City Council Agenda
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Memo to: |
Manteca City Council |
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From: |
L. David Nefouse, City Attorney |
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Date: |
November 19, 2024 |
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Subject: |
Request for Municipal Code Chapter 2.24 “Planning Commission” to be amended |
Recommendation:
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Waive the first reading by substitution of the title and introduce and Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Manteca, State of California, amending Chapter 2.24 “Planning Commission” of the Manteca Municipal Code to allow for complete compliance with council district appointment for commission members.
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Background:
At the September 3, 2024 and October 1, 2024 regularly scheduled City Council meetings, respectively, the City Council provided council consensus and direction to the City Attorney’s Office to review the City’s ordinances regarding appointments as the City fully transitions to districts. This included the Planning Commission.
In 2022, the City amended Chapter 2.24 with the intent to permit district appointments; however, that amendment also stated that “should the city council not approve by majority vote a councilmember's nomination from their district or should a district not yield any applications during the application period, the councilmember may then select from the at-large pool of candidates to nominate a planning commissioner.”
Despite good intentions, the result of this amendment meant that District 2 ended up with four (4) out of the six (6) possible appointments (including the alternate). In practice, this could result in a super-majority of the Commission being conflicted out due to distance conflicts on a specific project (indeed, on one project in 2024, three (3) out of the six (6) commissioners were conflicted out due to a distance conflict of less than 500 feet).
Moreover, the purpose of district elections and appointments provides better geographic representation to the City. Accordingly, the recommendation to the City Council is to strike this provision for Chapter 2.24 and to provide district councilmembers “first choice” for appointments from their respective districts, while the Mayor (who gets to select from an at-large pool of candidates for the at-large and alternate appointments) will make her/his appointments after the councilmembers make their appointments.
Fiscal Impact:
There is no fiscal impact associated with this action.
Documents Attached:
1. Attachment 1 - Ordinance
2. Attachment 2 - Ordinance with Redlines