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Home My WebLink About2010-07-13; City Council; 20308; PUBLIC HEARING TESTIMONY MUNICIPAL CODE ADMENDMENTCITY OF CARLSBAD - AGENDA BILL 13 AB# MTG. DEPT. 20,308 7/13/10 CA Amendment to Carlsbad Municipal Code Sections 1.20.290(c) and 1.20.430(d) Regarding Public Hearing Testimony DEPT. DIRECTOR CITY ATTORNEY CITY MANAGER RECOMMENDED ACTION: Introduce Ordinance No. cs-096 amending sections 1.20.290(c) and 1.20.430(d) of the Carlsbad Municipal Code authorizing the Mayor or City Council to shorten public testimony in certain circumstances. ITEM EXPLANATION: From time to time, the Council will hold public hearings at which public testimony on a public hearing item will be lengthy and in which numerous public comments are received that are repetitive or redundant and which may not present new information or assist the Council in reaching a fair and just decision. It may also be necessary where a shorter time is appropriate to allow every member of the public who wish to speak on the item to do so within the time available to the City Council in order to complete a meeting with a lengthy agenda and within a reasonable amount of time. In those limited cases, this ordinance amendment allows the Mayor or the majority of the City Council to reduce the length of public comment from five minutes to three minutes or such other lesser amount as appropriate under the circumstances. This approach has been legally recognized where it is anticipated that the length of public testimony will unduly burden the City Council in conducting the public's business and prevent it from reaching a timely conclusion (See Chaffee v. San Francisco Public Library Commission. 134 Cal. 4th 109, 2005). A corresponding change is made to non-public hearing items which, at times, possess the same potential to produce lengthy public comments which are redundant and repetitive. The existing code also provides that in order to expedite matters and to avoid repetitious presentations, the Mayor may require a spokesperson be chosen from a group to address the Council on the item. If additional matters remain after that presentation by other members of the public or the group, then the Mayor may limit the number of those persons and limit the presentation of the information not already presented by the group's spokesperson (CMC section 1.20.300). FISCAL IMPACT: There will be little or no anticipated fiscal impact resulting from this ordinance amendment. DEPARTMENT CONTACT:760-434-2891 ron.ball@carlsbadca.gov FOR CITY CLERKS USE ONLY. COUNCIL ACTION: APPROVED DENIED CONTINUED WITHDRAWN AMENDED X D D D D CONTINUED TO DATE SPECIFIC CONTINUED TO DATE UNKNOWN RETURNED TO STAFF OTHER -SEE MINUTES D D D D Page 2 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT: This ordinance amendment is not a "project" within the definition of the California Environmental Quality Act in that it does not have a direct or indirect impact on the physical environment under CEQA Regulation 15378(b). EXHIBITS: 1. Ordinance No. CS-096 2. Redline Version of CMC 1.20.290(c) and 1.20.430(d) ORDINANCE NO. CS-096 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA, AMENDING CARLSBAD MUNICIPAL CODE SECTIONS 1.20.290(c) AND 1.20.430(d) REGARDING PUBLIC HEARING TESTIMONY NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Carlsbad ordains as follows: 8 SECTION 1: That section 1.20.290 of the Carlsbad Municipal Code is 9 amended to read as follows: 10 ' 11 (c) Each person desiring to address the council shall approach the podium, state the subject that he or she wishes to discuss, city of 13 14 15 17 18 19 21 22 23 residence, and his or her name and/or party he or she is representing (unless otherwise determined by the city attorney to be unnecessary). A speaker's remarks are limited to five minutes but may be shortened to three minutes or such shorter time as appropriate under the circumstances and when announced by the mayor or at the commencement of the item when, in the opinion of the mayor or majority of the city council, the length and duration of public comments on a public hearing item would be unduly burdensome and prevent or frustrate the city council from reaching a timely decision on the matter. All remarks shall be addressed to the council as a whole and not to 1.20.290(c) - Request to address the council on items other than listed public hearing- any member thereof. No questions shall be asked of a council member or a member of the city staff without obtaining the permission of the mayor. The mayor shall not permit any communication, oral or written, to be made or read where it does not bear directly on the agenda item then under discussion. SECTION 2: That section 1.20.430 of the Carlsbad Municipal Code is amended to read as follows: 24 1.20.430(d) - Public Hearings - Procedure 25 (d) An individual speaker shall be allowed five minutes to address the 26 city council except it may be shortened to three minutes or such other time limit as appropriate when announced by the mayor at the 27 commencement of the public hearing when, in the opinion of the mayor 28 or majority of the city council, the length and duration of the public -1 - testimony would be unduly burdensome and prevent or frustrate the city council from reaching a timely decision on the matter. In addition: 3 (1) A written request to speak shall not be required; (2) The time limit for groups shall be twenty minutes; 4 (3) The applicant shall have twenty minutes. 5 6 7 /// 8 /// 9 /// 10 /// 11 12 13 14 '" 15 /// 16 /// 17 /// 18 /// 19 /// 20 /// 21 /// 22 /// 23 /// 24 /// 25 /// 26 /// 27 /// 28 /// -2- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 EFFECTIVE DATE: This ordinance shall be effective thirty days after its adoption; and the city clerk shall certify the adoption of this ordinance and cause it to be published at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in the City of Carlsbad within fifteen days after its adoption. INTRODUCED AND FIRST READ at a regular meeting of the Carlsbad City Council on the /3#\xJav of Tul<J , 2010, and thereafter PASSED AND ADOPTED at a regular meeting of the Carlsbad City Council on the day of , 2010, by the following vote, to wit: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY: RONALD R. BALL, City Attorney CLAUDE A. LEWIS, Mayor ATTEST: LORRAINE M. WOOD, City Clerk (Seal) -3- 1^.20.290(c) - Request to address the council on items other than listed public hearing- (c) Each person desiring to address the council shall approach the podium, state the subject he_or/_she wishes to discuss, city of residence, and his_or_/her name and/or party he,.pjL/she js representing (unless otherwise determined by the city attorney to be unnecessary). A_Sspeaker's remarks are limited to five minutes but may be shortened to three minutes or such shorter time as appropriate under the circumstances and when announced by the mayor or at the commencement of the item when, in the opinion of the mayor or majority of the city council, the length atid duration of public comments on a public hearing item would be unduly burdensomeand pjg vent or frustrate the..city council from reaching a timely decision on the matter. imtess-fafther time-ts-^ranted by tfte-mayor-wttb-the consont-ef-tbe-soyfreti. All remarks shall be addressed to the council as a whole and not to any member thereof. No questions shall be asked of a council member or a member of the city staff without obtaining the permission of the-presiding oftieef mayor. The presiding officer-mayor shall not permit any communication, oral or written, to be made or read where it does not bear directly on the agenda item then under discussion. 1.20.430(d) - Public Hearings - Procedure (d) The provisions of Section 4-.20.290-af^Section 1-.20.30G-tef addressing the council shall apply to persons testifying at public hearings -e-xcept thatAn individual speaker shall be allowed five minutes to address the city council except it may be shortened to three minutes or such other time limit as appropriate when announced by the mayor at the commencement of the public hearing when, Jn the opinion of the mayor or majority of the city council, the length and duration of the public testimony would be unduly burdensome and prevent or frustrate the city council from reaching a timely decision on the matter. In addition: (1 )A written request to speak shall not be required; (2)The time limit for groups shall be twenty minutes; (3)The applicant shall have twenty minutes.