Vote of No Confidence on Tonight's Agenda For Avenues Community Council

Aug 06, 2008 by Jeff Robinson

(KCPW News) This evening, residents in the Avenues neighborhood of Salt Lake City may elect to send a strong message to the city government -- by holding a vote of no confidence in the city's planning division. It's scheduled for tonight's meeting of the Greater Avenues Community Council. Wayne Green, chairman of the council, says the planning division needs to recognize that there are many customers affected by its decisions.

"The planning department always approaches the applicant as their customer, and their goal is to please the customer, so they do everything they can to expedite the application process," said Green. "We in the community feel the planning department represents the community, and we are also customers."

Members of the council recently met with Mayor Ralph Becker and Frank Gray, his new director of Community and Economic Development, and were pleased with what they had to say.

Green says the council is on board with Becker's proposed long-term changes. However, Avenues residents want some short-term solutions, such as "if they came up with a more organized and consistent procedure for notifying neighbors of a particular project about any administrative decisions that they're making, so that the neighbors have the opportunity to provide some input on the decision-making process," said Green.

The city's planning division was called "dysfunctional" by a recent audit. Tonight's community council meeting starts at 7 at Sweet Library. However, Green notes that the vote of no confidence may not happen, because some residents feel it sends too strong a message.

Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2009 KCPW