Maybe Not Illegal, but Ethical?

In 2020, the Tuolumne County Planning Commission had to consider an application by Anaiah Kirk, then Chair of the Board of Supervisors, and currently a candidate for re-election as District 3 Supervisor. As a Planning Commissioner, I had to decide whether to grant a “conditional use permit” to allow Kirk a land use on his property that is not generally permitted. Such an application requires discretionary review. A Discretionary Permit request goes to the Planning Commission, which can either approve or deny. Approval would include conditions or stipulations to make the proposed land use acceptable.

Kirk applied to the County Community Development Department (CDD) to operate an outdoor wedding venue on his five-acre property. The County grants permits for “weddings and commercial events” on larger agricultural properties without requiring discretionary review. The provisions in such a permit allow a wedding venue while requiring a defined buffer zone between the site of the event and the property line with neighbors. A wedding on a smaller property like Kirk’s five acres, due to probable noise and disruption, is thought to cause potential harm to neighbors.

The CDD director, Quincy Yaley, removed herself from the process due to the ethical issue of having Chairman Kirk as an applicant. He was essentially her “boss.” CDD staff prepared the report for the Planning Commissioners, recommending approval. This was despite the location for the proposed events being much closer to the neighboring property than the prescribed distance considered acceptable on larger properties. This imposes a “buffer zone” on the neighbor rather than on the applicant. Despite my pointing this out and my vote against it, the project was approved.

As Chair of the Board, Kirk should not have put the CDD director in that position by asking for an exception. In my 29 years working for the CDD, several as a professional planner, none of the many members of the Board of Supervisors I worked under ever asked for a Discretionary Permit. I was a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, whose ethics rules prohibit a planner working for a public agency from being involved in any way in private development. A person who sits as the highest authority in the County government, an elected Supervisor, should not request any kind of permit exception. Though not technically illegal, most people would consider such a move unethical.