Another public notice that doesn't tell us enough

A City of Santa Rosa/Notice of Public Hearing published Sunday, 1/30/05, says the Planning Commission will hold a public hearing next Thursday on a General Plan Amendment proposed by the City itself. The notice reads,

"PROPOSED GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT TO ADD TEXT TO THE INTRODUCTION SECTION OF THE GENERAL PLAN ADDRESSING ANNUAL REVIEW AND AMENDMENT OF THE GENERAL PLAN".

All that tells us is the PC will consider amending Santa Rosa's General Plan "to add text ... addressing annual review and amendment of the General Plan."

What text? What does it say, and what will it do? How does the proposed text affect annual review and amendment of the General Plan? City Hall doesn't say.

The notice goes on to say, "The purpose of the public hearing is to receive public comment and recommendations prior to the Planning Commission acting on the requested General Plan Amendment." But how can the public comment and make recommendations, when it doesn't know what the new language is, or what it does?

This is a common defect of such City notices. City Hall has to tell us it's going to do something, so it tells us--but the notice doesn't tell us enough for us to know what the proposed action really is.

If the new text the City wants to add makes insignificant changes to the General Plan, why amend it at all?

And if the changes are significant--and City Hall thinks they're necessary--what the hell are they?