Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Design Review Board Kudos

On Monday, my husband and I attended the city's Design Review Board meeting.

I must say, after we left, we felt like we had died and gone to public meeting heaven.

We had input to offer on one of the projects and unlike the overwhelming attitude at the City Commission meetings, our comments were appreciated and resulted in the architect making a couple of adjustments. The city engineer was also unaware of some problems concerning the alley behind the proposed business. As a result of information we gave him, the city will be making some modifications to the alley that will benefit the residents as well as the business.

What came as an even bigger shock to us was when one of the board members asked us, before the vote, if we were comfortable with the recommendations. You could have knocked us over with a feather.

After the meeting adjourned, they thanked us very much and invited us back. They also told us that they very rarely get public input. How unfortunate. This is definitely a meeting concerned citizens want to attend when a project is in its infant stages.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perhaps our present Mayor and Commissioner should attend and see how to do things properly......

Anonymous said...

Refreshing indeed and consistent with Mr. Doyon's callout for public involvement that must be accompanied by a sincere interest to establish a dialogue we yearn for. We may not be the ones making the decisions, but to know
we can engage and communicate with our leadership before they vote
can establish trust and confidence between the elected and the electorate.

david said...

THis is heartening - I hope that ALL of our elected officials (city & county) take note of this. The way it should be. Thanks, GF Girl.