(a) Established. The Municipal Planning Commission shall consist of not less than six or more than fifteen members. Three-fifths of all members shall have resided within the City boundaries for at least three years. All members of the Commission shall be registered voters and residents of the City. The Commission shall consist of one member of Council from each ward of the City. The terms of Council members shall run concurrently with their term of Council. It is the intent of this section to seat the remaining members of this Commission with as equal consideration between the two wards as possible. Original members of this Commission shall be recommended by the Mayor’s appointed chairman and approved by Council. After establishment, the Municipal Planning Commission shall fill vacancies by recommendations to Council for approval thereof. Original appointments shall be for one, two and three years divided equally. Terms thereafter shall be for three years.
To establish a quorum, fifty percent of the Planning Commission members, at the time of the meeting, need be present. In voting in any and all issues within the scope of the Municipal Planning Commission a majority shall be required to pass any action.
Removal of a Municipal Planning Commission member can occur through the recommendation of the Commission only after two-thirds approval of the entire Commission at the time and with approval of Council.
Members of the Municipal Planning Commission shall serve without compensation, but shall be reimbursed for reasonable expense actually incurred in the performance of their official duties.
(b) Powers and Duties Generally. The Planning Commission shall have such powers, and perform such duties and functions as may be vested in or required of the Planning Commission under state law of the State of West Virginia, and the Charter of the City of New Cumberland.
(c) Plans for the Development of the City. The Planning Commission generally shall develop and prepare plans for the development of the City. Such plans shall provide for the location and character of the public buildings and improvements, streets and roads, parks and parkways, recreation areas, bridges, tunnels, railroad crossings, street lighting systems, and public housing projects. The scope of responsibilities shall not be restricted to the aforementioned topics.
(d) Plats and Plans. Council shall take no action authorizing or approving the construction or alteration of any street, park, playground, or other public area or any public building or improvement, without first submitting the plans therefor to the Planning Commission for its investigation and report. All plans, plats, and replats of land laid out in building lots, and streets to be dedicated to public use, shall be submitted to the Commission for consideration, and no such plan, plat or replat shall be filed in the office of the Clerk of the County Court of Hancock County, unless it bears the endorsement that it has been to the Planning Commission, has been submitted to the Mayor and Council, and has been approved by the Mayor and Council.
(e) Supplies and Personnel Generally. The Mayor and Council shall furnish to the Planning Commission such supplies and personnel as may be determined to be necessary for the performance by the Commission of its duties under this article.
(f) Budget and Appropriation. To meet the expenses incident to the performance by the Planning Commission of its duties, the Planning Commission shall submit a budget therefor to Council for each fiscal year. Council shall consider such budget and make appropriation to the Commission as Council deems proper.
(Ord. 99-002. Passed 8-2-99.)