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Editorials
For the week of September 27 through October 3, 2000

Not so fast


If sagging attendance at public hearings on Ketchum’s comprehensive plan is any indicator, residents are completely burned out on the issue.

And no wonder.

It was impossible for the average person to keep track of the whole process. Now the new plan, which will shape the face of Ketchum for the next 20 years, is headed for approval—just six working days after the final draft was released to the public.

The Ketchum City Council will hear comments on the plan at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow.

The city isn’t giving the public—the people with jobs, kids and lives that involve things besides daily monitoring of city business—time to scan and absorb the plan. So much for the wheels of government grinding slowly.

So why worry, especially when the whole process has taken four years? This is why: The final draft has been revised and rewritten by the council since the P&Z approved it in late July. It’s now a different document.

The city council is obviously sick of the long process and obviously wants it over—fast. Too fast.

This meager public exposure stands in stark contrast to the kind of exposure given even the tiniest change in city ordinances. Such changes are normally read at least three times in three separate public meetings, to give the public adequate time to absorb.

The council shouldn’t rush approval. It should give the public plenty of time to review and comment on a plan that must stand the test of time.

 

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