BANGOR – Membership for the city’s planning board will increase by two as the result of an ordinance change approved this week by the City Council.

Until now, the planning board has consisted of eight members, five of them regular members and three of them associate, or nonvoting, members. Associate members are called upon to vote only when regular members are absent.

In recent months, however, the board has had only two associates because the third moved away and had not been replaced.

After several rounds of discussion among themselves and with planning board members, councilors on Monday night voted to increase planning board membership to seven regular members, with no associates.

Councilor Hal Wheeler, who served six years on the planning board before his return to the council last November, proposed the increase in membership.

“It is a major change in the ordinance and it’s long overdue,” Wheeler said this week.

“I think it will take a lot of the politics out of the appointment process and result in better and more thorough deliberation on the issues,” he said.

“It’s not perfect, but it’s better than the old system,” he said.

Wheeler also said the measure would put an end to what he called the “potted plant” or “fifth wheel” syndromes.

Though most associate members have faithfully attended meetings and did the necessary homework, he noted, they did not often have a role when it came to decision-making.

Five members, Wheeler said, “were not enough to consider the important development and environmental issues that come before the board.” Seven members will result in more “diversified” discussion.

Under the seven-member system, at least five members must be present to constitute a quorum.

Affirmative votes from a majority of the entire membership, or at least four votes, are needed to approve matters in which the planning board has final say, such as site plans and conditional use and subdivision applications.

However, a majority of affirmative votes among those present, or at least three based on a five-member quorum, are enough for matters in which the council has the final say. Those matters include re-zoning requests and amendments to the land development code.

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