I've not been reading all of this thread, but I love the idea of a 
citizens review panel a la -


>> I am on the Zoning Board of Appeals.  We hear variance requests.

> No, we start with the idea that someone wants to do something 
> against
> the rules (zoning rules) and then we let them try to convince us 
> that
> they would (a) suffer a hardship without the variance; (b) other 
> folks
> would not suffer an undue hardship under the variance; and (c) the
> result of the variance would be otherwise legal ...

> approve 75% of variances.

> The Board is a group of plain citizens.

> We can then accept,
> deny, accept with any changes we want or table for further 
> discussion
> between the City and the requestor.


I've no idea if we do this sort of thing here, but I'll be finding 
out.
Many thanks


        Russell McMahon

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