The Manteca Planning Commission may start meeting the first and third Thursdays in 2021.
The move is being recommended by municipal staff to reduce the wait time between planning commission approved projects and when they can be considered by the City Council.
Currently the commission meets the second and fourth Tuesdays while the council meets the first and third Tuesdays. Both meet at the council chambers at 1001 W. Center St.
Assistant City Manager Lisa Blackmon noted the move will reduce the time for items to go through the final approval process by 9 days.
As it stands now when a project is passed out of the planning commission there is not adequate time to do the legally required public noticing for the following week’s council meeting. That means it is a three-week wait. By having the council and commission meet on the same week, items requiring public noticing would be able to be heard by the council within 12 days.
Changing the meeting day will also free up the chambers for special council meetings that may be needed on the second and fourth Tuesday.
“It is better for the public as they can expect a special meeting of the council to take place on a Tuesday — the same day that they meet on a regular basis,” Blackmon said.
Blackmon said as part of an ongoing effort to step up city transparency that once the pandemic ends and people are allowed to attend planning commission meetings in person, the meetings will be livestreamed on the city’s website.
At the same time the city is working on obtaining equipment that will allow it to live stream public information meetings and workshops taking place elsewhere such as the Manteca Transit Center. Such workshops often involve road projects.
The City Council will decide whether to OK the shift of planning commission meetings to the first and third Thursday when they meet tonight at 7 o’clock remotely in a Zoom meeting that is being live streamed on the city’s website and broadcast on Comcast Channel 97.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
