Squabbling Subsides as Mayor’s Appointments are Finally Okayed

The Redding Planning Commission will soon be back to full strength, with longtime GOP activist Erin Ryan and retired Beverly Hills police lieutenant Blake Nance confirmed to replace outgoing commissioners Brandi Greene and Aaron Hatch beginning May 1.

The 4-0 vote at Tuesday’s Redding City Council meeting was unanimous, but it wasn’t exactly harmonious. Council member Dr. Paul Dhanuka, expressing dismay over the divisiveness and infighting, abstained from voting.

At the council’s April 1 meeting, Dhanuka had lobbied for Greene and Hatch to be reappointed, saying their experience would benefit the community.

At that same meeting, Council member Mike Littau, another advocate for Greene and Hatch, had abstained from voting, creating a 2-2 stalemate that sent Mayor Jack Munns back to the drawing board. Munns returned on Tuesday and again nominated Nance but replaced developer Joshua Johnson with Ryan, an aide to Republican Congressman Doug LaMalfa.

Temperatures may have cooled a bit during the two weeks between council meetings but philosophical differences remained in place. While the mayor’s appointments to the Planning Commission are usually routine, Munns’s efforts hit a snag when some people worried they would give the commission a pro-development lean at the expense of Redding’s natural amenities.

The Planning Commission is an advisory body that deals with land use matters like zoning, amendments to the General Plan, use permits and subdivision maps.

Of particular interest to Garden Tract resident Susan Murray and others is the Riverfront Specific Plan update—a comprehensive land-use blueprint for riverfront property stretching from the Redding Rodeo arena to the Cypress Avenue bridge—that is expected to be before the Planning Commission later this year.

Susan Murray. Photo by Jon Lewis.

“They have the knowledge,” Murray said of Greene, an environmental scientist and winery owner, and Hatch, a financial advisor who recently served on the Shasta Land Trust board.

Benjamin Nowain. Photo by Jon Lewis.

Benjamin Nowain noted that Nance has no prior land-use planning experience and has never attended a Planning Commission meeting. Nowain said Ryan, the former president of the Redding Tea Party Patriots, has spoken out against Covid-19 restrictions and the rights of transgendered people. “Will she approach land-use decisions with neutrality and respect for all perspectives?” he asked.

Erin Ryan. Photo source: LinkedIn.

Lane Rickert said he’s known Ryan for a decade and said she’d be “a fantastic addition” to the Planning Commission.

Leslie Sawyer. Photo by Jon Lewis.

Leslie Sawyer also spoke in support of Ryan’s nomination, telling the council Ryan “knows government better than most of the people in this room.”

Council member Erin Resner, who joined Dhanuka, is voting against Munns’s nominees on April 1, and said she would be supporting Ryan and Nance. Joining the meeting telephonically while on vacation in Park City, Utah, Resner went on to share her view of the “broader role” of council members.

Erin Resner

Specifically, she said “we were not elected to serve special interests or uphold the status quo when convenient.” Resner said she received an e-mail saying that advocating for a wider diversity of voices on the Planning Commission was “a DEI move.” Let me be clear, she said, “seeking diversity is not about checking a box. It’s not about appointing somebody simply because they’re a woman or because of the color of their skin. It’s about recognizing that different life experiences, professions and viewpoints contribute to more balanced and thoughtful decision making.”

Prior to the vote, Dhanuka said he was saddened to see fighting over appointments. “Rather than fighting for my club” or any partisan position, council members should “fight for the community,” he said. Dhanuka then made a motion for separate votes on the nominees but it failed to get a second.
Littau said he had been reflecting on his position over the last two weeks and decided he did not want to be responsible for a shorthanded Planning Commission. Looking toward the future, he asked if he could count on Munns’s support when he would be making appointments as mayor, even if he sought to return Hatch or Greene to the panel.

“We’ll see what happens then, but I’d say probably,” Munns replied.

Coffee kiosk to reopen

In other action Tuesday, the council voted 5-0 to authorize spending up to $4,500 a week on sandwiches, breakfast burritos and other locally sourced food items to stock the revamped coffee kiosk in the City Hall lobby.
City Manager Barry Tippin said the kiosk has been closed for the last 18 months and after several attempts to operate it with outside vendors, the city will use a part-time recreation employee from the Community Services Department to run it. Tippin said it will be a cost-neutral arrangement with proceeds from sales to city staff and the public covering the labor, food and coffee costs.

Tippin said it will be similar to the concessions stand at the Redding Aquatic Center and should be in operation by the end of April.

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