as an engineer I'm fascinated by details and how things work um and being part of the Planning Commission I've learned about infrastructure maintenance how do they build our roads how long do they last why do they build them in the way that they build them you know um how developments go in how wider are the streets and why the Planning Commission is a volunteer Advisory Group to the city council and we deal mostly with applications for land use and Zoning matter so new buildings going up new businesses in town housing development we verify that the projects that are coming meet all of our zoning codes and then we make a recommendation to the city council in the end the city council makes all the final decisions but it's our job to review the applications from an independent perspective to provide the city council the feedback that they need in order to make the most informed decision possible most of what we do is is basically playing umpire calling balls and Strikes does this meet the rules um of the city or does it not and as things change over time um and rules need to change we get rid of rules that we don't need anymore we change rules that are outdated and we'll add new rules as new technologies become available or different types of buildings or or projects the first thing we look at usually is the land use in the Zoning for the area so if they're trying to put a fast food restaurant in does that make sense uh in the middle of a bunch of houses or if they want to put in a new Factory does that make sense um you know down where uh we've got a bunch of daycares or or schools um and so those are mostly the things we're looking at is does this development make sense where they want to build it um is it something that meets the rules that city council has laid out and is it something that um is going to cause issues to surrounding land owners um that we just can't fix by putting rules in place the public hearing is important to to give us that input from individuals directly affected or just have a concern in the community to provide that feedback to to help us make the projects better and so a lot of what we do um try to do through the public hearings is is give people the chance to express themselves but also give them information as to if they have a concern we have City staff on hand who can answer those concerns maybe take that feedback back to a developer and see if we can get things changed I think the biggest misconception that the public has about the Planning Commission is that we can just choose to not do something if we don't like it um and so if if we have a particular business that wants them come into town so let's say another fast food place wants to come into town people think well we can just deny it because we already have too many fast food places that's not what we get to do we have to play by the rules that have already been laid out anyone who is a resident and registered to vote uh is uh able to serve on the Planning Commission or any other City commission um we don't have to have a certain background if if you're a resident and you're eligible to vote um you should apply we have people of all different backgrounds and that's what makes the Planning Commission I think so successful is because we don't have all Realtors we don't have all lawyers on the on the commission we have people with different backgrounds we have people who have lived in kaj grol their life and we have people who have moved here as adults um and so we all see it differently but that's what makes this the Planning Commission successful