SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : City Restructures Advisory Boards

Hoping to cut costs and reduce bureaucracy, the city this week revamped some of its advisory commissions.

The City Council voted 4-1 Tuesday night to eliminate two commissions and speed up the approval process for development projects in the city. Councilwoman Collene Campbell cast the lone dissenting vote.

“Our hope is to cut the time and costs for the applicants to go through the review process as well as saving city staff time,” Mayor Gil Jones said. “This way we won’t be so redundant.”

Councilwoman Carolyn Nash, who worked on the restructuring with Jones, agreed, stating that the slowdown in the economy necessitated the changes.

Because far fewer projects are being proposed now than when the system was set up, the city feels it “can accomplish the same review process with a reduced number of commissions and boards,” Nash said. “Essentially, it means some of the members will have to work harder because they will be reviewing more material.”

Under the new plan, the council will combine the city’s Design Review Commission with the five-member Planning Commission, increasing the planning body to seven members. Commissioners will select three members to make design review recommendations to the entire panel, Jones said.

“When the design review becomes part of the Planning Commission, we will have better communication,” the mayor said.

The council also instituted a requirement that at least two commissioners have professional degrees in architecture or planning. It was that requirement and the addition of two planning commissioners that prompted her opposing vote, Campbell said.

“I’m totally in favor of the revamping and cutting out some of the commissions. I very much support getting rid of some of the bureaucracy we put our citizens through,” Campbell said. “But I was still hoping for a five-member commission. And I think if we limit our commissioners to people with architectural or planning degrees, we might eliminate a very qualified person.”

The council also revamped the Los Rios Review Committee, limiting its powers, under advice from City Atty. Richard K. Denhalter. The panel, made up of five members of the historic Los Rios neighborhood, will now act solely as an advisory body to the council.

“The committee was created before the (Fair Political Practices Commission) regulations were defined and didn’t fit with its rules of today,” said Denhalter, adding that neighbors approving projects near their homes gave the appearance of a conflict of interest.