Planning panel's members await fate

Meeting

The Recommending Committee will consider an ordinance to change Planning Commission terms at 4 p.m. Tuesday in the city manager's conference room on the eighth floor of City Hall.

The Las Vegas Planning Commission plodded through dozens of public hearings stretching from Thursday evening into Friday morning last week.

Angry citizens complained about zoning changes that could affect a proposed horse trail in the northwest while developers touted the need for convenience stores to accommodate future homes.

To the average resident, sitting through hour upon hour of such discussions every two weeks is so thankless, it would be a blessing to get fired.

But that's not what commissioners hope to hear this week as the council's Recommending Committee holds a hearing Tuesday to discuss a proposed ordinance that would make commissioner terms correspond with council terms.

Some, including Councilman Gary Reese, have said they were willing to ask the commissioners to resign in order to have individual council members reappoint them. Still, there are no guarantees in the politically charged City Hall that the five sitting commissioners would get their seats back.

Mayor Oscar Goodman last week met with Commissioner Marilyn Moran, who voiced her concerns about the potential "forced" resignations.

"We're not going to ask anyone to resign," Goodman said.

But he also said he would support his former law partner Marty Keach for a seat on the seven-member commission.

When the bill related to the commission terms was introduced, it had no language to suggest resignations would be sought.

However, City Attorney Brad Jerbic said it is possible to amend the bill during the committee hearing. Whatever the committee decides Tuesday will be sent to the full council for a vote Wednesday.

The ordinance could take effect as early as Wednesday, provided the council approves the bill. It would therefore become immediately applicable to the two Planning Commission seats already vacant.

Michael Mack and Leni Skaar both resigned from the Planning Commission when Mack was appointed to the City Council and Skaar agreed to work on his staff.

A third seat on the commission, currently held by Hank Gordon, is also up for reappointment. His term expired in September.

Changes to the way the Planning Commission is appointed were proposed because the City Council now contains as many seats as the seven-member commission. Linking one member of the council to a member of the commission is considered beneficial to uniformity in planning decisions.

Keeping terms staggered is favored by others to keep continuity on the commission.

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