AOU Nine oe Das Mayor and Council , . October 4, 1974 Possible Program Keeping in mind that the objective is to encourage citizens and Aldermen to participate earlier in the planning process the following guidelines could be followed: 1. The Planning and Zoning Committee is the first group to deal with development proposals and the initial presentation is always subject to some refinement. After these initial discussions with the developer and after the Committee feels that the project may be acceptable for further consideration details of the proposal could be presented to all members of Council for information and for their written comments. This procedure would enable Council members to make inquiries and get feedback from residents and ratepayers groups if they wish and their comments can be passed on to the Committee. 2, The information returned to the Committee would be discussed with the developer and further refinements made if necessary. The project could then be forwarded to Y open Council. ; ’ e 3. With regard to informing the residents, once the project has received scrutiny of the Planning and Zoning Committee and other members of Council and is to proceed, I feel that it is the developer's responsibility to sell the project to the residents. ‘The developer should provide details of the development for distribution to the resi- dents effected. This information would be circulated when the City informs residents of the public hearing. In addition, the developer should carry out any additional publicity necessary. as warranted. by the magnitude of the proposal under review. 4. The difficult area to cover is that of introducing changes in planning concepts j.e., introducing higher density, building on a smaller sized lots etc. The only solution is to discuss the ideas and keep them before the public, The method used by the G.V.R.D.,for instance, is the circulation of a newsletter which contains items under consideration by the Board and also includes articles on planning concepts and a variety of other subjects. We could not undertake the publication of a planning newsletter as such as it would require a great deal of research and editing. However, we could publish a quarterly newsletter which would include information on the progress of developments being considered by the Council. and when available we could inciude pertinent articles on planning topics to make new ideas known to the public. Perhaps such a newsletter could be started in the new year. It is impossible to make a recommendation that will result in instant communication with the public . Perhaps these ideas listed can be further discussed and refined by the Council. LDP :da