Rikki Hall's report from tonight's joint workshop on the more-controversial-than-it-really-should-be Hillside and Ridgetop Plan:
At Thursday's City Council/County Commission joint workshop on the Hillside and Ridgetop Plan, Vice Mayor Joe Bailey noted that it may have been the first time the two legislative bodies had ever met as a single entity. It will not be the last.
After an hour of discussion, a straw poll revealed overwhelming support for the full membership of both bodies to convene under the guidance of a professional facilitator. The committee will identify "sticking points" with the hillside plan and forge a revised plan. As it did with the Ten Year Plan, the Cornerstone Foundation has offered to pay for a mediator from Lipscomb University to preside over discussions and the creation of a compromise plan.
That will be the process going forward, pending formal approval from both Council and Commission when they next meet. Only three representatives -- Ownby from the county and Brown and Bailey from the city -- opposed the idea, with six seat holders absent or abstaining, so the actual votes should be a mere formality. Officials discussed forming a smaller committee composed of either elected representatives, appointed citizens, or experts for and against the plan. The size and composition of such a committee proved too intractable, so council members and commissioners ended up deciding that resolving difficult matters was exactly what they were elected to do, and so they will.
Meanwhile, the whisper campaign trying to stop the plan will surely find our headline fruitful for drumming up yet more irrational fear of hillside protections.
At Thursday's City Council/County Commission joint workshop on the Hillside and Ridgetop Plan, Vice Mayor Joe Bailey noted that it may have been the first time the two legislative bodies had ever met as a single entity. It will not be the last.
After an hour of discussion, a straw poll revealed overwhelming support for the full membership of both bodies to convene under the guidance of a professional facilitator. The committee will identify "sticking points" with the hillside plan and forge a revised plan. As it did with the Ten Year Plan, the Cornerstone Foundation has offered to pay for a mediator from Lipscomb University to preside over discussions and the creation of a compromise plan.
That will be the process going forward, pending formal approval from both Council and Commission when they next meet. Only three representatives -- Ownby from the county and Brown and Bailey from the city -- opposed the idea, with six seat holders absent or abstaining, so the actual votes should be a mere formality. Officials discussed forming a smaller committee composed of either elected representatives, appointed citizens, or experts for and against the plan. The size and composition of such a committee proved too intractable, so council members and commissioners ended up deciding that resolving difficult matters was exactly what they were elected to do, and so they will.
Meanwhile, the whisper campaign trying to stop the plan will surely find our headline fruitful for drumming up yet more irrational fear of hillside protections.
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