City to Nonprofit: Sit Down and Be Quiet

Planning Commission Hears from Consultants for nearly an hour, yet can't give a downtown nonprofit more than three minutes.

This past Wednesday was the much anticipated public hearing on the new comprehensive plan that the city has been working on for months. The event marked the first time that the public was to hear from the consultants about their ideas and insights into the community and to have questions from the planning commission, the city council and presumably the public at-large.

Throughout this process, the public hasn’t been able to ask questions about this plan and the recommendations the plan puts forward. True, there was an open house this summer that was well attended, but simply threw up a few poster boards with no formal discussion. The consultants were at public events, giving folks an opportunity to answer questions. And the consultants have provided periodic updates to the Planning Commission throughout the process. Some half-hearted efforts have been made.

A Public Hearing That Wasn’t

But, Wednesday was billed as a public hearing. An opportunity for both the Planning Commission, that has a real aversion for public input, and City Council to hear directly from residents.

During the meeting, the consultants talked about the plan for nearly 50 minutes and there was about 20 minutes of question and answer between commission and council members and the consultants.

Upon opening the public hearing portion, the chairman of the Planning Commission stated, “Attendees of tonight's meeting, just limit yourself to three minutes and if you do stray off the topic of tonight on the comprehensive plan, we most likely will step in to get you back on track. We're not talking about the zoning at this point in time or the subdivision regulations, just strictly on the text of the comprehensive plan.”

Come on already.

This meeting was not advertised as a work session, it was advertised as a public hearing — an opportunity to hear the public. And you want to condense a 180-page document and over a year of meetings into three minutes? Are you kidding?

Someone Tries to Speak

Ben Sutherly, representing the Troy Historic Preservation Alliance, attempted to speak on some of the items that were not specifically put forward in the plan, such as downtown representation on the planning commission, a vacant commercial building registry and the general benefit that the historic built environment has provided downtown development. Mr. Sutherly was approximately barely halfway through his comments and was shut down since, in the opinion of the chair, his comments weren’t about the plan.

That’s rich.

Where else can residents talk to the Planning Commission about planning, when the Planning Commission doesn’t allow open comments at their meetings? If a public hearing about the comprehensive plan isn’t the proper forum, someone needs to answer what is the proper forum.

Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

This comprehensive planning process could have been a huge positive for the community. A chance to engage the citizens to rally around a common goal and shared vision of what our community will look like in 2045. This plan can become a catalyst to help spur more investment and more energy into the community.

But these plans are only successful when residents are brought into the process, not only by consultants, but by the local government itself. These consultants will go back to Indiana, while we are stuck with the people who run this local government. Our local government can either endear themselves and listen to the citizens they have committed to serve, or simply just ignore them.

It’s a sad state of affairs when those running this “Public Hearing” were more than willing to entertain over an hour of presentation and conversation to outside consultants, but when a local nonprofit tries to provide their insights and guidance, they get gaveled down and told to sit down and be quiet.

Shameful.

Trust in all level of governments have never been lower and frankly, in our own local government, they have no one but themselves to blame.

Coming Tomorrow: We will run Mr. Sutherly’s full comments.

What do you think?

Do you think the city does a good job of getting public input in issues facing the community? Could the city do a better job? Our paid subscribers are more than welcome to leave their ideas and insights in the comment thread!

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