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HomeMy WebLinkAbout5. Public NoticesSTAFF REPORT PLANNING DIVISION DATE: OCTOBER 4, 2017 TO: PLANNING COMMISSION SUBMITTED BY: ALDO E. SCHINDLER, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT REVIEWED BY: DAVID BLUMENTHAL, CITY PLANNER PREPARED BY: DAVID BLUMENTHAL, CITY PLANNER SUBJECT: PUBLIC NOTICES REPORT SUMMARY The Planning Commission has expressed a desire to increase awareness of projects by making the public notices more reader friendly and providing additional noticing opportunities to the public. The Planning Commission request may include making the notices easier to read, increasing the notice-mailing radius, and posting the public notice at the project sites. Staff has already implemented changes to utilize social media, making the notices easier to read, and add staff contact information to the Planning Commission agendas. This report contains opportunities, issues, and requirements for the Planning Commission to consider regarding any changes to the noticing requirements. BACKGROUND Regarding public notices, the legal requirements for distributing public notices are provided in Government Code Section 65091. The City is required to mail the notice of a public hearing to all property owners within 300’ of a project site. If the number of property owners within the 300’ radius exceeds 1,000 owners, then the City may publish an 1/8th page ad in a newspaper of general circulation in lieu of mailing the notice. In addition to the mailing notice, the Government Code also requires the notice either be published in a newspaper of general circulation or posted in three public places within the City, including one place in the project area. Notices shall be sent at least ten (10) days prior to the hearing. Government Code Section 65094 continues with specifying the content of the public notice. This includes the date, time, and place of a public hearing, the identity of the hearing body or officer, a general explanation of the matter to be considered, and a general description, in text or by diagram, of the location of the real property. To comply with the State public noticing laws, the City of Downey has adopted Municipal Code Section 9804.06(c), which requires a public notice be sent to all property owners within 500’ of the project site and the notice be published in a newspaper of general circulation. For the City of Downey, the newspaper of general circulation is the Downey Patriot. Increasing the radius from the State required 300’ to 500’ provides a benefit to the residents since it increases the number of people notified about a project. Agenda Page 1 Public Notices October 4, 2017 - Page 2 DISCUSSION The public notice process is completed by staff, with no additional cost to project applicants. Utilizing GIS software and the City’s Accela system, staff is able to create a radius map and extract property owner information. This is combined with the public notice document that is created using Microsoft Word. The mailing noticed is printed and mailed, while the legal ad is sent to the Downey Patriot to be published. Social Media In order to increase awareness of projects being considered by the Planning Commission, staff has begun using the City’s social media platform. Items being considered by the Planning Commission are posted twice on Facebook and Twitter before the meeting. Using Facebook Analytics, the City was able to determine posting on social media would “reach” more people if it is done mid-morning. In order to maximize the number of views, posts are done on Friday and Monday, at approximately 10:00 a.m. The social media posts are done on top of the “traditional” methods of posting agendas. The Planning Commission agendas are posted at city hall, the library, and the senior center at least 72 hours prior to the meeting. Additionally, the agendas are referenced on the City’s website and the Downey Patriot lists a calendar of common city meetings, which includes the Planning Commission meetings. The Downey Patriot’s Facebook page also routinely posts projects of interest to be heard by the Planning Commission. Notice content Concerns have been expressed about the content of the notices and whether or not they are understandable to the general public. To fix this issue, staff has revaluated the language used in the public notice and has begun adding additional language to provide a clearer explanation of the proposed project. Mailing Notice Pursuant to Municipal Code Section 9804.06(c), public hearing notices are mailed to all property owners within 500’ of a project site, which exceeds the State required 300’ radius. Should the Planning Commission desire to increase the radius they may do so by initiating a Zone Text Amendment. It should be noted that increasing the radius would result in an increase in printing and postage cost to the City. As an example, staff looked how changing the noticing radius for the recently considered subdivision at Third Street and Rives Avenue would be affected by such a change. Radius Properties Notified Approximate Cost 300’ (State required) 42 $23.52 500’ (Current standard) 103 $57.68 750’ 187 $104.72 1000’ 284 $159.04 In addition to increasing the notice radius, the Planning Commission asked staff to explore the possibility of notifying renters near proposed projects. While the City obtains property owner information from the county tax assessment rolls, renter data is not available to City staff. Agenda Page 2 Public Notices October 4, 2017 - Page 3 Furthermore, addressing the notice to ‘Occupant’ is not feasible for rented single-family homes since the property owner mailing address could be different from the site address. To complicate this matter further, apartment buildings use different numbering schemes for their units (i.e. A, B, C or 1, 2, 3 or 101, 102, 103, etc.), for which the City does not have access to any sort of database that contains this information. If the Planning Commission wishes to implement this option, the applicant would have to bear the cost and time of hiring a private firm to create a mailing list and provide it to the City to utilize. Posting of Sites Staff reached out to several cities to determine how they provide posting of public notices at project sites. Some cities print an 8½” x 11’ notice; however, staff does not believe this would achieve the Planning Commission’s goal of public awareness. Notwithstanding this, Pasadena, Sierra Madre, and San Jose have good examples to accomplish the Planning Commission’s goal. • Pasadena has 2’ x 4’ preprinted notices on weather resistant material that staff handwrites the details on. This is given to the applicant to post on the site. The applicant must sign an affidavit and provide photographs as evidence of the posting. • San Jose and Sierra Madre prepares the notice digitally, which is given to the applicant. The applicant is responsible to have the notice printed on a weather resistant material (3’ x 4’) and post on the site. The applicant must also sign an affidavit and provide photographs as evidence of the posting. Example of San Jose site posting Agenda Page 3 Public Notices October 4, 2017 - Page 4 Example of Sierra Madre site posting In speaking with the staff of the various cities, the issues that result from posting notices at the project sites are: notices being vandalized and creating a shabby appearance at the site and for the community; notices being removed shortly after installation and well before the hearing; notices fading and being unreadable; and, the notices not being removed after the hearing, regardless of the material used, the notice will begin to breakdown and becoming an attractive nuisance at the site. In these cases, code enforcement action is sometimes necessary to have the notice removed to bring the property into compliance. Should the Planning Commission determine to initiate a Zone Text Amendment to require posting of sites, Staff recommends utilizing the San Jose/Sierra Madre method. EXHIBITS A. Municipal Code Section 9804.06(C) Agenda Page 4 Agenda Page 5