In a departure from its usual practice, the City Council Monday night opted not to reappoint one of the Planning and Zoning Commission’s most senior members.
Nearly a dozen people applied for the two open spots on P&Z, one of the city’s most important commissions. Both commissioners whose terms had expired reapplied for their positions. Raman Puri, a local developer and vice president of Hilton Garden Inn, has served on the commission for over a year and was reappointed. Bill Tillotson, a senior adviser for the Naught-Naught insurance agency, also won the council’s approval.
Glenn Rice, an Internet administrator for MU, has served on the commission since 2005 and was not reappointed.
In a letter Commission Chairman Jeff Barrow wrote to the council before Monday night’s decision, he called Rice and Puri some of the best commissioners who have served during his 13 years on P&Z.
“Prior councils consistently have appointed commissioners who reapplied for the commission unless the applicant has displayed a glaring deficiency,” Barrow wrote. “When that precedent is broken, the council needs to present a clear and compelling explanation to the current P&Z so we can understand the council’s intentions and directions.”
“I was supporting the reappointment of our standing commissioners,” Barrow said in an interview. “I don’t know the new commissioner, but I’m going to miss Glenn a lot. He was a very productive member and had a lot of experience.”
In the past few years, the commission has ramped up its schedule, meeting almost every week to work on a number of planning documents and processes, in addition to reviewing zoning and development requests. Development Services Manager Pat Zenner, who staffs the P&Z meetings, said Rice was an active member whose insights often influenced other commissioners’ opinions.
“The loss of any member of the planning commission who has been there for five years and has been through the changes we’ve been through will be felt,” Zenner said.
Rice said he feels like he has an “undeserved reputation as anti-growth.” He’s voted for some of Columbia’s larger developments, including Landmark Hospital, the Broadway/Fairview Walmart and the Old Hawthorne subdivision, he said. In addition, he said he has only missed eight meetings out of 102 during his time as commissioner, a better record than Puri’s.
“If there’s this perception I’m this anti-growth candidate, it’s absurd, and my record proves it,” Rice said.
CBT obtained an e-mail sent to council members from Kristi Ray, Columbia Chamber of Commerce executive vice president, urging the council to choose Chamber members who had applied for various boards and commissions. The e-mail endorsed both Puri and Tillotson, along with other applicants from the Chamber.
“We have watched (P&Z) with great interest and have been concerned with some of their recent actions,” the e-mail states.
In the last year and half, Ray began regularly sending messages to council members supporting Chamber members applying for boards and commissions. The Chamber also encourages its members to apply for boards and commissions, she said.
“We think we’re doing the city a service by getting them more applicants,” she said.
Fifth Ward Councilwoman Laura Nauser voted for Tillotson along with Mayor Bob McDavid, Second Ward Councilman Jason Thornhill and Third Ward Councilman Gary Kespohl. She said the council regularly gets letters of recommendation for applicants to city commissions, but she looks at their qualifications, not their endorsements, she said. Nauser said her vote doesn’t mean she disapproves of Rice’s performance.
“I think I just wanted to see some change,” she said. “It was a very hard decision.”
Rice’s departure from the commission also makes the Fourth Ward the only ward without representation on P&Z. Fourth Ward councilman Daryl Dudley, who ran against Rice’s wife, Tracy Greever-Rice, in the April election, was the only councilman to vote for Jim Holman, a resident of the Second Ward. Dudley said he’s not concerned about losing Fourth Ward representation on P&Z.
“What I look at is what people are thinking and their experience in the development world and the construction world,” Dudley said.
First Ward Councilman Paul Sturtz said he thought Rice was targeted as a commissioner whose views weren’t “sufficiently orthodox” to those of some members of the community. He and Sixth Ward Councilwoman Barbara Hoppe were the only members of the council to vote for Rice.
“I felt both Ray Puri and Glenn Rice earned their keep on the commission,” Sturtz said. “They both really distinguished themselves and were doing great work.”
Rice’s involvement with the development of the East Area Plan and Comprehensive Plan impressed Sturtz, he said. He and other members of the council highly respected the commission’s planning work. But, Sturtz said, “I’ll be curious to see whether that holds true anymore.”
Categories: Business, City Politics.
