Estes Park trustee asks for town hall on proposed development code

Estes Park Trustee Bill Brown asked the Town Board on Nov. 10 to hold a town hall-style meeting where the town's consultant and staff would explain how the proposed development code differs from the current one and residents could ask questions.

Brown proposed that the consultant and staff present the changes at the meeting. Residents should be able to ask questions there, he said, because Town Board meetings do not facilitate asking and answering them. The board would attend only to listen, Brown said, noting that "It's not facilit— doesn't facilitate asking and answering questions."

Brown said he thought there was support among board members for holding the meeting. He said he expected it to happen in the near future but was not sure when. He said the proposed code would become part of a town ordinance if adopted and warranted scrutiny and discussion so the board could hear public views.

Trustee Mark Igel said public input at the board's Oct. 27 development code discussion was substantially opposed to the proposal, with written comments and comments at the podium entirely opposed. Igel said it was difficult to leave that meeting having heard only opposition and not know what input had influenced the decision.

Igel said he would try to quantify substantial public input that affected his decisions, without necessarily identifying private conversations or individual business owners. He asked other trustees to share influential information, including public statements, emails and other conversations. "I think that it is reasonable to expect that people who are voting on issues before the community are able to share the information they have that would be influential enough to sway a vote," he said.

Igel also said trustees are not obligated to vote according to the loudest or most voluminous feedback and should exercise independent judgment. He said making difficult decisions is the trustees' responsibility and that they should explain hard decisions, particularly when the reasoning is not obvious or community sentiment appears different. He said he had heard 100% support for explaining his perspective, though those explanations had also prompted discussions with people who disagreed and helped him consider future decisions.

Mayor Gary Hall said trustees and community members had swayed him or raised points that helped him ask questions and learn. He said he was disappointed that only a relatively small percentage of the town's 4,000 voters engage in public dialogue. "Out of our 4,000 voters, it's still an awfully small percentage that engages in this public dialogue," Hall said.

Hall said it was good to have multiple opportunities for input, as happened with the comprehensive plan and the development code, and that this would continue to happen.