No Private Meetings, Please

Look, can we just all agree that it's a bad and politically tone deaf idea to even suggest Planning Board members be called to the Planning Office to meet with New England Development over their waterfront plans?

Dan Bowie, chairman of the planning board, seems to agree:

"With a project like this, we obviously are very cognizant of the importance of it, and anything that the Planning Board does is going to be in compliance with Open Meeting Law," Bowie said. "There will be no one-on-one meetings between Planning Board members and New England Development."

Yet, the article in Friday's Daily News seems to leave the door open for such er...uh..closed door meetings.

I concede such meetings would expedite the process, but is that really in the best interest of the project or the city.

[Planning Director Andy] Port said the practice of holding preliminary meetings with developers out of the public eye is not unusual. Members of the Planning Board will ultimately be called upon to weigh in on Karp's plan to build a hotel and mixed-use development on the city's historic waterfront.

"They've been approached by several different hotel companies," Port said. "They're interested in finding out what the Planning Board's long-term vision of the waterfront is — if they have general concerns before they spend time on any particular project or plan."

Know what? I'm interested in finding out what the Planning Board's long-term vision of the waterfront is as well. Here's an idea. Let's have a public meeting about it.

Speaking as a citizen and taxpayer let me assure you, speed is not of the essence here. Speed will lead to decisions and increased paranoia...if that's even possible. Read the comments on the Daily News article.

Set up some working meetings. Limit or even prohibit public input if need be (and if it's legal) until an actual proposal can be crafted. But invite the public in on the sessions. But let's take every step to ensure this is a project we can all live with for a very long time, which is, of course, what we'll have to do.

Or, if private sessions are held without notification then it might be in the public's interest to "stop by" the planning office when they're held.

"We won't be advertising in the paper," Port said. "But once it gets to our office it's all in the public realm — it's public record. Right now, we don't have anything."

Without more assurances that the public will be included I suggest every resident call the Planning Office at least once a day to ask whether preliminary plans have been submitted.

Here's the info:

Office of Planning and Development
Newburyport City Hall
60 Pleasant Street, 1st Floor
Newburyport, MA 01950
978-465-4400
978-465-4452 (fax)
Hours
Monday - Wednesday 8:00 am - 4:00 pm
Thursday 8:00 am - 8:00 pm
Friday 8:00 am - noon

Andrew Port
Director