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06/05/2006: "Council Braces For ADU Public Hearing"

The County Council will hold a public hearing Tuesday on a proposed ordinance dealing with guest houses, and they may see some of the buttons (seen in the photo above) at the hearing. The buttons are being worn by some of the 73.5% of the citizens who voted to allow guest houses, and have since been repeatedly told by the Council, and some members of the Planning Commission, that they did not understand what they were voting for.

If the last hearing is any forecast of what is to come, then the Council can expect a standing room only gathering of voters on Tuesday, June 6, when they hold a public hearing in the Council room at 1:30 pm. The Council will ostensibly be holding the hearing to take final public input on the Accessory Dwelling ordinance, but even their own attorney has said it will not pass a review by the Growth Management Board, however the Council has decided to proceed with the new ordinance anyway, and state law requires that they take public input on it.

In a related issue, the Growth Management Board (GMB) has decided to sidestep a public hearing on the ADU Ord by instituting an accelerated schedule that will be conducted by telephone. According to Peg manning, an attorney, and one of those opposed to the proposed ordinance, "This will mean that no property holder challenges to the ordinance (not due under law until 60 days from publication of a new ordinance) will be considered with the compliance hearing. The Board usually waits and hears both sets together".

What is confusing to many who have followed the evolution of the current proposed ordinance -and in some cases been a part of the process- is why the Council is going forward with a proposal that the County attorney says will not be accepted by the GMB. One of these observers has expressed concern that the end result may be that when the GMB rejects some of the components of the ordinance, then at the compliance hearing the Friends and the Council may simply remove the objectionable parts of the ordinance to reach compliance. And this may be done without public review, comment or knowledge. Given the fast track the Council and the GMB are now running on, we will not have to wait long to find out if these concerns are valid or not.