Yes, this looks like another of those ‘oops’ moments. Oops, we screwed up on Greenlife, oops Staples, oops we sold parkland for condos, oops we moved the sightline 60 feet south on the Pack Square survey, so the Grove Park Inn can put up a bigger building, oops oops oops. The ‘oops’ always seem to break the way of developers trying to get around some rules, and the ‘oops’ are never righted in any significant way.

As the daughter of a former grand old hoary Council member said to me once, “This is how we do business in Asheville. You’d better get used to it.”

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I didn’t know that the interview questions had come so close to the issue. I can’t believe she didn’t disclose more. Is there a transcript of the interview anywhere?

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I understand that during the interview, Brownie asked point-blank if she had any thoughts on Merrimon Ave. re-zoning. Apparently, she gave a vague, brief, and generic answer. What she should have said was:

“Yes, my husband and I hired an attorney (from Councilwoman Manheimer’s own firm, as it happens) to fight that re-zoning when it came up two years ago, because it would have impacted our massive development plans on Merrimon. And now, I’d like to have a seat on the very Commission that will hear that re-zoning request should it come up again, please.”

She didn’t say that. This goes beyond failing to disclose, and crosses well into withholding information under direct questioning, or even outright willful deception.

For Council to merely say, “oops, we’ll do better next time,” is unacceptable to me, when the fix is so easy and appropriate. This is one of those deals where if you’re not fixing it, one has to ask if you’re instead helping them get away with it.

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And that the schedule for nomination and selection, the means by which interviews are granted, and the method by which the council makes its decisions will get set in stone and publicized widely.

This “polling” nonsense has got to go. And people need to be asked explicit questions about conflicts of interest.

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No. First, I’m not saying anything – that statement is from Cecil, not from me. Second, no, he’s not saying anything about improper notice. This is about whether one candidate for P&Z properly disclosed a serious conflict of interest, whether another was given full consideration for the seat, and whether the manner these appointments were voted on constituted a fair and open process.

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About a year ago, County had a zoning decision thrown out due to improper notice.

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Upon reflection I am very uncomfortable with our recent appointments to Planning & Zoning for four reasons. I stress that my concern is not primarily about the particular people chosen for P&Z, but about failures in the process. Given the increased importance of P&Z deliberations under the pending implementation of the Downtown Master Plan, I feel that it is particularly important that our appointments be made with full public scrutiny.

1. In 2009 the North Carolina General Assembly and Governor Perdue called for explicit adherence to state ethics and open meetings rules by every government body in the state, including boards and commissions.

2. The process through which we approved board appointments on February 23 seemed inconsistent with other appointments made during the same meeting. Whereas in earlier votes we nominated, seconded, discussed and voted, for P&Z we were abruptly polled with no nominations and no discussion. I feel like we failed to provide the public with any level of transparency about the reasons for our votes.

3. One person thus appointed to P&Z failed to mention a significant potential conflict of interest, either in her application or during her interview. I have learned from four other members of Council that they were unaware of this matter. While it is true that any Commission member must seek recusal from consideration of projects in which the member has an interest, and while such a conflict doesn’t proscribe appointment to the Commission, the failure of disclosure doesn’t square with our interest in accountability to citizens.

4. It has come to my attention that one member of the Boards and Commissions Committee was unaware of the timely application for P&Z of a highly qualified woman with a long history of civic participation in our community. How can we tell our constituents that every applicant was given consideration when at least one member of the committee which screened applicants was not made aware of a serious applicant? Failure to interview a highly qualified applicant constitutes a failure of accountability to the people of this community and disrespect for the people who are willing to volunteer their time in public service.

City Attorney Bob Oast has indicated to me that the only way to rescind our votes on Feb. 23 of which he is aware is to dissolve the Planning & Zoning Commission and then re-form the Commission and make new appointments.

Therefore I move that Council dissolve Asheville’s Planning & Zoning Commission; create a new Planning & Zoning Commission as required by North Carolina state law; reappoint all Planning & Zoning Commission members in good standing as of February 22, 2010; and reevaluate all timely applications as of that date.

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