Draft 202112021900
Edit: discarded "exclusion"-paragraph (2I) - tm
CDSL 34-01 Land Use Commission Act
Enacted 16 October 2014
Updated by the 34th RA, Jan. 2021
LAND USE COMMISSION ACT
1 Motivation and Purpose
(A) The Confederation of Democratic Simulators (CDS) strives to let citizens actively participate by proposing, discussing, deciding and implementing the three-dimensional environment and all its directly related topics and items which make up the geography of the CDS territories. This may also comprise the control of environmental conditions like regional Windlight settings, seasonal changes and other phenomenons, so far these are controllable by Second Life residents with the respective permissions.
(B) As the elected body for this goal, the Representative Assembly (RA), in accord with its constitutionally mandated service role to “perform long term planning,” shall establish a permanent commission as a means to advise, to prepare, to record and to supervise their approved projects with respect to the CDS land use. This commission shall be called the Land Use Commission (LUC).
(C) The LUC is a public institution of the CDS, entrusted with public functions outlined in (B). It is directly supervised and controlled by the RA. Its powers and permissions are directly tied to public discussions in the CDS Discussion Forums and to the votes of the RA. The LUC shall process orders on behalf of the legislative and executive branches of the CDS. It thus shall be responsive to requests from the RA and the Chancellor, but may set its own agenda.
(D) The LUC is obliged to collaborate closely with the Chancellor in an advisory role. This way, the LUC shall assist the Chancellor in fulfilling his/her constitutional tasks with respect to land use and to help integrate new buildings and infrastructure into the landscape. This comprises, but is not limited to trees, rocks, water, roads, parcels, permanent decor, CDS-owned infrastructure and terraforming.
(E) Referring to (B), the LUC shall work out and recommend concepts of region development and usage both on public and private land, to advise the RA on keeping the covenants up to date and recommend new, more effective technologies as they become available. The LUC may inspect public and private land to find problematic locations that need improvement and make those recommendations to the Chancellor and the RA.
(F) Another obligation of the LUC shall be to create and to maintain suitable documentation such as drawings, maps, spreadsheets and more for RA and citizen understanding of projects.
(G) Though the long-time experience has shown that the commissioned creators of public projects are often LUC members, the LUC as such must not serve as the actual building contractor in order to prevent conflicts of interest. Building contractors may be suggested by the LUC to the Chancellor who will contract the actual work to a qualified CDS Artisan Guild member, or a member of the Executive team or CDS citizen at large.
2 Membership, Structure and Roles
A) The LUC shall be re-established at the beginning of every election term. The LUC term in office shall be bound on the CDS election period and shall end automatically as soon as a newly elected RA has gathered for the first time.
(B) The LUC shall be composed of six members, preferably design experts of various fields of activity, and further interested citizens in order to encompass a variety of viewpoints and approaches to the discussed matters. Such members are to be appointed by:
1. Two citizens from the CDS Artisan Guild,
2. One RA member appointed by the RA
3. One citizen from the Executive Branch appointed by the Chancellor
4. Two citizens in good standing appointed by the RA
(C) The LUC shall elect the LUC Chairperson, the LUC Deputy Chairperson as pro tempore and the LUC Secretary. The regulation regarding their term in office shall apply as defined in (A).
(D) The LUC shall follow democratic modes of decision making as usual at any CDS panel. Though meetings are public in general and citizens are welcome to attend at any time, only LUC members have the right to vote.
(E) It is the obligation of the LUC Chairperson or - in the case of absence of the LUC Chairperson - of the LUC Deputy Chairperson to set up the agenda for the LUC meetings, to invite the LUC members and all interested citizens to meetings and other activities of the LUC, to moderate the meetings and to represent the LUC in the CDS public.
(F) It is the obligation of the LUC Secretary to publish the meeting transcripts and keep the Minutes of Meeting in the LUC Forum. Minutes of all meetings shall be accepted at the following regular meeting, and be published with the transcript of that regular meeting.
(G) It is considered advisable that the LUC Chairperson or the LUC Deputy Chairperson by way of a substitute attend the meetings of the Representative Assembly to give a report about the ongoing work of the LUC and answer questions. If both the LUC Chairperson and the LUC Deputy Chairperson are indisposed, the RA LUC Delegate shall fill this role. The RA LUC Delegate shall have the privilege to comment first on LUC related items. It is taken for granted that the Assembly Members read the LUC Minutes in preparation of the Meeting.
(H) A LUC member may resign or be removed from office at the discretion of the RA upon the recommendation of their nominator. This resulting vacancy, or the vacancies due to end-of-term, shall be filled according to the legislative process, the new member(s) assuming the term of the member(s) replaced.
3 Meetings
(A) Ordinary meetings of the LUC shall be held at published times, at a frequency dependent on the demands of its mandate, but not less than once per month.
(B) The LUC has the right to decide a Code of Procedure for its meetings. This Code of Procedure shall be published in the forum.
(C) The LUC is expected to welcome all interested citizens as guests at their meetings and be open to their suggestions and concerns. It is expected that all guests behave respectfully and that they comply with the rules of the Code of Procedure.
(D) The LUC Chairperson and the LUC Deputy Chair have the right to invite LUC members to on-site inspections. For this kind of meeting, a public invitation is not obligatory, albeit a transcript must be kept and published.
4 Public Information and Discourse Policy
(A) Permanent changes to public land, outside of the seasonal tree and ground texture changes and official CDS temporary structures for events, have to be announced in the CDS Forum and allow a sufficient comment period to make sure the interests and concerns of all interested citizens can be taken into account by the RA. Public spaces have to be developed in accordance with policy and changes need to be subject to public comment and review.
(B) The duration of comment periods in the CDS Forums is defined in a separate law by the RA.
(C) The regulations of the LUC Act regarding transparent region development guidelines must not be in contradiction to other laws.
IMPLEMENTING BY-LAWS TO CDSL 34-01 LAND-USE COMISSION ACT AS OF JAN. 2021
1st BY-LAW: MASTER PLAN
Based upon the Paragraphs 1(E) and (F) of CDSL 34-01 the Land Use Commission shall create, update and maintain a CDS master plan, under which future expansions in land area and themes shall occur. This plan shall be submitted to and approved by the RA, as well as being resubmitted to the RA for approval whenever modifications are deemed necessary by either the Commission or the RA.
2nd BY-LAW: NEW REGION PLANNING
Based upon the Paragraphs 1(E) and (F) of CDSL 34-01 the Land Use Commission shall, upon a request from the RA or the Chancellor, investigate the viability of new region purchase and present recommendations to both bodies. This will include, but is not limited to:
1. Consideration of type of region (full region, homestead, void, or other types that might become available in the future);
2. Consideration of placement of region;
3. Consideration of region theme;
4. A survey of Citizens;
5. Appropriate In-world meetings for discussion and public comments;.
6. Compilation and summarization of ideas and comments from citizens from surveys and official meetings, or future channels as they may be useful.
7. A consideration of finances, balance of public and private prims and any specific public spaces appropriate to the theme.
8. A draft of legislation for the acquisition of a new region or regions, including covenants and/or codes for said region, which shall regulate the manipulation or use of CDS’ three-dimensional, graphical environment, whether on Public or Private parcels.
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
Ian Maclaren