Mike Podowski, a city supervisor for policy and code development, tells GlobeSt.com that the annual renewal made sense when the MUP process was established in the mid 1980s because there had been significant changes to the land use code. "Over the last five years, the types of changes to the land use code have been small such that the process no longer serves a valuable purpose; we're at a totally different point in the city's evolution," says Podowski. "It's something we've known for a few years could use some adjustment, but in this down economy there became a more acute need to simplify and take out some of the unnecessary hurdles."

Podowski says if the legislation is passed out of committee it goes onto the full city council, where it would need majority approval. As the three council members on the committee are believed to be for such a change, they would need to convince only two others on the nine-member council to push it through.

The public hearing is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. in the City Council Chamber, 11th Floor of the Municipal Building, 600 Fourth Avenue. For those who wish to testify, a sign-up sheet will be provided outside the Council Chamber one half hour before the public hearing.