The Zoning Commission currently meets the first Thursday of each month at 1:00 p.m. The Ad Hoc Committee on Commissions determined that this may not be the most convenient time for property owners to come down to City Hall and express concerns regarding a zoning change that would affect their property, and recommended the hold at least some of their meetings in the evening. The Zoning Commission voted to keep everything status quo.

So now the Planning and Growth Director and a couple of council members are insisting. On the agenda for tonight is a proposal that would change the meeting time from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on a one-year trial basis, just for 2008.

The city did solicit input regarding the time change from several groups, and these are the results:

Staff surveyed three groups – neighborhood associations, citizens who had received notices of CZC public hearings within the last three months, and current members of the Zoning Commission. We asked if they would be more likely to attend the 6 pm meeting and if they would be interested in serving on the CZC if it met at 6pm instead of 1 pm. The results of the survey are summarized below and included in the survey report, Attachment B.

• Neiqhborhoods – 85 groups contacted, 16 responded (19%)
  • 13 (81%) favored evening meetings
  • 1 (6%) did not
  • 2 (13%) did not respond directly to the question
  • 3 were interested in serving on the CZC and 3 others needed more information
• Citizens who had received notices of CZC public hearings the last three months – 253 citizens contacted, 7 responded (3%)
  • 3 (43%) favored evening meetings
  • 4 (57%) did not
  • 1 interested in serving on CZC
• Current Zoninq Commissioners – 6 responded (100%)
  • 1 favored evenings meeting
  • 5 did not

In addition, Council Member input was sought. Three favored evening meetings, and two others provided comment or questions.

The neighborhood groups appear to have spoken loud and clear — almost 20% responded, and they were overwhelmingly in favor of the evening meeting schedule. Only 3% of those citizens who receive notices even responded, which leads me to believe that they don’t have a strong opinion one way or the other.

According to a Journal Star report, “If the City Council changes things on Tuesday, at least two members [Richard Unes and Greg Hunziker] say they will quit.” The reason? “We’d be sitting here until 9 p.m. or 10 o’clock in the evening,” Unes is reported as saying.

Well, of course I understand that sentiment; it’s not exactly the most exciting way to spend an evening. But it is only one evening per month. And frankly, they should value the time of the citizens they’re appointed to serve more than their own time — that’s why they call it “public service.” I don’t expect that argument to get them much sympathy from the council, either, since they meet at 6:15 every other Tuesday (on average).

Also, threatening to resign doesn’t carry a huge punch when you consider there’s no shortage of people willing to take their place. Since Chad Bixby resigned, the Heart of Peoria Commission has no representation on the Zoning Commission, so one or two HOP/C members need to be added, plus there are three neighborhood group members who have expressed interest.

In the absence of any good argument against changing the time, I think they should go ahead and try the 6:00 meetings for a year and see how they work.