Stop ICE with your Local Planning Commission and City Council

New Detention centers are going to be created.

— The budget bill authorizes billions for creating new detention locations. — — Alligator Concentration Camp went up in less than 2 weeks (with a friendly state environment).

Get ahead of the curve, and stop detention in your location before it starts:

Stop ICE with your Local Planning Commission and City Council

Keep ahead of any new building plans in your area, whether for temporary or permanent structures. Look for any proposed prison expansions.

Planning Meetings: Attend the meetings or get the minutes of your city council meetings and your local planning commission.
Have a volunteer read them thoroughly, looking for references to GEO group or CoreCivic, and Management & Training Corporation. Or look for new land development for anything that looks like it could be a detention facility.
Show up and oppose early

Do the same for local air fields

Find your local planning commission

Search in your favorite engine for “planning commission minutes.. Your city or county name” then look for Agenda or minutes.

https://mrsc.org/research-tools/city-county-websites-search

Example: “planning commission minutes King County” Leads you to this webpage: King County Local Services and Land Use Committee.

(If you find something to comment on)

There are three ways to provide public comment:

1. In person: You may attend the meeting and provide comment in the Council Chambers.
2. By email: You may comment in writing on current agenda items by submitting your email comments to [email protected]. If your email is received before 8:00 a.m. on the day of the meeting, your email comments will be distributed to the committee members and appropriate staff prior to the meeting.
3. Remote attendance at the meeting by phone or computer: You may provide oral comment on current agenda items during the meeting’s public comment period by connecting to the meeting via phone or computer using the ZOOM application at https://zoom.us/join and entering the Webinar ID number below

Seattle Planning Commission Meetings

We are happy to make our meetings open to the public and we invite public comment at our Full Commission meetings. The Planning Commission meets on the second Thursday of the month from 3:00-5:30pm and on the fourth Thursday of the month from 7:30-9:00am.

Learn more about WA state planning commissions via MRSC

Public Meetings and Rules of Procedure

Planning commissions are subject to the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) and must provide public notice of their meetings; see RCW 42.30.020(1)(c).

Below are several MRSC webpages discussing public meeting procedures and requirements:

Planning commissions should adopt rules of procedure governing their public meetings and public hearings; below are examples:

Cities and Towns

Counties

Planning Commission rules: First-Class Cities

Similar to code cities, first-class cities have significant flexibility to adopt their own planning commission rules and extend planning commission membership, duties, and powers beyond those in chapter 35.63 RCW (see RCW 35.63.020).

Below are examples of first-class city planning commission provisions:

Vancouver Municipal Code Sec. 20.220.010 – Planning CommissionCity and Town Planning Commissions

Seattle Municipal Code Ch. 3.64 – City Planning Commission

The requirements for city and town planning commissions may vary depending on the city classification and local ordinances/policies.

Towns and Second-Class Cities

Towns and second-class cities must have at least three and not more than 12 planning commissioners, who must be appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the city/town council (RCW 35.63.020). The exact number is set by ordinance or resolution, and up to one-third may be city or county officials serving in an “ex officio” capacity.

Any ex officio members serve for the duration of their tenure in office, while the appointed members serve either four-year or six-year staggered terms as determined by local legislative action. Planning commissioners must serve without compensation (RCW 35.63.030).

City/town councilmembers and certain other local government officials may be ineligible for appointment to the planning commission, as described later in the section on Incompatible Offices.

The planning commission must hold at least one regular meeting in each month for at least nine months each year (RCW 35.63.040). https://mrsc.org/explore-topics/planning/proceedings/planning-commissions#cities

Stop ICE with your Local Planning Commission and City Council

New Detention centers are going to be created.