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3-18-14 Planning Commission Rules 1 I. General Procedures. 2 A. Chair. The Chair will: 1) conduct the meetings, 2) set up special meetings, 3 3) control and conduct the public hearings as scheduled, and work with staff to prepare 4 for the meeting. The term of the chair will be one year, and he or she will be elected at 5 the first regular meeting after March 1st. 6 B. Vice Chair. The Vice Chair will assume the duties of the Chair in his or her 7 absence. The term of the Vice Chair will be one year to be elected at the same time as the 8 Chair. 9 C. Vacancy of Offices. If neither the Chair nor the Vice Chair is able to preside 10 at a meeting, the Chair shall designate the presiding officer for that meeting. If the Chair 11 is unable to designate the presiding officer, then the Vice Chair shall do so. 12 D. In the event the Chair or Vice Chair leaves office before their terms expire, 13 the Planning Commission shall vote to determine the Chair and/or Vice Chair to fill the 14 position for the remainder of the previous incumbent’s term. 15 E. Agenda. The Planning Commission will use the same agenda format used by 16 the City Council. The item titled “Items from the Audience”, will be an appropriate time 17 to hear citizen proposals related to the Zoning Code or other planning issues. Anyone 18 wishing to provide oral testimony on an item with regard to a proposed amendment to the 19 Zoning Code or Comprehensive Plan shall do so at the time of the public hearing and not 20 ---PAGE BREAK--- 3-18-14 under “Items from the Audience”; however, the Chair may exercise discretion on this 1 issue depending on the time until the public hearing and whether the testimony will 2 provide new information, for example. Speakers on any one item, or the amount of time 3 allocated for oral comment as part of “Items from the Audience” may be limited to a 4 specified amount of time, also at the discretion of the Chair. For quasi-judicial items, 5 oral testimony may be provided only at the time of the public hearing. Written testimony 6 with regard to a proposed amendment to the Zoning Code or Comprehensive Plan may be 7 provided at any time up to the close of the public hearing. 8 F. Relationship with City Council. The Planning Commission may occasionally 9 attend the regularly scheduled meetings of the City Council and Council committees. 10 Members may attend on a rotating basis and will report to the Planning Commission at 11 their next regular meeting. In addition, the Planning Commission will meet with the City 12 Council on an annual basis with a report of activities and progress. 13 G. Relationship with Hearing Examiner. The Planning Commission should stay 14 informed of issues brought to the Hearing Examiner at a minimum by receiving copies of 15 the Hearing Examiner’s decisions. 16 H. Time and Length of Meetings. Planning Commission meetings are 17 scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. and continue no later than 10:00 p.m. Continuation of 18 meetings past 10:00 p.m. will require approval of a motion by a majority of the members. 19 I. Regular Meeting Date. The Planning Commission will have regular business 20 meetings on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month and on other dates as 21 ---PAGE BREAK--- 3-18-14 deemed necessary. Special meetings and study meetings may be held at any time and 1 location indicated in the public notices. The meetings will be held in the City Council 2 Chambers at the Redmond City Hall unless public notice is given that the meeting 3 location will be changed. 4 II. Public Hearings. 5 The format for public hearings conducted by the Planning Commission should be as 6 follows: 7 A. The Chair or a staff member should read or paraphrase the purpose of the 8 hearing and advise the Commission of the applicable criteria that it must consider in the 9 course of its review. The purpose of this is to advise the Commission before it receives 10 testimony of the particular items it should be considering during the course of the 11 hearing. 12 B. The hearing should begin with a staff report to the Planning Commission 13 which may include the staff’s recommendation. 14 C. Commissioners should direct any questions they have at that time to the 15 staff. 16 D. The hearing should then be opened to permit the applicant to make a 17 presentation to the Planning Commission. 18 E. Questions from the Planning Commission should be directed to the 19 applicant. 20 ---PAGE BREAK--- 3-18-14 F. At this time, the hearing should be opened to the audience as a whole. A sign 1 up list will be circulated before the meeting to determine the number of persons desiring 2 to speak, which may be weighed against the amount of time available for the public 3 hearing. A stated amount of time may be allocated to the hearing, and each person who 4 has signed up given an equal amount of time to speak, as determined by the Chair. 5 Persons who have signed up may waive their opportunity to speak to leave time for those 6 who wish additional time to speak. If the time allocated for the hearing is exhausted, the 7 hearing may be continued to another date if necessary. The sign up list shall provide the 8 name and address of speakers for the Secretary who is taking the minutes for the hearing. 9 In addition, it provides an orderly process for the calling of speakers and assures that each 10 person is given an opportunity to speak before those who have already spoken are 11 recognized again. 12 G. Each person speaking, whether it is the applicant or a member of the 13 audience, shall speak from the podium. Before speaking they should state their full name 14 and address. When all of the persons on the list have been called and have either waived 15 the opportunity to speak or have spoken, the Chair shall ask if there are any other persons 16 who desire to speak. If there are any, those persons should be allocated the same amount 17 of time as previous speakers if possible. 18 H. When everyone who wishes to speak has had an opportunity, the Chair may 19 ask if any persons who have already spoken desire to speak again if there is time 20 remaining. 21 ---PAGE BREAK--- 3-18-14 I. Each person who speaks a second time or who responds to a question should 1 come to the podium and again re-identify themselves by name; however, restatement of 2 addresses is not necessary. 3 J. If, at the conclusion of the hearing the Chair determines that there may still 4 be additional persons wishing to speak or who may provide information, then the hearing 5 time for oral testimony or written testimony or both may be continued to a date certain in 6 the future. When members of the public have completed their testimony, and before 7 closing the hearing, the applicant or his/her representative should be given a brief 8 opportunity for rebuttal. If, upon conclusion of the rebuttal, the Chair determines that 9 there are no more questions for any member of the audience or the applicant, the hearing 10 may be closed or continued until after deliberation. Written comments for both 11 legislative and quasi-judicial items may be submitted at any time prior to the close of the 12 public hearing. 13 K. Any questions by Commission members to any member of the audience or 14 the applicant should be asked prior to the closing of the hearing. Once the hearing is 15 closed on a quasi-judicial matter, no additional testimony may be taken, and the Planning 16 Commission will be limited to questions to the staff only. 17 L. It should also be noted that proponents or opponents do have a right to 18 question persons who have given testimony at the hearing on a quasi-judicial matter. 19 These questions shall be directed to the Chair of the meeting and not directly to the 20 person who gave testimony. The Chair shall direct that person to come to the podium, 21 identify himself and give a response. At the conclusion of the response, any additional 22 ---PAGE BREAK--- 3-18-14 questions from that person or other persons should be handled in the same manner. One 1 question at a time should be channeled through the Chair to the person whose response is 2 requested. Questions shall be limited to topics that are relevant to the issues in the quasi- 3 judicial proceeding. The Chair shall determine the relevance of all questions and may 4 order the termination of any discussion that is deemed irrelevant. 5 M. As photographs, maps, slides, letters, invoices, memorandums, petitions or 6 any other documents of any nature are presented to the Commission in connection with 7 the hearing, staff shall obtain a copy of each for the official record of the proceedings. 8 N. Commission members should be recognized by the Chair before asking 9 questions or providing other information. This allows for the Chair to specifically 10 recognize the Commission member by name who is about to speak, so that the record 11 accurately reflects who has spoken. 12 O. Commission members should avoid whispered conversations between 13 themselves during the course of the hearing. These conversations may not be audible on 14 the tape recording and may jeopardize the record of the hearing since they cannot be 15 interpreted. 16 P. During the course of deliberation following conclusion of the public hearing, 17 the Planning Commission should thoroughly discuss the pros and cons of the proposal 18 particularly in relation to the criteria to be applied, as defined by the Redmond 19 Comprehensive Plan, the Redmond Zoning Code or other guidelines as identified in the 20 Technical Committee Report. 21 ---PAGE BREAK--- 3-18-14 Q. At the conclusion of deliberation, the Planning Commission should bring a 1 motion to the floor. If the motion is seconded, concluding discussion should follow. 2 The Chair may call upon each member to state his/her reasons for or against the 3 particular motion. At the conclusion of the discussion, the Chair should call for a vote 4 upon the motion. 5 R. At the conclusion of the vote and the announcement of the decision, the 6 Chair should close the hearing if not closed previously and should at the time advise the 7 audience that the recommendation will be submitted to the City Council, and further 8 public comment, either written or oral, will be governed by the Council’s rules and 9 procedures. Once a motion has been made for a recommendation to be transmitted to the 10 City Council, any written materials received by the Planning Commission will be 11 disclosed at the next public meeting but will not be considered as part of the public record 12 on a quasi-judicial matter. 13