In May, residents waited at the Lakewood Planning Commission meeting to voice opposition to a proposed Sam’s Club … and waited … and waited.
The meeting ran from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m., a seven-hour ordeal the planning commission would like to avoid. The group is contemplating a new rule limiting applicant presentations to 45 minutes.
“A developer may come in with a presentation that’s two or three hours,” said Commission Chairman William Marino. “If it’s a contentious hearing, it could have the appearance that the developer is being given preferential treatment.”
Marino said that in his six years on the commission he has sat through presentations approaching the three-hour mark. As with the Sam’s Club hearing, the longer the proceedings drag the more residents go home, forfeiting their right to speak.
“We want to make sure the public has its say sooner than midnight,” Marino said. “If there’s a big hearing, that can only add to their frustration.”
Marino said the commission will look at implementing the rule in the coming months.
Planning Manager Vince Harris said he doesn’t think developers will resist a time limit.
“We’ve always told them, the shorter the better,” he said. “It’s their choice right now. This way they’ll know that there really isn’t a choice.”