Dear Council Members and City Staff,
I urge you to move forward with the merger of the Design Review Board and the Planning Commission. The current process creates confusion and too much bureaucratic inconsistency, unnecessarily increasing permitting time and expense for developers. In addition, it costs the City money to have two separate boards.
I support a 5 member board which includes 3 design professionals (architects, landscape designers), one business owner and one contractor/ builder. The board should be all Sebastopol residents or people who have businesses within City Limits.
A new configuration would streamline the permitting process while reducing costs. It would still provide the same enforcement of the General Plan ideals and design guidelines.
In addition, that same people seem to serve over and over again on the Planning Commission.
This would allow for more turnover as there would be less positions to be filled.
Best,
Kate Haug