The Planning Commission met on September 9th to discuss the recreation shed amendment and hear comments from islanders. 

In spite of all of the controversy surrounding the amendment, the Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of the amendment and send it on to Town Council for a vote. 

So now it is up to Town Council to decide what to do with the Planning Commission's recommendation. 

Town Council will meet this Monday evening at 6:00 and may--or may not--include the recreation shed issue on the agenda. But it is now up to Town Council to decide what the next step will be. The Planning Commission's vote  last Wednesday only represents a recommendation to Town Council. Council has the final say about the amendment.  

Council could do one of several things, including: 1) accept the Planning Commission's recommendation and vote to approve the amendment; 2) vote against approving the amendment; or 3) decide the issue needs more work and study and remand it to another committee, such as LUNR.

This issue is very controversial and has generated much opposition from across the island. A number of islanders have attended Planning Commission meetings over the summer and spoken out strongly against the recreation shed amendment.  Many more  have contacted Town Council in opposition. Islanders have also contacted East Cooper Land Trust and Coastal Conservation League in opposition to the amendment.

At the meeting on September 9th, Planning Commission Chair Gary Visser declined a request from an islander to read into the record the letters received since the last Planning Commission meeting in August, and also refused to characterize the letters as either for or against the amendment. Turns out all of the letters in the packet given to the Planning Commission were clearly opposed. So why not just say so? 

Turns out also that there was a letter in the packet from East Cooper Land Trust, dated August 27th, stating that ECLT no longer wanted to be involved in the process of the zoning ordinance amendment, as it had become controversial.

Seems that is a significant development--to say the least!--and certainly something that the Planning Commission should have made public before taking a vote to recommend the amendment. Why would the Planning Commission continue to act as if there is little opposition or controversy about the recreation shed amendment?

So what should islanders who are opposed to the amendment do now? Plan to attend the Town Council meeting at 6:00 on Monday and speak out during the comment period. If you cannot attend the meeting, contact Town Council and let members know how you feel about the amendment. And stay tuned....