Bid to Scrap Planning Board Is Criticized : Oxnard: Council postpones action on a proposal to replace the commissioners with a hearing officer.

Former Oxnard council members and planning commissioners Tuesday slammed a proposal to abolish the city’s Planning Commission, calling it a developer’s dream, a recipe for corruption and an affront to citizen participation in government.

The Oxnard City Council postponed a decision on whether to dissolve the five-member Planning Commission, which city officials characterized as a body of amateurs slowing down progress.

Developers and small business owners have complained that their projects are being delayed without cause--mainly because planning commissioners are not experts in the field and misunderstand what they are expected to do, officials said.

Under the plan, the commission would be replaced with a single hearing officer, preferably a planning expert or a lawyer, said City Atty. Gary Gillig.

But former commissioners and council members, as well as community leaders and representatives of environmental and political groups, questioned the true motives of the plan, the way it was presented, and the effect it would have on politics in Oxnard.

“It is very offensive to me for the city to present these massive changes, without warning, at a time when people are too busy to be keeping track of their government,” said former Oxnard Mayor Jane Tolmach, who also served on the Planning Commission. “Why are you afraid to discuss these drastic proposals? The way it is presented tells us how much public involvement there would be without a Planning Commission.”

Oxnard officials scheduled no public hearings on the proposal. It was mentioned in passing on the council agenda--which was released to the public Thursday afternoon--as part of a report on an unrelated subject.

Paul Chatman, chairman of the Tierra Vista neighborhood council, said doing away with the Planning Commission would break Oxnard’s recent promise to involve more residents in running the city.

“We’re constantly talking about bringing citizens into the system, making them part of the system,” Chatman said, “and now we’re going to abolish the most prestigious commission in the city?”

Under the plan, a hearing officer would certify environmental reports and process permits the way planning commissioners do, and would hold public hearings as frequently as the Planning Commission has, if not more often, Gillig said.

But the hearing officer would do a more efficient job, and provide less opportunity for naysayers to disrupt the development process without good cause, argued City Planner Matthew Winnegar.

Dorothy Maron, who served for 25 years as a planning commissioner and council member, said a hearing officer who could single-handedly decide the fate of development could create problems the council has not anticipated.

“He becomes more powerful, I hate to tell you, than any individual council member,” Maron said to the council. “And there is a great potential for corruption.”

She later added that the Planning Commission closely scrutinizes the details of a developer’s proposal, and doing away with the panel would result in less oversight on planning.

“The developer will not have to adhere to some of the tougher rules,” Maron said. “The public process of the Planning Commission is where the nitty gritty gets done. The council would not have time to do it.”

Councilman Tom Holden said he experienced the Planning Commission’s bureaucratic red-tape when it took him two years and a $3,000 appeal to the City Council just to get an office in town. He said the current system simply does not work.

“I’m not just talking about Shopping at the Rose or factory outlets; we’re talking about small businesses,” Holden said. “The time frame is just too long.”

Councilman Andres Herrera said he does not think the Planning Commission needs to be abolished. But, he said, it has overstepped its bounds in recent years and its parameters need to be redefined.

But Maron, Tolmach, and Planning Commissioner Edward Castillo said the result may be a Planning Commission made up of citizens who have no power at all.