City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: NOVEMBER 7, 2018
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
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Consideration of Scheduling a July 2019 Public Hearing Meeting.
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ISSUE: Should the City Council include a summer public hearing in its 2019 docket calendar?
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council include an early summer public hearing on its schedule for Tuesday, July 9, 2019.
BACKGROUND: Vice Mayor Wilson and Council Members Bailey, Chapman, Lovain and Smedberg sent the attached September 11, 2018 memorandum to the Mayor and City Council requesting the City Manager to propose appropriate timing for an additional public hearing for both the Planning Commission and City Council in summer 2019 (Attachment 1).
Currently, the Planning Commission's docket season extends from September through July, resulting in a monthly public hearing in 11 of the 12 calendar months. Often there are no, or few, docket items for the Planning Commission in July because most case types require both Planning Commission and City Council approval. Since there is no City Council hearing in July, most applicants must wait until September. Last year, the Planning Commission cancelled its July public hearing due to a lack of cases for that month. However, for the past four years, the Planning Commission has held two June meetings due to heavy June dockets. The Planning and Zoning Department has been able to schedule the two June meeting over the past four years in a manner that coincides with coordination of the June City Council public hearing docket; otherwise, some June cases would have had to wait to September to be heard by the City Council.
DISCUSSION: The Department of Planning and Zoning and the Planning Commission have reviewed the September 11 memorandum and agree that a City Council July public hearing would be...
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