Berlin council members have unanimously agreed to extend the temporary moratorium passed on July 8 for specific actions of the planning commission as officials continue searching for a full-time director.
Downtown Berlin
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By Tara Fischer, Staff Writer
At the Monday, Aug. 12 meeting, the Berlin council unanimously agreed to extend the temporary moratorium passed on July 8 for specific actions of the planning commission. The pause will be in effect until October.
The moratorium passed last month will apply to applications for site plan approval, rezoning, and property annexation. The planning commission will still be permitted to meet publicly to discuss conceptual issues.
The pause comes after the town’s planning director, Dave Engelhart, passed away in April. Since then, Rick Baldwin has consulted for the group.
As the town has yet to find a person to fill the role, the council agreed to extend the moratorium from Sept. 15 until Oct. 15 to relieve the burden of the current staff. Town Administrator Mary Bohlen emphasized that the extension is not “locked in” and may be lifted at any time. Additionally, the planning commission is still permitted to gather.
“The planning commission will meet in September,” Bohlen said. “Other requests are coming in with the moratorium, but this allows us to take them in, begin examining them, and when it is lifted, we are ready to move forward with them. It is not to say there is no work being done. It is just keeping it to the point that it is not going to final approval because having an actual planning director to perform necessary functions of getting projects through to completion is important.”
Bohlen said at the last meeting that the town had interviewed five candidates for the planning director role and elected two for in-person discussions. However, she could not give any more concrete update on Monday than that they are still actively hiring for the position.
The council hopes a candidate will be selected soon. In the meantime, the town administrator reiterated while rezoning projects and annexation requests may not allow for action, they can still be discussed.
“It is important to drive home that the Town of Berlin is still open for business; there is just a ceiling for as far as it can go,” Councilmember Steve Green said.
Councilmember Jay Knerr motioned to extend the moratorium until Oct. 15 with a second from Councilmember Shaneka Nichols. The move passed unanimously.
The moratorium will be reviewed at the first meeting of each month until the pause is lifted.
In related news, the council unanimously approved adjustments to the code’s site plan review procedure.
The town struck the amendment requiring applicants to submit three complete sets of the site plans on sheets no larger than 24 by 36 inches.
The adjustment specifies that instead, petitioners are to “complete sets of the site plans as required.”
The council also removed the regulations that declare “no zoning certificate shall be granted until after the planning and zoning commission submits its recommendation to the planning director, or after 45 days of the date the site plans were submitted,” and “the planning and zoning commission shall make a written recommendation to the planning director within 45 days of the date the plan was submitted on whether the site plan indicates that a zoning certificate should be granted or denied…Failure to make a written recommendation within 45 days shall be considered a recommendation to issue such a zoning certificate.”
Councilmember Jack Orris, in reference to the elimination of the 45-day deadline, was hesitant to eliminate the planning commission’s time frame for saying “yay or nay.”
Staff maintained the change would allow for more flexibility.
“That procedure will be one of the first things the new director will work on to determine how these things can go,” Bohlen said. “…it can be problematic to make your code too specific, and it gets you into a box.”
“Artificial deadlines can cause problems,” echoed Councilman Jay Knerr.
The revised ordinance passed unanimously.