Whitewater’s Planning Commission met on Monday evening, 7.13.20. A video of the full meeting is embedded above. (See also, 7.13.20 meeting agenda.)
A few remarks:
Recording. The best record of a meeting is a recording. A recording is more thorough than mere notes (although they must be submitted, too). A recording is, needless to say, far better than an incumbent politician’s summary of a session’s events.
Election of Commission Officers. The meeting began with an election of officers, itself a conventional matter, but also a sign of how few people are willing to serve on the commission. (Item 3, Video 1:12 – 6:57)
A Sensibly Quick Approval. The commission approved an applicant’s ordinary request for lot division without unnecessary or tedious discussion. Simple matters ask for nothing more than simple solutions. (Item 4, Video 6:58 – 13:25.)
A New Sign Ordinance. In the Information Items portion of the meeting, Whitewater’s city planner mentioned the release of an upcoming draft of a proposed sign ordinance. Sign regulations have bedeviled – regrettably, unnecessarily, laughably – this city for years. A simple, plain, accommodating, and intelligible policy would do the city some good (or at least no harm). Regulations on signs don’t make communities richer; communities that are richer tend toward regulations on signs. Wealth shapes expectations. Whitewater is not a wealthy community, and she’ll not lift herself to prosperity by fussing over sign dimensions, etc. (Item 5a, Video 13:43 – 16:36.)
Almost Normal. One can say that this meeting was almost normal, but there’s no normal in conditions of a pandemic. This commission’s meetings are (for now) staying virtual, as they have been for months.
As a record of the meeting, audiovisual conferencing via the web is as accessible afterward as were the city’s cable broadcasts that were afterward uploaded to the web. There are more arguments than that in favor or in opposition to re-opening, but the course of the ongoing pandemic may soon enough settle some if these arguments.