Following voters' approval of Proposition D this spring, the board was granted the right to approve all nominations and name three out of seven members on the influential commission.
The supervisors have since approved three nominees chosen by Board President Tom Ammiano. But mayoral spokesman PJ Johnston says it was a different story for the four people his boss chose, one of whom appeared headed for board rejection because of his experience on the Planning Commission while another who lacked a planning background but had a record as a neighborhood activist was out of favor for her lack of experience.
Johnston explained that his boss decided to yank all four of his nominees out of concern that the board might accept just one or two, then in effect give the mayor only a minority voice on the influential seven-member Planning Commission.
In Proposition D, voters changed the City Charter rules for the Planning Commission as well as the Board of Appeals, which makes final decisions on permits, to diversify its composition. On each body, a minority is now supposed to be named by the board instead of solely appointed by the mayor. But instead, the immediate future of both panels is in question.
The mayor's three Board of Appeals nominees are currently scheduled for board action next week, but only two were approved in supervisors' committee, according to Johnston. He says the mayor hasn't yet decided what to do regarding the appeals board, but wants to hear from supervisors before nominating any more planning commissioners.
Johnson says the mayor is aware that projects will be approved by default eventually under state law if a Planning Commission is not organized soon to hear permit requests.
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