to tighten submission timelines and adopt new meeting-management tools
Summary
Planning commissioners and borough staff discussed improving agenda management: staff will aim to provide larger-site materials earlier, adopt a new meeting-management center in August, and standardize submission deadlines so reviewers have at least one week for major projects.
The Planning Commission and borough staff agreed to streamline procedures for meeting materials and public calendars, aiming to improve review time and public access.
Staff and commissioners said larger development applications should be uploaded earlier so professional reviewers and commissioners have time to examine technical reports. Planning staff proposed a policy baseline: major development materials should be provided at least one week before the meeting (ideally earlier); the borough’s professionals should receive materials with sufficient lead time to supply review letters. Commissioners asked that materials be uploaded no later than the Friday prior for a Tuesday meeting, with a practical goal of getting large projects to the commission at least seven days before a vote.
Bill (borough staff) demonstrated a new agenda and meeting-management center the borough will begin using in August, which consolidates agendas, recordings and documents and will allow download/subscribe calendar functionality. Commissioners asked staff to ensure that the calendar of all board and commission meetings be centralized so members and the public can "one-stop-shop" the yearly schedule. Staff also confirmed they will correct a scheduling display error in the new system (several meetings were incorrectly listed as Mondays rather than the commission's usual Tuesdays) and migrate documents from the old document center to the new platform.
Ending: The commission will continue to test the platform as it goes live in August and will request a staff report providing routine agenda and review information for larger projects at least one week in advance.
