This Thursday night the city council will take up a proposed addition to its rules as proposed by current council president James Dostal. During his last campaign he pledged to propose a limit on how long a councilor may serve as president of that body. In my view this equates to a "spot regulation."
To my knowledge, other city boards and agencies have no such provision. Individuals may serve as chairperson of a committee for as long as they care to. In fact, the strongest political position in the city, the mayor’s seat, has no such provision. In a city that already lives under the rule of a strong mayor with a weak council, this proposal makes little sense to me. Would it not be preferable to examine, through the Best Practices initiative perhaps, a more comprehensive examination of our city’s political infrastructure? If we’re going to look at term limits, let’s consider the federal model of term limits for the presidency as a guide. Can you imagine if the U. S. president could serve indefinitely but the speaker of the U. S. House of Representatives had a term limit?
For comparison purposes please consider the definition of "spot zoning." The two are not the same but there are similarities.
"spot zoning n. a provision in a general plan which benefits a single parcel of land by creating a zone for use just for that parcel and different from the surrounding properties in the area. Example: in a residential neighborhood zoned for single family dwellings with a minimum of 10,000 square feet, the corner service station property is zoned commercial. Spot zoning is not favored, since it smacks of favoritism and usually annoys neighbors. An existing commercial business can be accommodated by a "zoning variance" (allowing a non-conforming use for the time being) or a "grandfathered" right to continue a use existing when the zoning plan was adopted and which will terminate if the building is torn down.
The granting to a particular parcel of land a classification concerning its use that differs from the classification of other land in the immediate area.
Spot zoning is invalid because it amounts to an Arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable treatment of a limited area within a particular district and is, therefore, a deviation from the comprehensive plan."
See: Spot Zoning
