2007-03-02 TGP AMENDMENT - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councils desire to shorten the timeframes, that they have an idea about an interim GeneralPlan amendment that it not take up a huge portion of the 2-year term that they have. So this is one timeframe that has been shortened. It clarifies that the Planning Director can suggest changes and modifications. C is basically the same, no Im sorry, C is a little different. There was an inconsistency in that there was a requirement for public notice in the comprehensive review, if the Planning Director proposed to change a designation of land to Open or Conservation but it was not required for an interim General Plan amendment initiated by the Council. We think out of fairness to the landowner and given the potential impact of a change like this, the landowner should be notified. So we put this into this process. Okay, then the proposed amendment gives the Planning Commission 60 days to consider the proposed amendment after receiving it from the Planning Director and sending its recommendationuptotheCountyCouncil.Thisiscomparedto90dayscurrently. Youhave,thecurrentpracticeisyouhave60daystohavethehearingandthenanother30days to make the recommendation. So that has been shortened slightly. Then F that you see on page 4 is the same concept that we discussed before, which is to clarify what the extent is of the changes that the County Council can make to its own amendments once it gets back up to the County Council. Then we get to interim amendments proposed by the Planning Director. D is the same notification to landowner requirement. E actually I think weve lengthened the timeframe for the Planning Commission to consider amendments initiated by the Planning Director. And then F on page 5 is the same concept of clarifying what the scope of changes are that the County Council can make. So with that explanation we are asking that the Commission send a favorable recommendation on this bill to the Council. GRAHAM:Thank you, Mr. Yuen. Do the Commissioners have any further comments, questions? Commissioner Siracusa. SIRACUSA:Yes. I noticed that one part that wasnt changed which I would probably have liked to see changed was on page 5, No. (3), General Public, (b)(i), a filing fee of $500 if a member of the public wants to initiate; and to me that amount of money is designed to discourage public initiation. And then (c)(i) is that the Planning Director unilaterally can reject that application, even if they pay their $500, without any hearing at all; and I have a problem with that also. YUEN:Well, this comes from the fact that the County Charter says that only the Planning Director and the County Council can initiate changes to the General Plan. All this does 5EXHIBIT B