Calabasas councilmembers discuss process for selecting city’s planning commissioners

By Michael Picarella Acorn Staff Writer

A new Calabasas Planning Commission is forming and the city council last week discussed the process. According to City Councilman Barry Groveman, he wants the selection process to involve discussion among his peers and he wants it more open to the public.

Councilmembers recently approved an initiative that said all library and planning commissioners had to vacate their seats as of May 28 and could reapply if they wanted. Groveman, who brought the initiative to the council, said the idea was to assure accountability among commissioners. He described it as a "review process."

"The planning commission is one of the more important commissions," Groveman said in an interview after last week’s city council meeting. "My concern is that it be an efficient commission, that would be very responsive to the public, and that it dispense with city business in a more efficient way.

"I think the selection of commissioners—as I’ve thought from the beginning—is very important, and I wanted to make sure the process for selecting commissioners was very open and the discussion on who we select was very visible, so that the people can understand the basis of the decisions we make."

Previous procedures for selecting commissioners were different, according to Calabasas Mayor James Bozajian.

"In the past, we’ve invited (applicants) to make a three- to five-minute presentation who wanted to at the selection meeting," said Bozajian in an interview. "The council would go around and see if anyone had any questions or comments, and usually we’d spend about 10 minutes per applicant.

"And then the council would vote on quasi-secret ballots," Bozajian said. Councilmembers would mark the commissioner of choice, he said, and the top three selections would be revealed and then voted on by the council.

"We wouldn’t announce how each person voted," Bozajian said. "But it was available to the public, if people wanted to know."

Groveman hopes the new selection process will ensure the best possible commission; one that represents, he said, the entire council’s decision as a whole.

The other councilmembers seemed to agree with the new process during discussion at last week’s council meeting.

"My objective is to make sure we get the very best people," Groveman said, "and make sure we go through the most thoughtful process, so that we get the best decisions that we possibly can out of a commission that does the kind of work that this commission does."

According to Bozajian, the city has received 11 applications for the planning commission. These applicants, according to Groveman, include lawyers with environmental backgrounds that Groveman thinks are especially relevant for the job, he said.

The deadline for filing applications for the planning commission was May 16.

"There’s a lot of really good applicants in Calabasas," Groveman said. "I’m very happy with what we’re seeing."

The new commission will exist after the council makes its selections at the regular Wed., June 4 council meeting, according to Groveman.

"I want to elevate the qualifications and the quality of our commissions," Groveman said. The positions aren’t rote and they’re not social, he said. Highly qualified planning commissioners are a necessity, Groveman said, because of their early involvement with land-use decisions.