Planning board emphasizes consistency with adopted land use plan adopted in June 2022

Jessica Ru told the audience the planning board's responsibility is to assess whether a requested zoning change is "consistent or inconsistent with our adopted land use plan." She said the city's plan "was adopted unanimously by our board's alderman in June of 2022," positioning plan consistency as the primary criterion for the board's recommendation.

Ru noted that the planning board is advisory and that the Board of Aldermen is not bound by its recommendation. "The board of alderman does not have to follow the recommendation of the planning board," she said, adding that the aldermen must only acknowledge that the planning zoning board evaluated consistency with the plan before the public hearing process proceeds under statute 160D.