Community Planning Committee
Minutes, 18 January 2012
Present: Committee members Cynthia Dewick, Ron Meick. Danny Schweers, and Ray Seigfried (chair). Also present: Sally Sharp and Steven Threefoot. Absent: Harold Kalmus.
Ray called this meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in Room 2 of the Buzz Ware Village Center. The previous minutes were approved.
Website
Danny Schweers reported that Larry Strange set up hosting for a new website for the Village of Arden. This WordPress site, when developed, will allow anyone with a username and password to update their own pages. Permissions can be restricted so that, for example, only someone with the Community Planning username and password can update the Community Planning page of the new website. This means maintenance of the future website can dispersed among many individuals. Overall maintenance will continue to be the responsibility of this committee for the time being.
Nominees for the March Election
The terms of two members of our committee -- Cynthia Dewick and Danny Schweers -- end in March, 2012. Four nominees have been found. Cynthia has agreed to serve another term if elected. The other nominees are Michael Falstad, Dan McNeil, and Sally Sharp. Michael and Sally have previously served on the committee.
Ordinance Adoption Procedure
Questions have arisen -- from the Advisory Committee and the Town Assembly -- about the proper procedure for adopting ordinances, so the Planning Committee continued to discuss the process, tonight with Town Chair Steven Threefoot. After discussing the procedure at length, the committee turned the matter back over to Steven further edit the wording of the procedure.
Vacant Dwelling Ordinance
The committee reviewed the Vacant Dwelling Ordinance and discussed its presentation for a third and final vote at the Town Meeting next Monday, January 23, 2012. Click here to see the final approved version of the Vacant Dwelling Ordinance.
Exemptions to New Castle County Land Use Codes
Ray reported that New Castle County is set to vote on an exemption to land use codes for incorporated areas such as the three Ardens, areas that have adopted forest stewardship policies, so that fallen trees, tree limbs and branches shall not be considered rubbish or debris. The other request, that cars be permitted to park on unhardened surfaces, will not be considered.
Next Meeting, Adjournment
The next meeting will be on Wednesday, February 15, at 7:00 p.m. at the Buzz Ware Village Center. We adjourned at 8:33 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Danny Schweers, Committee Secretary
