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ALAMEDA:Thank you.
<br />GRAHAM:There are several people here better lawyers than me. But my sense of the
<br />court is the court will overturn the transaction or something if theres a substantive fault. So
<br />maybe this particular case leads you to believe something else. But what I would like to see in
<br />your language is that the Planning Director has the discretion if some things are missing and he
<br />wants to go forward, but he has to realize that if these are substantive things that are missing,
<br />hes risking having the whole thing thrown out by the court. And I dont want to take away the
<br />courts opportunity to throw something out where there has been collusion or something that
<br />leads to substantive things being missing. And you keep saying trivial things like the northpoint.
<br />I dont think the court is going to overturn something because of the northpoint. And I also feel
<br />like I dont mind putting in the Code that you at your discretion can go forward and move it
<br />forward even though something that you feel is trivial is missing. But I dont want to take the
<br />court out of it and say, well, the court has no chance to overturn it because of that. Anyway, so I
<br />feellikeImnotgoingtovoteto,basedonwherewereattodayandhowmuchtimeweputin,
<br />Im not going to vote to pass it forward. So if Commissioner Iwashita and I both feel that way,
<br />its not going to happen today.
<br />ALAMEDA:Commissioner Iwashita?
<br />IWASHITA:Thank you. I, again, you know, the Department, as far as I can tell does a
<br />commendable job processing and working on the subdivisions. In the end though, its the
<br />administrative agency thats taking what is being submitted by the landowner, the developer,
<br />subdivider, whatever you want to call them; and the law says that it is the developer, landowner,
<br />subdivider thats obligated to meet these requirements, not the Department. The guy doesnt
<br />come to the Department and say we have this idea, help us make this thing, help us draw this up
<br />and so forth. The Departments responsibility is to look at the Subdivision Ordinance, see what
<br />the requirements are and process it accordingly, and then give its final approval. The final
<br />approval, if theres a mess-up and final approval on final plat, that is the owners, the
<br />subdividers, as far as Im concerned, the developers responsibility. You know, again, these are
<br />a dozen or more professionals, you know, surveyors that have worked with this under the old
<br />way for a long time. None of them are here today, right? They probably know better or they do
<br />know better, right, as far as how this is going to go forward. But, in the end, because in my
<br />mind, what the subdivision, the subdivider is doing it to get a benefit, to get an entitlement,
<br />right? You know more money for more lots. And so it behooves the subdivider to have a
<br />professional surveyor do it right. Its not, I mean, Im looking at this, its not that complicated in
<br />terms of what the requirements are. And if they submit an erroneous plat, final plat, and the
<br />Department misses it and it gets approved on their plat therefore it is subject to court challenge
<br />that is, in the end, the owners, the developers problem. The developer created the problem, not
<br />the Department. And so I, you know, frankly, this language at the end of 23-73 I would delete
<br />that, everything from and towards the end of the sentence, that last phrase, as far as insulating
<br />or inoculating the validity of the subdivision if the requirements arent met. Because in my mind
<br />in the end it is the owners responsibility. And the fact that the Department misses it should not,
<br />you know, the Department as far as Im concerned does a good job on how it, you know, reviews
<br />these things, Im sure it enforces these things and, you know -. But it ultimately is the owners
<br />responsibility to meet the requirements of the law. And if the owner doesnt do it, then the
<br />owner suffers the consequence, not the Department.
<br />23EXHIBIT D
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