Why should any city hold a public-input survey if the results of the survey don’t “count?”
At the Oct. 23 Sartell City Council meeting, council member Jill Smith was the only member who voted against approval of a solar ordinance for the city. And she was right to do so. She said the results of a citywide survey taken during the month of August should have been carefully considered by the planning commission and the city council before an ordinance is adopted. Before voting, she requested the ordinance go back to the planning commission for possible changes.
In an interview with the Newsleaders, Smith said this:
“We have an obligation to work with the (Sartell) planning commission – to work with it jointly to contextually apply pieces of that public feedback to the ordinance in ways that would make sense for our community. That’s our job.”
A moratorium on a solar-power ordinance had been in effect for months so the planning commission and the city council could improve it, fine-tune it.
In July, there was a joint meeting between council members and commission members to work out ordinance details. On July 24, the council requested the city staff create a citywide survey so residents could have a chance to express their opinions and concerns about solar projects in the city.
The 11-question online survey was created and made available to residents from Aug. 29 to Sept. 29. A total of 664 residents filled out the survey, and the results were posted on the city’s website.
Then, at the Oct. 23 council meeting, a public hearing was held, and Sartell Engagement Director Nikki Sweeter reviewed respondents’ answers to the survey’s 11 questions.
A Sartell resident, Doug Fern, was one of five men who spoke at the public hearing. He said he is “confused” the city would spend so much time and money on a survey and yet there was not a single change to the proposed ordinance based on survey results.
“There was no purpose doing the survey,” he said. The ordinance, he added, was “shoved through, a rushed deal.”
After the council closed the Oct. 23 public hearing, they voted 4-3 to approve the solar ordinance, which was exactly word-for-word the same ordinance the council and planning commission had worked out in July before the public-input survey was even created.
Of survey respondents, 61 percent of them said solar gardens should not be allowed in residential districts no matter what the restrictions; 57.53 percent said solar gardens should be located more than 200 feet away from park property (as allowed in the ordinance); and 22.34 percent said they cannot support any solar projects in the city; 32.09 percent said they can support them; and 44.57 percent can support them only if changes are made to the ordinance.
The point is this: Public input led to no ordinance changes, so wasn’t that survey pointless? Maybe the commission and the council felt the ordinance was “close enough” to respondents’ input. If that is so, it should have been stated loudly, clearly just before the ordinance was approved.
Not many months ago, there was a public outcry about lack of public input when the city sold land to a private developer. Perhaps another public outcry should erupt about citywide surveys that are ignored.