OPEN LETTER TO IRB P & Z BOARD

To Planning & Zoning Board Members: Patti Muneio, Don House (Vice Chairman), Eddie Bie, David Pearson (Chairman), and Louis Rector

After sitting in the audience at City Hall for last evening’s (7/17/08) review of the Comprehensive Plan E.A.R. Amendments by your committee, I was struck by the organization, intelligence, preparedness, cooperation, and open-mindedness of your group.

As I wore off my nail polish flipping through the daunting document you reviewed last night, I remember thinking “Who in their right mind would sign up for evaluating this cross between the NYC phone directory and the Office Depot catalog”? (Not to mention raising your hand knowing the consequences of your decisions will have long-lasting implications!) But, you five residents put your heads down, rolled up your sleeves and dug in with a vengeance. Each of you brings such diverse interests and experience to the table. I’m not sure if that was by accident or design, but it works!

What was most noticeable last night was how welcoming and appreciative all of you were for citizen input—even In the face of flat-out disagreement. Because certain proposed items threaten to, once again, affect the condition of our beach, more citizens than usual attended last night. Don’t be surprised if some of us even come back! What I admittedly thought from the outset was going to be a rather tedious exercise turned into an enjoyable evening really discussing future IRB.

Planning and Zoning is one of the only city boards important enough to be mandated in the City Charter; I can’t think of five other people I’d rather have sitting up there. Thanks for the time you spend. After seeing you in action, you definitely don’t get enough credit for what you do.

Nancy Obarski
Beach Trail/IRB