The Franklin County Planning and Zoning Commission is an advisory arm of local government on planning issues, and they have important responsibilities. We currently have a commission full of members who do not appear to be qualified because they do not have the relevant experience nor have they been educated to make proper planning and zoning decisions. For example, the Planning Commission members have admitted to ignoring the facts when evaluating rezoning requests. They seem to have a limited understanding of their roles and responsibilities witnessed by their unpreparedness for meetings. The attorney representing the P&Z Commission constantly must remind the members that they have either slipped into mission creep or they are not following the proper protocols. Further, instead of relying on the City and County professional staff who have over a combined 50 years of experience in planning and zoning, the commission repeatedly appears to attack and undermine them in public meetings. This criticism of the commission may appear harsh, but if one studies their actions and remarks during the meetings, one can see a pattern of confrontational approaches and a lack of proper order. Just as these commission members are appointed by the Mayor and the Judge Executive, one would hope they would choose to remove and replace a committee member who was incapable of meeting the requirements of the job.
As of late, the commission has allowed members of the attending public to yell out, call for points of order, jeer at opposing viewpoints and statements, and clap and cheer during the meetings. It is a shameful display of unprofessionalism. This permitted behavior adds to the reason this community has the reputation of being anti-business and anti-growth. No professional businessperson would or should subject themselves to the lack of proper decorum that has been present in the Franklin County P&Z Commission meetings when there are numerous professional, welcoming, growing communities who will be happy to have them.
For anyone who has not had the opportunity of participating in one of these meetings, one might imagine that this description is an exaggeration. If interested, watch the last few P&Z Commission Meetings on Facebook at Frankfort, KY – City Hall. You will see this is no exaggeration. These meetings will show you what the rest of the world thinks of Frankfort because this is what they repeatedly see. These are the members who have been appointed by our elected officials and are paid by taxpayers to represent our community to make decisions about our community’s growth. Unfortunately, this isn’t helping our community to be competitive and take advantage of growth opportunities.
During the presentation and citizen statement portions of the most recent meeting on August 11, 2022, the attending public was permitted to scream out frequently; insult individuals and businesses that had nothing to do with the text amendment; continually testify to multiple topics that they had been told repeatedly were irrelevant and inappropriate; and insult the professional staff of the Planning and Building Codes Department. Why is this being permitted by the P&Z Commission? While occasional disruptions are to be expected whenever there are differing viewpoints, these problems during multiple Planning Commission meetings have continued unabated. There are many who would suggest that at the least, the entire P&Z Commission needs to be trained on how meetings are to be conducted, and at the most, most members need to be replaced with more qualified candidates.
This community should demand their elected officials appoint qualified board members to the P&Z Commission as well as the other boards and commissions that represent us. We must hold them accountable for representing the mission of the organization to which they serve, not their own personal interests. We must mandate that they tell the truth, all the time, not just when it supports their narrative. We must require that they fully understand their roles and responsibilities and those of the professional staff who advise them and insist that those professionals are treated with the respect they deserve. Lastly, we must impress upon our elected officials their responsibility to appoint qualified members to boards and to make changes when the members fall short of their responsibilities.
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