Milton council tables resolution on appeals

After pushback from citizens, Milton Town Council unanimously agreed to table a resolution that would have modified the rules for appeals of decisions made by the Milton Planning and Zoning Commission.

At council’s June 7 meeting, Mayor Ted Kanakos said he didn’t want council members to feel like they were pushing the changes through, and sought further development of the measure in order to explain it better. Some of that development took place at council’s executive session, held before the June 7 meeting. Those sessions are closed to the public to allow council to discuss matters of legal strategy.

The resolution is relevant because pending action by council is an appeal of a special permitted use issued by the planning and zoning commission allowing a 140-foot cellphone tower at the site of the current public works yard at 210 Front St. Former Planning Commissioner Barry Goodinson has filed the appeal.

In Milton town code, the zoning ordinance grants planners the authority to conduct site-plan reviews and issue special-use permits. The code also spells out the procedure for appealing a decision, which would be heard by the town council. Current code only says that the applicant or any interested person may appeal a decision of the commission as long as the appeal is filed within 60 days of the decision. 

The resolution introduced June 7 would have laid out the procedure for how an appeal hearing would be conducted, including details about arguments from the appellant and the appellee, questioning by council and public comment. 

However, certain sections of the resolution raised a stink among citizens. They gave the mayor authority to impose time limits on speakers, direct groups of people supporting the same argument to have only one person speak on their behalf, and terminate or limit any argument deemed “irrelevant or unduly repetitive or provocational.”

Allen Benson of 201 Collins St. said, “I think this resolution is, first of all, out of the blue. I think this needs more discussion. I don’t think the public has been informed of this, and I think it’s something the public needs to further discuss.”

Goodinson, speaking during the public comment part of the June 7 meeting, said, “It seems the primary purpose here is to silence the electorate. The way it is written, it is very vague throughout. It relies on reasonable discretion, reasonable time limits. I don’t understand what the problem is you’re trying to solve.”

Following the meeting, Goodinson said, “The proposed policy gives the mayor lots of unguided discretion when challenges are presented. It’s a huge and dangerous curb on people’s ability to speak to and be heard by their elected officials. I believe that if the mayor and members of the town council are willing to hear from voters individually at the ballot box in order to be elected, they should be expected to listen to them individually once they are elected.”

Kanakos said the resolution was an attempt to clarify the rules of procedure for the appeal, which he expects the council will hear in July. He said council members will take up the resolution at their next meeting, currently scheduled for Monday, July 12.