Longtime Santa Barbara County Planning Commissioner Michael Cooney had his last meeting Wednesday, and his colleagues gave him a send-off with praise and potato chips.

He was appointed to the First District seat on the Planning Commission in 2004 by the late former Supervisor Naomi Schwartz.

Cooney has served in the role for three more supervisors since then. He agreed to stay on for an additional year when First District Supervisor Roy Lee was elected, and that year has now lapsed, Cooney said.

A new commissioner will be presented to the Board of Supervisors for appointment, most likely in June. 

Cooney said it was a difficult decision to leave the commission, which has been a “real experience of love” for him. 

“This year has been like all the rest, full of interesting and worthwhile matters,” he said. 

Cooney has been on the commission through hundreds of projects and policy decisions. 

Just the past decade includes the like-for-like rebuilding ordinance after the Montecito debris flows; working through the COVID-19 pandemic with remote meetings; the cannabis ordinance and many appeal hearings for operations in the Carpinteria Valley; the county’s Housing Element Update; and the oil and gas phaseout plan. 

“He has provided incredibly steady leadership on this commission,” said Lisa Plowman, Planning & Development director for the county. 

“Your intellect has been invaluable on complicated projects and in times of crises,” she said. 

She also praised his kindness, commitment to good community planning, and civility with the staff, the public and fellow commissioners. 

Plowman added that she has been impressed by the “ability to sustain yourself on a bag of potato chips and an apple for 22 years,” and county staff presented Cooney with two boxes of chips as a gift. 

“I finally get to call you something I’ve always wanted to call you and thought I’d hold off until you’re off the commission: Professor Cooney,” Commissioner John Parke said. “You’ve taught us all a lot.”

Cooney focuses the commission on the planning process, Parke said, and advocates for the right of the public to comment and appeal projects. 

The county also presented Cooney with a resolution that praised his deliberate review of projects and for facilitating “well-reasoned and just decisions” by the commission. 

He also has provided years of “invaluable” mentoring and advice to other members of the Planning Commission. 

“You’ve been a model of what my vision was of a thoughtful, considerate, well-reasoned decision-maker who sits on a commission such as this,” commission chair Roy Reed said. 

Lee thanked Cooney for his service under four supervisors and joked that “after today, you can tell me who’s your favorite supervisor.” 

Cooney is an attorney and a member of several local nonprofit boards.