A member of the Park City Planning Commission facing a drunken driving charge stemming from a slow-speed accident on Main Street over New Year’s has tendered his resignation from the panel, a departure that comes as it appears the workload of the Planning Commission might be ticking upward.
Mayor Dana Williams at a Park City Council meeting on Thursday night announced Richard Luskin had indicated to him he would step down from the seven-person Planning Commission. The resignation is effective May 1. Luskin’s term expires in July 2012.
The mayor said in an interview Luskin tendered the resignation in an e-mail sent on Monday. Williams said Luskin did not provide a reason for the departure.
The Planning Commission is tentatively scheduled to hold one meeting, on April 27, prior to Luskin’s departure date.
“I think he did really well . . . I thought he did his homework,” the mayor said in an interview.
Luskin faces three charges related to the New Year’s accident — driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, text-messaging or e-mailing while driving and a lane violation. He has pleaded not guilty to each of the charges. The driving under the influence count is the most serious and is punishable by six months in jail and a $1,000 fine upon conviction.
His next court date is April 20, when what is known as a suppression hearing is slated. Defense attorneys during suppression hearings typically try to convince a judge to prohibit some evidence from being presented at a trial.
Prosecutors claim Luskin was drunk when he drove his vehicle into a Park City Police Department sport utility vehicle on New Year’s. The police officer driving the vehicle stopped and honked the horn in an effort to warn Luskin he was drifting toward the sport utility vehicle, the police have said.
The Planning Commission has been engaged in wide-ranging discussions about topics like revising City Hall’s General Plan, a broad document that guides growth within the city. Meanwhile, a landowner in the Bonanza Park district recently submitted an application for a major redevelopment. The Planning Commission is expected to spend a significant amount of time on the Bonanza Park proposal in the coming months.
City Hall by late in the week had not released information about the selection process for someone to succeed Luskin. Officials normally advertise an opening on the panel and then the mayor and City Council interview the people who submit applications before making a decision.