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CC- ACTION ITEM: Recommendation from the Ad Hoc City Council Policies Subcommittee to Adopt a Resolution Amending Council Policy Statement No. 3405 (Public Notification and Community Engagement).
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Meeting Date: March 10, 2025
Contact Person/Dept.: Christina Burrows/City Attorney’s Office
Mark Muenzer/Planning and Development
Phone Number: (310) 253-5660
Fiscal Impact: Yes [] No [X] General Fund: Yes [] No [X]
Attachments: Yes [X] No []
Public Notification: (E-Mail) Meetings and Agendas - City Council (03/06/2025)
Department Approval: Heather Baker, City Attorney, (03/06/2025); Mark Muenzer, Planning and Development Director (02/17/2025) _____________________________________________________________________
RECOMMENDATION
Staff and the Ad Hoc City Council Policies Subcommittee recommend the City Council adopt a resolution amending Council Policy Statement No. 3405 (Public Notification and Community Engagement).
BACKGROUND
The Ad Hoc City Council Policies Subcommittee was created for the purpose of working with staff to conduct a comprehensive review of existing City Council policies and make recommendations to City Council as appropriate. The current Subcommittee consists of Council Member Vera and Council Member Fish (“Subcommittee”).
Over the course of the City Council Policies review project (“Project”), a total of 27 policies have been considered by the City Council. Of these policies, some have been updated, some have been rescinded after being combined with other policies, some have been rescinded and transitioned to administrative policies due to their administrative nature, and there have been five newly adopted policies (see Attachment 1 for a list of policies considered by the City Council thus far during this Project).
This Project has been delayed on multiple occasions due to other Council-directed priorities and work plans, as well as the unexpected and significant operational workload created by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly during Fiscal Year 2020-2021.
City staff, after working with the Subcommittee, is presenting one additional City Council policy for recommended action by the City Council at this time. An additional policy (Council Policy 3402) is scheduled for consideration at the March 17th Council Meeting. Multiple other policies are currently in review and targeted for completion over the next few months with the goal of bringing them to City Council for consideration in May and/or June 2025.
DISCUSSION
Public Notification and Community Engagement Policy 3405
City Council Policy 3405 established guidance for staff to use when preparing public notifications of various actions to be considered by the City Council, the City’s Commissions, Boards, and Committees (CBCs), and staff, where applicable. The Policy was first adopted in 2007 and was amended in 2010.
Attachment 2 reflects the proposed changes to the Policy in redline format, as follows:
• Eliminate the Postal Mail Interest Lists.
The Zoning Code and State Law establish a number of required mailings. For instance, the Zoning Code requires that notice of development applications be sent to all addresses within a certain radius of the development project. State law requires cities to provide mailed notice of certain public hearings and requires the City Clerk to mail a physical copy of City Council agendas to any person who has requested such a mailing, among other required mailings.
In addition to these required mailings, Policy 3405 established “Postal Mail Interest Lists” which allowed staff to create mailing lists for certain categories of interest. Staff is unaware of any such existing mailing lists, and is unaware of the last time such mailing lists were utilized. Instead, staff relies on email to provide the vast majority of public notifications. Where citywide notification is warranted, such as during the General Plan Update process, notices are mailed citywide at the direction of the City Manager or the City Council. Staff recommends removing the reference to “Postal Mail Interest Lists” from Policy 3405. The Subcommittee members agree with staff’s recommendation since “Postal Mail Interest Lists” have not been utilized.
• Refer to Culver City Municipal Code (CCMC) Chapter 17.625 to establish the number of Community Meetings.
CCMC Chapter 17.625, approved in October 2024, requires two community meetings for development projects. Policy 3405 currently requires up to three community meetings, leading to confusion by applicants and members of the public based on the different numbers in the CCMC and Policy 3405. The subcommittee recommends amending Policy 3405 to refer to CCMC Chapter 17.625 for the number of community meetings and other requirements for community meetings.
Council Member Vera stated he prefers to keep two community meetings for all projects in order to make sure community input is fully considered.
Council Member Fish stated he would support an amendment to the Zoning Code to require one community meeting for housing development projects and keep two community meetings for other non-residential projects. (The reduction in number of community meetings for housing development projects is consistent with staff’s original recommendation during the Zoning Code Update.)
• Add a requirement that the notices prepared by an applicant for a development project be translated into Spanish.
This is not currently required by Policy 3405 or the Zoning Code. The Subcommittee members agree with staff’s recommendation to require this.
• Change the method used to determine the radius for required mailings.
The CCMC establishes the required radius for mailings. If a radius terminates before the end of a block, Policy 3405 currently requires the radius to be extended to the end of the block. Staff recommends amending Policy 3405 to give the Department Head the discretion to extend the radius.
Council Member Vera is interested in discussing with the City Council establishing a larger notification radius and/or including both sides of the street in any mailing.
Council Member Fish is open to discussing different radius requirements but does not want to put too many obstacles in the way of creating housing. He is open to extending the Department Head’s discretion to require additional notification beyond the minimum required by the CCMC.
Staff recommends the City Council adopt the proposed Resolution amending Council Policy 3405 (Attachment 3). The Subcommittee concurs with this recommendation.
Should the City Council determine to make any changes to the proposed amended Policy 3405, those can be read into the record and approved during the City Council meeting as part of the motion adopting the Resolution.
Next Policies In Review
As mentioned earlier in this report, additional City Council policies are currently in review and targeted for completion over the next two months with the goal of bringing them to City Council for consideration in May and/or June 2025, including:
• Policy 3406 (Significant Donor/Contributor Naming)
• 4003 (Acceptance of Gifts and Gratuities) and 4006 (Code of Ethics) [Note, these two policies will be combined into one policy.]
• Policy 4101 (Travel, Attendance at Conferences…Reimbursement of Expenses)
FISCAL ANALYSIS
There is no fiscal impact associated with amending Council Policy 3405. There are City costs involved with mailed notifications; however, that is not a change from the current Policy.
ATTACHMENTS
1. 2025-03-10_ATT 1_List of Council Policies Reviewed to Date
2. 2025-03-10_ATT 2_Revisions to Council Policy 3405 (Public Notification and Community Engagement)
3. 2025-03-10_ATT 3_Proposed Resolution Amending Policy 3405 (Public Notification and Community Engagement)
MOTION(S)
That the City Council:
Adopt a Resolution amending Council Policy Statement No. 3405 (Public Notification and Community Engagement).