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city Council Meeting 9-25-90
SEJb~6 t~q990
Santa Monica, California
STAFF REPORT
TO:
Mayor and city Council
FROM:
city Attorney
SUBJECT:
Ordinance Adding section 1330 to the Santa
Monica Municipal Code Relating to Votes by
the City Council that Do Not Obtain a Majority
On August 29, 1990, the City Attorney issued Memorandum
Opinion Number 90-16 which dealt with the effect of a tie City
council vote on a matter appealed from the Planning Commission.
The opinion concluded that a tie vote resulted in no action. The
opinion was based on the language of section 9132.4 (b) of the
Santa Monica Municipal Code which provides "an action of the
[Planning] Commission appealed to the city Council shall not
become effective unless and until approved by the City Council."
In response to this opinion, the City Attorney has prepared
the accompanying ordinance for City Council consideration. The
accompanying ordinance provides that if the city Council fails to
reach a majority vote reversing or modifying a decision from
which an appeal is sought, the City Council will be deemed to
have denied the appeal and affirmed the decision of the City
board, commission, examiner or official.
Another approach that the City Council could take would be
to adopt an ordinance which provides that upon reviewing any
appeal, if a majority of the City Council fails to vote to
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SEP ~:, 1990
OCT 2 1990
approve the appeal, the decision appealed from is deemed
nonetheless rejected. However, this approach is not consistent
with how appellate bodies normally proceed.
RECOMMENDATION
It is respectfully recommended that the accompanying
ordinance be introduced for first reading.
PREPARED BY: Robert M. Myers, City Attorney
Joseph Lawrence, Assistant City Attorney
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CA:RMM:jld489jhpc
City Council Meeting 9-25-90
Santa Monica, California
ORDINANCE NUMBER
(City Council Series)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF SANTA MONICA ADDING SECTION 1330 TO
THE SANTA MONICA MUNICIPAL CODE
RELATING TO VOTES BY THE CITY COUNCIL THAT
DO NOT OBTAIN A MAJORITY
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES ORDAIN AS
FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1.
Section 1330 is added to the Santa Monica
Municipal Code to read as follows:
Section 1330.
Effect of Vote by
City Council. In any matter in which the
city Council is called upon to consider
an appeal from any action or decision of
any city board, commission, examiner or
official, the ci ty Council shall be
deemed to have denied the appeal and
affirmed the decision of the City board,
commission,
examiner or official
if,
following consideration of the appeal,
the city Council by majority vote does
not reverse or modify the decision from
which an appeal has been made.
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SECTION 2.
Any provision of the Santa Monica Municipal
Code or appendices thereto inconsistent with the provisions of
this Ordinance, to the extent of such inconsistencies and no
further, are hereby repealed or modified to that extent necessary
to affect the provisions of this Ordinance.
SECTION 3.
If any section, subsection, sentence, clause,
or phrase of this Ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid
or unconstitutional by a decision of any court of any competent
jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the
remaining portions of this Ordinance.
The City Council hereby
declares that it would have passed this Ordinance, and each and
every section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase not
declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether
any portion of the Ordinance would be subsequently declared
invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION 4. The Mayor shall sign and the City Clerk shall
attest to the passage of this Ordinance. The City Clerk shall
cause the same to be published once in the official newspaper
within 15 days after its adoption. This Ordinance shall become
effective after 30 days from its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
~~.~
ROBERT M. MYERS U
city Attorney
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KK9caw02.475
City council Meeting 10-2-90
Santa Monica, California
ORDINANCE NUMBER
(City council Series)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF SANTA MONICA ADDING SECTION 1330 TO
THE SANTA MONICA MUNICIPAL CODE
RELATING TO VOTES BY THE CITY COUNCIL THAT
DO NOT OBTAIN A MAJORITY
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES ORDAIN AS
FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1.
Findinq$~nd_PurPo$e. The city Council finds
and declares:
(a) It is the law of the city of Santa Monica that, in those
instances where the city council is unable to render a decision by
four (4) or more affirmative votes at the conclusion of a public
hearing on an appeal to the city Council from any action or
decision of any city board, commission, examiner or official, then
the city council shall be deemed to have denied the appeal and
affirmed the decision of the city board, commission, examiner or
official by operation of law.
(b) Subsection l(a) above has been the consistent practice 0'
the city of Santa Monica for more than a decade, including appeaJ
from Planning Commission decisions on development proj e,
applications during those times governed by the City's currf
Zoning Ordinancef the City's former Zoning ordinance, and inte
Ordinance Nos. 1220, 1250 and 1321 (CCS).
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(c) When the City's current Zoning Ordinance, including
section 9132.4, was adopted on August 9, 1988, there was no intent
to in any way change the past and continuing practice set forth in
subsections l(a) and (b) above concerning the approval by operation
of law of the Planning Commission's determination on a development
project application where the city council is unable to render a
decision by four (4) or more affirmative votes at the conclusion of
the pUblic hearing on the appeal.
(d) The instant Ordinance is adopted only to clarify the
practice and law described in subsections l(a), (b) and (c) above
because Zoning Ordinance section 9132.4(b) may be susceptible to
more than one interpretation, including the interpretation
suggested by the City Attorney in Memorandum No. 90-16 dated August
29, 1990. The city Council hereby intends, among other things, to
confirm that the word "approved" as used in Zoning ordinance
section 9132.4 (d) includes "approved by operation of law" or
lIapproved as a matter of law" where the city Council is unable to
reach a determination by four (4) or more affirmative votes at the
conclusion of the public hearing on the appeal.
SECTION 2. Codification. Section 1330 is added to the
Santa Monica Municipal Code to read as follows:
section 1330. Effect of vote by city
Council. In any matter in which the City
Council is called upon to consider an appeal
from any action or decision of any City board,
commission, examiner or official, the city
Council shall be deemed to have denied the
appeal and affirmed the decision of the City
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board, commission, examiner or official if,
following consideration of the appeal, the
City Council by majority
vote does not
reverse or modify the decision from which an
appeal has been made.
SECTION 3.
Inconsistent Provisions. Any provision of the
Santa Monica Municipal Code or appendices thereto inconsistent with
the provisions of this Ordinance, to the extent of such
inconsistencies and no further, are hereby repealed or modified to
that extent necessary to affect the provisions of this Ordinance.
SECTION 4.
Severability. If any section, subsection,
sentence, clause, or phrase of this Ordinance is for any reason
held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a decision of any court
of any competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the
validity of the remaining portions of this Ordinance.
The City
Council hereby declares that it would have passed this ordinance,
and each and every section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase
not declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether
any portion of the Ordinance would be subsequently declared invalid
or unconstitutional.
SECTION 5.
Execution.
The Mayor shall sign and the
City Clerk shall attest to the passage of this Ordinance. The city
Clerk shall cause the same to be published once in the official
newspaper within 15 days after its adoption. This Ordinance shall
become effective after 30 days from its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
ROBERT M. MYERS
city Attorney
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