Planning panel gets a feisty chief

Bob Dingwall, no shrinking violet, will lead city commission charged with guiding development.Retired Los Angeles firefighter Bob Dingwall is taking the reins at the Huntington Beach planning commission, continuing a campaign by his predecessor to make the group more user-friendly.

Dingwall, who turns 72 at the end of the month, is the newly appointed chairman of the commission, a rotating position last held by Steve Ray.

A controversial figure who revels in debate, Dingwall is admired by activists and City Hall gadflies for his propensity to take on just about anybody, a habit that has earned him as many detractors as allies.

On the short list of detractors is former commissioner Ron Davis, who left the group a year ago after continued disagreements with Dingwall, and City Attorney Jennifer McGrath, who has tried to nail the commissioner several times for alleged political violations.

Most recently, McGrath went after Dingwall for posting public information about an upcoming Target store project to an e-mail group frequented by several planning commissioners and several dozen city activists. McGrath argued the posting could have violated the state’s Brown Act, which prohibits politicians from covertly conversing with each other about official matters. For his part, Dingwall said he was simply making information available to the public.

The Orange County District Attorney’s office hasn’t yet filed any charges against Dingwall, and a political expert familiar with the case said he thinks Dingwall will likely dodge the bullet.

With the episode behind him, Dingwall said he’s ready to take the reins of the commission and preside over several reform hearings aimed at better disseminating public documents.

“It’s almost impossible for the public to take an active part in the planning process in an intelligible way,” he said during a brief phone interview Monday. Most planning commission hearings are held on Tuesdays, with documents related to the meetings not available until the previous Thursday.

With just two weekdays to review potentially hundreds of pages of complex documents, many members of the public feel left out of the process, Dingwall said. Under a new system created by a subcommittee made up of commissioners, developers and local residents, planning documents will now be made available a week before the upcoming hearing. There will also be a new two-week review period between informational study sessions and commission votes.

“The public will have a greater idea of how the system is working,” Dingwall said. “The public perception is that they don’t see us doing it in public, so we must be doing it in private, and if we are doing it in private, then it’s probably improper.”

Councilman Keith Bohr also said he has his eyes on reforming the planning process, although he is more concerned with eliminating unnecessary wait times, which he argues ultimately take away potential tax revenue from the city.

“It’s really more of an internal issue,” he said. “We need to look at what makes us more different, more expensive and ultimately less business-friendly to do things.”

Several developers have argued that the planning commission often slows down projects with its hours of public debate and seemingly infinite requests for staff time to discuss minute details on parking and setbacks. Ray said the new system is actually speeding up public hearings because residents and developers can hash out their concerns before it goes before the commission.

Regardless of the outcome, Mayor Dave Sullivan, who appointed Dingwall to his commissioner post, said he’s confident in Dingwall’s abilities.

“He’s really does his homework, he’s very concerned that the city make good planning decisions, he asks tough questions and I think he’ll do a fine job,” Sullivan said.

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