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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1215 ..,. 7._ ,- RESOLUTION 1215 . A RESOLUTION OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF ARCADIA RECOMMENDING APPROVAL OF T.A. 82-8 AMENDING THE ARCADIA MUNICIPAL CODE BY DELETING THE REQUIREMENT THAT THE PLANNING COMMISSION'S ACTION ON TEXT AMENDMENTS AND ZONE CHANGES BE ADOPTED BY FORMAL RESOLUTION. WHEREAS, a text amendment was initiated by the City Council for the consideration of amending the Arcadia Municipal Code by deleting the requir~ment that the Planning Commission's action on text amend- ments and zone changes be adopted by formal resolution, and WHEREAS, a public hearing was held on December 14, 1982 at which time all interested persons were given full opportunity to be heard and to present evidence; NOW THEREFORE, THE PLANNING CO~MISSION OF THE CITY OF ARCADIA HEREBY RECO~l~lENDS TO THE CITY COUNCIL THAT THE FOLLOWING AMENDMENT BE MADE TO THE ARCADIA MUNICIPAL CODE: Section 1. That Section 9293.6, of the Arcadia Municipal Code be amended to read as follows: . '9293,6. FINDINGS. Within Thirty-five (35)days after the con- clusion of a public hearing upon any matter, the Planning Commis- sion shall render a decision thereon by reciting the findings upon which such decision is based. The failure of the Planning Commission to thus render such decision within the time specified shall cause the entire matter automatically to be referred to the Council without recommendation for such action as it deems warranted under the circumstances. In such event the secretary of the Planning Commission shall immediately deliver to the Council all of the records in the matter. Planning Commission Findings which are written and sent to the City Council shall also, simultaneously, be sent to the members of the Planning Commission, II - 1 - . 1215 . . . .- Section 2. The Planning Commission finds that the public necessity, convenience and general welfare justify the above recommen- dation. Section 3. The Secretary shall certify to the adoption of this resolution and shall cause a copy to be forwarded to the City Council of the City of Arcadia. I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing resolution was adopted at a regular meeting of the Planning Commission of the City of Arcadia on the 11th day of January, 198J by the following vote AYES: Comm1ssioners Dixon, Harbicht, Jahnke, Kirkpatrick, Kuyper Sargis, Fee . , NOES None ABSENT: None ABSTAIN: None f)'~.e ,}~n Chairman ATTEST: It;r//;a4d1 /;#~~/ Secretary - 2 - 1215 / , - " /:;1 j . DECEMBER 14, 1982 TO: ARCADIA PLANNING COMMISSION FFCN: CASE NO. PREPARED BY: PLANNING DEPARTMENT TEXT AMENDMENT 82-8 WILLIAM WOOLARD DIRECT OF PLANNING GENERAL INFORMATION APPLICANT: CITY OF ARCADIA REQUEST: Text Amendment to amend Section 9293.6. of the Arcadia Municipal Code by deleting the resuirement that the Planning Commission's action on text amendments and zone changE's be adopted by formal resolution. HISTORY AND ANALYSIS . In Cctocer, the City Council expressed concern with the amount of time it took from the initiation to the effective date of a Zoning Ordin- ance text amendment. On Octobe~ 21, 1982, a report was given to the City Council, outlining the steps which are followed in a Zoning Ordinance text amendment. On Noveffiber 16, 1982, a subsequent report was given to the City Council setting forth the legal time constraints and noting the procedures followed by several other cities. It was pointed o~t that the Planning Commission's action with respect to text amendments and zone chan&es is advisory to the City Council, and that a formal Planning Commission resolution is not required (other than by the local code requirement). It was also noted that two weeks of time would be saved if the Planning Comn,ission' s action were conveyed to the City Council by written memo rather than by formal resolution. The Planning Commission's action on Conditional Use Permits and Variances is deemed final(except for appeals) and a formal Plan- ning Commission resolution will continue to be prepared for those items. . Page 1 . ,The City Council at its November 16, 1982 pre-meeting. directed staff to initiate this text amendment. The October 21st and November 16th reports to the City Council are attached for your information. PROPOSAL In order to remove the requirement for a formal Planning Commission resolution, Section 9293.6. is proposed to be amended to read as follows: "9293.6. FINDINGS. \~ithin thirty-five (35) days after the conclusion of a public hearing upon any matter, the Planning Commission shall render a decision thereon by Ee~ma~-Fese~HtieR reciting the findings upon which such decision is based. The failure of the Planning Comn,ission to thus render such decision within the time specified shall cause the entire matter auto- matically to be referred to the Council without recommendatio~ for such action as it deems warranted under the circumstances. In such event the secretary of the Planning Commission shall immediately deliver to the Council all of the records in the matter." Pursuant to the prov~s~ons of the California Environmental Quality .' Act, the Planning Department has prepared an initial study for the 'proposed project. Said initial study did not disclose any substantial or potentially substantial adverse change in any of the physical con- ditions within the area affected by the project including land, air, water, minerals, flora, fauna, ambient noise, and objects of histor- ical or aesthetic significance. Therefore, a Negative Declaration has been prepared for this project. RECOMMENDATION The Planning Department recommends approval of this proposed text amendment. If the Planr,ing Commission decides to recommend approval or denial of this text amendment, the Commission should direct staff to prepare the appropriate resolution for adoption by the Commission, at its next regular meeting. . LA. 82-8 12/14/82 Page 2 . . . (:--,. ..:':5~ ~:.:;.:' @i1,.,; '.:">';.." ';:.:-')' NOVEMBER 16, 1982 HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL ARCADIA, CALIFORNIA SUBJECT: ZONING ORDINANCE TEXT AMENDMENTS GENTLEi'lEN: The Planning Department has surveyed twenty-one cities regarding their zoning ordinance text amendment procedures. The following summarizes the survey findings. 24 weeks. processing depending The minimum processing times ranged from twelve ~eeks to Virtually all of the cities indicated that their minimum time is seldom achieved, and that the times vary greatly upon the complexity of the specific proposed amendment. All twenty-one of the cities hold public hearings before both their Planning Commissions and City Councils. Nine of the cities indicated that they can, under optimum conditions, process text amendments in a minimum of 12 weeks by having the Plan- ning Commission adopt its resolution at the same meeting at which the Commission holds its public hearing, and by having the City Council introduce the ordinance at the same meeting at which the Council holds its public hearing. This process is similar to our shortest time procedures. Six of the cities process text amendments in a minimum of 16 weeks following essentially the same process as we use in our normal time procedures. The processing times are similar for all cities because the cities either follow thc procedures required by State law (General Law cities) or follow their own procedures which have been patterned after the Statc law requirements (Charter Cities). For Gencral Law cities, the procedures for zoning ordinance text amendments are spelled out in the California Government Code, and include the following: Section 65854 requires a public hearing before the Planning Commission and a public hearing notice published 10 days prior to the public hearing. Section 65855 requires a written recommendation from the Plan- ning Commission to the City Council. Page 1 ~ . . f- @ (~ '_:~ Section 65856 requires a public hearing before the City Council and a public hearing notice published 10 days prior to the public hearing. Section 65857 requires changes made by the City Council to be reviewed by the Planning Commission if such changes were not previously considered by the Planning Commission. Given the typical frequency of Planning Commission and City Council meetings and the required City Council's introduction, adoption and 30 day waiting period for an ordinance to become effective, twelve weeks is the minimum time an ap~lication can be processed in com- pliance with the above requirements" The procedures followed ty most Charter Cities such as Arcadia gen- erally follow the steps required for General Law cities. Arcadia's zoning ordinance text amendment procedures requires essentially the same public notice and public hearings as the State requires for General Law cities. Section 415 of the Arcadia City Charter requires a minimum five days between the City Council's introduction and adoption of an ordinance. Section 418 states that an ordinance shall become effective on the thirty-first day after its adoption at the ear- liest (unless it is an emergency ordinance). 7 Because of the difficulty in anticipating the action any changes to a given text amendment which may be made by the Planning Com- mission, it is extremely difficult to have an appropriate resolu- tion prepared for the Commission's adoption at the same meeting the public hearing is held. Hence, a twelve week processing time is almost impossible to achieve. In the cities of Santa Barbara and Glendale, the Planning Commissions do not adopt formal resolutions setting forth the Commission's re- commendations. Their recommendations are conveyed to their Councils/ by written memos. Such a procedure could reduce the processing time by two weeks, To implement such a procedure in Arcadia, existing Section 9293.6 of the zoning ordinance which requires the Commission to adopt a resolution setting forth the Commission's findings, would have to be amended accordingly. An additional two weeks of processing time may be saved, as is d~ne in several of the cities surveyed, if the City Council in- troduces the ordinance at the same meeting at which the Council holds its public hearing. This is possible (facilitated) whenever the text amendment report consists of the staff report along with the draft ordinance as an attachment, and changes are not made by the Council which require revisions to said ordinance. Page 2 November 16, 1982 Zoning Ordinance Text Amendments (- ", ",;;j ,0' (" .- :::~,i To prepare the text amendment in this format requires more coordin- ation with the City Attorney earlier in the report preparation . process. If significant changes are made to the proposed text amendment by the Planning Commission or the City Council, then the early efforts by the City Attorney may have been unnecessarily expended. The Planning Department recommends that the current requirement for a formal Planning Commission resolution setting forth the Commission's recommendations be changed to allow for a memo in lieu of the reso- lution. The memo could set forth the Commission's recommendation, changes, and the vote of ~he Commissioners. The memo would be forwarded to the City Council at the Council's first meeting following the Commission's action thereby reducing the processing time by two weeks. ' PLANNING DEPARTMENT ~~Iat/-- William D. Woolard Director of Planning . "7 VJ f); t!vzttU 'orey !:ynt Cit ~fanager wm~: ds . Page 3 November 16, 1982 Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment (.:~~ ~",...' (o.'" ,/:'~~r __ UNlhlb CI1nlNt4JfE ~ p..fy\BJDMEUf MI~lIMUM M ~~"ey - Nt>JeMf2Efl- lqB2- 6nY Mll-ollM0M l1M~ (IN W~7 ILLL? 1'2- I&, I&, aN~ 11- DEL N#-- 1(" 6LEN~ -. l..O7 6 07 MIlL. Y IIJ\:.NTE t::' 1- 11 1& 1. " ;:J:, 1- I 1- 11- lcj, & l~ ~1. )1- A E 6A. C-, / I?MP.7 ? JL . . . (,.'~'" .....'-... '.. ,. C~;~J October 2l, 1982 HONORABLE ~tAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL ARCADIA, CALIFORNIA SUBJECT: ZONING ORDINANCE TEXT AMENDMENTS Gentlemen: The following outlines and description show the various re- quired steps and timing for a typical zoning ordinance text amendment which is initiated by the City Council and subse- quently adopted. The outlines provide a brief description of the major activi- ties and the time in days between each activity and the cumulative time. ~ The first outline documents the usual time involved, the second outline documents the minimum time involved. Sections 9293.1 through 9293.9 of the Arcadia Municipal Code (MIC) set forth the procedures which mus t be followed for either a zone ch~nge or text amendmen~These procedures only pertain to amendments to the Zoning Regulations (Chapter 2 of Article IX). The follolving describes in greater detail the steps and timing involved in each activity and references the AMC sec~ tions where applicable: If the City Council at a regular Tuesday meeting directs staff to initiate a text amendment it is too late to have the required notice published (9293.4.2) for the Planning Commission's meeting (9293.5) on the following Tuesday. Hence, the earliest that the required noticed public hearing can be held is 2l days (three weeks) fol}owing the Council's directive. During the 2l days, the required environmental documents are prepared, the notice of the Planning Commission's public hearing is prepared and delivered to the official nClvspaper for publication ten days prior to the meeting and the staff report is prepared and distributed to the Commissioners. ('::;: ',..+' 0"",, ,"~ol' ;:.;r.; ~ONING ORDINANCE TEXT AMENDMENTS October 2l, 1982 Page 2 . The Planning Commission holds its required public hearing, Upon the conclusion of the hearing staff is directed to prepare the required formal resolution (2993.6) which sets forth the Commission's findings and decision. At the next regular Planning Commission meeting l4 days later, the Commission adopts the formal resolution. The Planning Commission's resolution (action) is for- warded to the City Council for the Council's consideration at its regular meeting (9293.7) which is usually seven days after adoption by the Planning Commission. If the Planning Commission has recommended the text amendment for approval, the City Council is required to hold a public hearing (9293.7). The earliest that the Council can hold its public hearing is at its next regular meeting l4 days later. During the 14 days, the required notice (9293.8) of the City Council's public hearing is prepared and delivered to the official newspaper for publication ten days prior to the meeting and the staff report is prepared and distri- buted to the Council. c . The City Council holds its required public hearing (9293,8), Upon the conclusion of the hearing the City Attorney is directed to prepare the ordinance which is required for adoption. At the City Council's next regular meeting l4 days later, the Council has its introduction of the ordinance (9293.9). At the City Council's next regular meeting l4 days later, the Council has its adoption of the ordinance. The ordinance becomes effective 31 days later. The total number of days from the date of the Council's directive to the effective date of the text amendment is 115 days. In addition to the total time set forth above, there may be an additional seven days delay due to a month with a fifth Tuesday on which no Planning Commission or City Council action takes place. . An additional delay of l4 days is incurred each time there is a continuation of a public hearing or discussion of the text amendment. .... . . .. '. "',..- ._.~..-.._;:".;._':o.-~___', . ~ -'-.:':'~--'':''''.'. : ',-. ~ .- 0-"- . . --~. "':H .',.. .... ..---..:;...--:. .,....... .,;.._..-..:.-;,... .~~ . . . ( , > :;-..,'\1 '-,'.. ","'. (:i:\ ',.< ,>, .-." ZONtNG ORDINANCE TEXT AMENDMENT October 2l, 1982 Page 3 If the proposed text amendment is cut and dry it is possible to expedite the process by about four weeks by (l) having the Planning Commission adopt its resolution at the same meeting it holds its public hearing, (2) having the City Council schedule its public hearing date prior to action being taken by the Planning Commission and (3) having the City Council introduce its ordinance at the same meeting it holds its public hearing. Staff is in the process of checking with other cities to see if there may be a more expeditious and workable procedure which could be considered for adoption by the City Council. A report on our findings will be brought to the Council as soon as we can complete our survey. ' " PLANNING DEPARH-1ENT tudLCt11,t-tJl(;-?J?f&v{cl William D. 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