EAGLE RIVER — A public hearing of the Keweenaw County Planning Commission regarding a rezoning request by Black Bear, Inc. will be scheduled for the near future.

A public hearing on the topic was scheduled for January 14, but the Commission did not have a quorum, so the hearing could not be held. The commissioners who were present decided to proceed with taking public comment. PC Chairman John Parsons requested members of the public who had submitted letters to the Commission to read them aloud. But, because there was a lack of quorum, there was no official hearing, and so minutes and comments were not recorded, and no action was taken.

The purpose of the meeting was for the commissioners to discuss the request before making their recommendation to the County Board of Commissioners at the BOC January 15 regular meeting.

At that meeting, the BOC tabled the issue as the PC was unable to vote on it at the hearing.

During that meeting, Parsons explained that the scheduled public hearing could not convene due to lack of a quorum, because two commissioners were absent, without having given prior notice.

“Everybody’s assuming that we’re going to take it and do it,” Parsons said. “We’ve had no discussion about the pros and cons of the issue. We haven’t really talked about it. I’m certainly not going to vote on it until we’ve talked about it.”

Commissioner Harvey Desnick said that after the Jan. 14 meeting, he googled the topic on Michigan laws referencing a public meeting without a quorum, and suggested it would be prudent to schedule another public hearing.

Zoning Administrator Sue Hockings advised consulting the county attorney, Chuck Miller. She said the Zoning Board of Appeals will consult him, also.

“In the meantime you, as the commission, could set a date,” Hockings suggested. “If Chuck says you don’t need to go through that again, we just don’t do it. But at least we can set the date.”

Desnick made a motion to schedule a public hearing pending a response from Miller, and to select a date sufficiently before that date. The motion having carried, the tentative was set at February 18.