The village noticed a few days ahead of time that the Planning Board was planning a site visit at a development site that has been controversial. That was all they said. But there was a full quorum, and a balloon test was conducted (not successfully), which is used to see how a proposed building will affect sight lines for people in the community.
The balloon test was obviously planned in advance, and some members of the public did show up. Should this not have been noticed as an agenda item? The public was not told that the test would be conducted. I believe that many more would have shown up if they had known.
You raise an interesting question.
Below are two opinions by the Committee on Open Government that address site visits. According to these opinions, site visits fall outside the Open Meetings Law.
