Planning panel still faces empty chairs problem

Guy Williams will chair his last meeting of Whitman County’s planning commission next month, if the panel can field a quorum, that is. Williams is leaving the local zoning board after more than 15 years as a member.

The volunteer commission sets land use policy for the county. In recent years, the planning commission has dealt with a number of controversial issues, including zoning laws for wind farms, housing in the agricultural zone and development rules for the Pullman-Moscow Corridor.

His departure shrinks the ranks of the already under-sized commission.

“Yeah, it’s getting desperate now,” said County Planner Alan Thomson.

The commission will have only five members once Williams is officially off the board. At least five members, a majority of the board, must be present for the planning commission to hold official meetings.

The commission is authorized to have nine members.

Earlier this year, Thomson proposed county commissioners reduce the panel from nine members to seven. Persistent vacancies, he said, has made it difficult to field a five-member quorum when residents have sought decisions from the commission.

Under current county code, the planning commission must have three members from each commissioner district. Thomson said a seven-member panel could have two members from each district with one at-large seat.

County commissioners held off on reducing the planning commission in a last-ditch effort to find more volunteer members.

“If they couldn’t get one person before, I’m questioning how they’re going to get four people now,” said Thomson.

Reduction of the commission first came up in April, when the planning commission could not gather enough members for a quorum.

The county advertised for new members, but came up empty.