Refresher Course on Land-Use Laws for Planning Commission

While the Planning Commission normally makes decisions about land use and development projects at its bi-weekly meetings, it is also required to keep abreast on the laws regarding land use. At its Thursday night meeting, the commission got such a refresher course.

Assistant City Attorney Christi Hogin spent much of the nearly three hour meeting going over details of the law and the commission’s jurisdiction.

Hogin, who is present at every Planning Commission meeting, explained that her function is to clarify state and federal land-use laws such as the Ellis Act or the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA).

“I’m not here to tell you what you should or shouldn’t do,” Hogin said. “I’m here to tell you what you can and can’t do.”

Hogin told the commissioner it is their responsibility to represent the community and apply the values of the community to the policies and rules the city has established.

She reminded the commission that when they grant a conditional use permit (CUP), they are entitling the land, not to the business on that property. Thus if the commission gives a nightclub CUP to a business that subsequently closes, a new nightclub can go into that space since the land is already entitled for a nightclub.

“The use runs with the land,” Hogin said.

Part of the commission’s job is to make sure the public is heard on a particular matter. While the time for public comment is limited to two to three minutes, Hogin reminded that people can write emails of any length.

Hogin also said that clapping and booing at meetings should not be allowed. This is because the commission is there to hear all points of view and that noise sometimes makes the opposing or minority points of view feel excluded.

On the issue of public notices, Hogin said that under state law, if the notices are mailed out, that is sufficient notice. 

"Where mailed notice is required," Hogin later told Patch, if one person does not receive the notice by mail, legally that would not invalidate the meeting as long as there were people present at the meeting to represent all points of view and all others had received the notice."

Staff reports, EIRs

Community Development Director Anne McIntosh told the commission that the written staff reports that they receive prior to each meeting include the facts the commission needs to know for making its decision. Several commissioners said that the staff sometimes fails to consider things in those reports and it is their job as representatives of the community to point them out.

The commission also requested that the staff reports always include a staff recommendation. McIntosh said the vast majority of the time that staff does make a recommendation on a project in those reports.

Commissioner Lauren Meister asked if staff reports were objective or subjective, noting that if a recommendation is made, the report contains a point of view. Meister pointed out that many issues are subject to interpretation and when staff takes a position on an issue, that affects the way the report is written. McIntosh agreed that staff reports aren’t always objective.

The commission also questioned their role in certifying Environmental Impact Reports (EIR), asking about giving input on draft EIRs prior to the final EIR. McIntosh told the Commission that draft EIRs are works in progress. She said it is best for the commission to wait until the final EIR is completed.

Afterward, Meister told Patch that given the huge size of some final EIRs (some are over 1,000 pages long), it is often too complicated to digest in a short amount of time. She noted that prior to McIntosh’s arrival, the Planning Commission successfully hosted many meetings dealing with draft EIRs.

“Draft EIRs are big, complicated, technical and overwhelming for the average layperson,” Meister said. “For Anne to think that the public and the commission should be able to absorb all questions, answers and public comments, and be able to certify a final EIR, and vote on a project on the same night when it’s a big project is ridiculous.”

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