For the first time since the end of February, the city’s Planning Commission is whole.
At a special meeting Wednesday evening, the Juneau Assembly appointed Kirsten Shelton-Walker to fill the seat left vacant after the commission’s former chair Nicole Grewe was removed Feb. 29.
Without a ninth member, the commission has struggled to make contested decisions. At its Tuesday meeting, gridlock prevented the commission from approving or denying a conditional use permit for an asphalt plant near the Rock Dump for the third consecutive meeting.
Any decision requires at least five affirmative votes, which are hard to come by with a vacant seat if any members is absent. Having a new member alleviates this problem.
Her term on the commission is effective immediately and will end Dec. 31, 2017.
