Has anyone seen my Planning Commissioner?
There was a high public attendance of the Daphne Planning Commission meeting at the City Hall on Thursday (March 25th 2010) as around 130 inhabitants of TimberCreek tried to find out what was going to happen to their residential community.
Letters had been sent out earlier in the month telling of a plan to subdivide a 240 acre lot into 5 separate lots; unfortunately those letters were mailed just two days before the scheduled Site Preview Meeting (March 17th 2010) and as such few, if any, residents were able to attend. It is of little surprise then that no letters of complaint or objection had been received. What a difference a week makes!
Amid rumors of commercial development plans and a road linking the Eastern Shore Centre with the area surrounding the BassPro shop the proceedings started in almost comical style with much tapping of non-working microphones and shouts of “speak up” as Commission Chairman Ed Kirby tried to bring some semblance of order. The order didn’t last for too long though as hoots of derision and sarcastic laughter followed his announcement that in fact subdivision decisions could not be made as there were insufficient Commission Members present to form a quorum.
After several interjections from audience members (that were never really answered to any degree of satisfaction) Councilwoman Cathy Barnette tabled a motion that no decisions on subdivision would be made during the meeting. I failed to hear who seconded the motion due to the continued disbelief being voiced in the audience but it went to the vote and was passed unanimously.
At this point a number of the audience started to leave but if the members of the Commission thought that was an end to their problems they were mistaken as resident after resident rose to their feet to give opinions and ask questions.
Mayor Fred Small’s only significant contribution to the debate was to inform people that this was the first time in 6 years that there hadn’t been enough people to form a quorum; “what a surprise” was about the only polite thing I heard from the audience. For someone who won the last Mayoral election by less than 300 votes I think Mayor Small will need to do a lot more than shaking hands and kissing babies the next time he comes canvassing in TimberCreek.
So, nothing could be done except confirm that the next site preview date is set for April 14th 2010 at 8.30am and when asked if the owners/developers would be attending and if the concerned parties would be allowed to speak Mr. Kirby said that they were not required to attend.
The following is an extract from The City of Daphne Community Development Department 2010 Planning Commission Application Deadline and Meeting Schedule (Rev. 1/12/2010)
Attendance by the owner and/or an authorized agent at each of these meetings is imperative for proper representation of each project. Before any application requiring Planning Commission approval is considered the engineer, developer, owner or a designated representative of the engineer, developer, or owner shall be present at such hearing to present the submittal to the Commission. In the absence of said engineer, developer, owner, or designated representative, an application request shall not be heard unless otherwise determined by the Planning Commission.
Most people were heading for the doors by this time but the discussions continued in the foyer, along with much swapping of email addresses and promises to ensure that even more people attend the next meeting; it was fully 45 minutes before the last TimberCreek resident pointed their car in the direction of 98 and were homeward bound.
If you can’t make the meeting on April 14th the next big date to keep clear is April 22nd (6pm at the Council Chambers of Daphne City Hall) when hopefully the Planning Commission can find 6 of its members to turn up on time and vote against the proposed sub-division and subsequent commercialization of a residential area.
It is now up to us as a community to find out exactly what is going on, make it public knowledge and to rally together to make sure our opinions are heard; I hope this web site becomes a focal point for discussion, ideas and a sharing of skills and knowledge as we try to ensure that TimberCreek Stays Residential.
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As a resident of Green Court who was affected by change, I feel sorry for those in danger of "progress". It's a shame that you can't purchase property in a luxury development only to find that nobody cares about you down the road. Our backyard forest was cleared and now we have a 4-story hotel that not only lights up our yard at nite, but we have the constant loud roar of an air-conditioning/heating unit!!Talk about peaceful!! I urge everyone in the dangerzone to attend the meetings and sound off to those in charge. It's a shame what is happening to our entire Eastern Shore.
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