The Joint Planning-Design Commission discussed how best to engage the public in the ongoing Town Center code revision work at its Oct. 21 meeting.

City staff and consultant Karen Reed led the meeting. Reed was hired in July to build on the work of the 42-member Town Center stakeholder group and the interim report published based on citizen and stakeholder input.

Reed recommended that a “Joint Commission” be formed and that it develop its own work plan. The City Council authorized the Commission to help staff with development code language, but also said that it could look at Comprehensive Plan issues.

The first Joint Commission meeting on Oct. 7 was meant to “hand off the baton,” with Councilmembers Jane Meyer Brahm, Benson Wong and Dan Grausz in attendance.

Grausz noted that the Planning Commission and Council have butted heads before. He said he wanted this process to go smoothly, and didn’t want the Commission to be confused about its expectations or marching orders. But a sense of apprehension still lingered, with Commissioners wanting more data and public input.

At its second meeting, the Commission was tasked with approving a calendar, written by city staff, showing two meetings per month until final recommendations in April. It also formed a communications subcommittee that will work with staff to send a mailer out to each Island household.

The Commission has not yet answered a central question: whether it believes in the validity of the Town Center process conducted to date, or not.

Development Services Group Director Scott Greenberg said that the primary purpose of this group is to “write the code, then get the public feedback,” which some members felt was the wrong approach.

“The big issue right now is, do people feel like they’ve been included in this process,” said Design Commissioner Lara Sanderson. “We didn’t decide to do this process the way we’re doing it. It has been handed to us.”

She said that a comprehensive public review of Town Center issues was missing the first time around, and suggested doing an independent survey to “save a lot of heartache down the road,” instead of “regurgitating something people have been very vocally opposed to.”

Others felt that they should build on the extensive input already collected, and give citizens something to comment on that is tangible and substantive.

Commission members questioned if they were bound by the interim report and  the Council-endorsed “Town Center vision” that will be communicated in the mailer, or if they were allowed to tweak it.

Planning Commissioner and former mayor Bryan Cairns said that public input should be taken with a grain of salt.

“I’m sure that the public we will hear from is not a public that wants us to do something, it will be a public that wants to do nothing, and that will be a problem for us,” he said.

Planning Commissioner Jenni Mechem suggested studying at other towns or cities of similar size that did successful “Main Street rejuvenations,” like Bainbridge Island, Sausalito or Burien, and forming a research subcommittee. Mechem was appointed to the Planning Commission after David McCann resigned in June, citing communications issues with the Council.

The Joint Commission ultimately decided to ask the City Council for $14,000 — $9,500 to design more graphics for communications materials and eventually the Comprehensive Plan and Town Center development code, and $4,500 for the Island-wide mailer.

They agreed that they would not be communicating that anything is finalized, just what they’re going to be working on.

“It would make the public feel better to know nothing is set in stone,” said Design Commissioner Susanne Foster.