Leslie Tucker covers the Development Review Board for the Farragut Press

Another good article from Leslie as one of the most important questions of the committee is looked at. Darryl Smith recommended that the Farragut MPC go from two meetings per month to one meeting per month. The committee decided not to follow that recommendation but rather decided to add to the number of staff meetings.

From Leslie's article in the Farragut Press, "Town engineer Darryl Smith addressed the DRPEC asking the town to consider reducing the number of FMPC meetings from two to one a month. “[Developers and staff] could work a lot of things out before they even get to the Planning Commission,” Smith said.

The group chose not to make that recommendation but did suggest adding to the number of meetings requested in the review process. “Having that required meeting, [the developers we spoke to] felt this would be an opportunity to speed up the process in the long run. . . . What we may lose in time in the first meeting, we’re gonna gain tenfold back in the process,” Honken said.

The Commission also recommended that an additional meeting be held following the staff’s initial review prior to the project being brought to the FMPC. The Commission felt that this meeting would help to answer developers’ questions and resolve issues informally."

Hopefully the Mayor and Board of Aldermen will reconsider. Darryl Smith's idea was one of the best things to come out of this committee. Adding more staff meetings while keeping the two MPC meetings per month does not make much sense unless more staff is hired and more office space is added.