The Public Stakeholder Advisory Committee (the “Committee”) is an ad hoc, advisory committee comprised of community members appointed by Mayor Rogero and affirmed by City Council. The Committee is tasked with providing feedback during the comprehensive update of the City’s zoning ordinance.
Composed of representatives of key sectors of the community, the Committee will provide feedback to ensure that the updated ordinance serves the diverse interests of the City. Members of the Committee will undertake to:
- identify key issues to be addressed in the ordinance update,
- review drafts of the ordinance to ensure identified issues are addressed, and
- serve as the liaison between the organization or group they represent during the update.
As an advisory body, the Committee will not have a role in the approval of the updated zoning ordinance. The responsibility for approval of the updated ordinance is delegated statutorily to the Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission (“MPC”) and the Knoxville City Council; MPC will provide a recommendation to City Council on the ordinance, and City Council will have final approval authority.
Meetings of the Committee will be held as needed to maintain a strong and steady channel of communication between the Committee and Consultant, with the Executive Director of MPC serving as the intermediary between the Committee and the Consultant. The Committee meetings are public meetings, and will be open to members of the public to attend. The public meetings will be chaired and directed by the Executive Director of MPC. The Committee is subject to the Open Meetings Act and therefore any communications among its appointed members about the ordinance update must occur only at the Committee’s public meetings.
Throughout the process, information about the update will be shared with the Committee at its public meetings and through email communications. Information about the update will be shared with the general public through a website developed for the project, through social media, and other means.
It is anticipated that the Committee will meet approximately 12 times during the project, which is anticipated to take 20 months. Meetings will be more frequent during the initial stage of the ordinance update, possibly occurring monthly for the first 3 to 4 months of the project. The initial meetings will focus on introducing Committee members and staff/consultants involved in the ordinance update, providing a description of the committee’s charge, developing a schedule, and identifying and explaining issues to be addressed in the updated zoning ordinance. Later meetings will focus on the review of the draft updated ordinance to ensure identified issues have been addressed.
Committee members must be committed to participating fully in the zoning update during the entire 20 months that the effort is estimated to require; provided, however, that changes in organizational leadership or affiliation may necessitate the appointment of another person to the Committee.