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Title:
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Consideration of a Request by Appellant for the Postponement of the Appeal Hearing Relating to 4043 Irving Place from August 18, 2008 to a Date in September 2008.
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City of Culver City, California
City Council Agenda Item Report
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends the City Council consider the request by the appellants to
continue this item to September. If the Council determines that a continuance is
appropriate, staff recommends the hearing be scheduled for a Joint Council/Agency
meeting on September 15, 2008.
BACKGROUND
On April 9, 2008, the Planning Commission approved an application by Sal
Gonzales (the “Applicant”) to allow the construction of a 3 and 4 story mixed-use
project ranging in height from 37 to 46 feet with 26 residential condominium units,
3,380 square feet of office space and subterranean parking.
On April 24, 2008, Culver City residents Michael and Judith Miller and Jim and
Michelle Benke (the “Appellants”), submitted an appeal of the Planning
Commission’s decision.
The following outlines the timeline related to the appeal of the Planning
Commission’s approval of the mixed use project:
March 12, 2008: Planning Commission Public Hearing continued at the request of
the applicant.
April 9, 2008: Project approved by Planning Commission at continued public
hearing.
April 24, 2008: Timely appeal of Planning Commission approval filed by Judith and
Michael Miller and Jim and Michelle Benke.
April 28, 2008: Revised appeal document filed by Judith Miller.
Meeting Date: 08/13/2008 Item Number: A-1
AGENDA ITEM: Consideration of a Request by Appellant for the Postponement of
the Appeal Hearing Relating to 4043 Irving Place from August 18, 2008 to a Date
in September 2008.
Contact Person/Dept.: Thomas Gorham,
Planning Manager
Phone Number: (310) 253-5727
Fiscal Impact: Yes [] No [X] General Fund: Yes [] No [X]
Public Hearing: [ ] Action Item: [X] Attachments: []
Public Notification: Appellant and Applicant notified via telephone on August 12, 2008.
Department Approval:
Sol Blumenfeld (8/12/08)
City Attorney Approval:
Heather Baker (08/12/08)
Fiscal Impact Review:
Jeff Muir (by N. Kimball) (08/12/08)
City Manager Approval:
Jerry B. Fulwood (08/13/08) City of Culver City, California
City Council Agenda Item Report
May 8, 2008: Staff meets with Judith Miller to discuss the neighbor’s issues and
informs her of tentative June 23
rd
appeal hearing date.
May 11, 2008: E-mail from Judith Miller requesting tentative June 23
rd
appeal
hearing date be postponed due to the Benke’s being out of town from June 20
th
-July
24
th
and the Miller’s being out of town until July 29
th
and request a slight delay in the
appeal hearing until after July 29
th
.
May 12, 2008: E-mail from staff to Judith Miller asking if appellants would be
available for a June 16
th
hearing date. E-mail response from Judith Miller indicating
that June 16
th
would not work, but July 14
th
would.
May 19, 2008: Staff sets tentative appeal date for July 21
st
.
May 20, 2008: Second revised appeal document filed by Judith Miller.
May 28, 2008: E-mail from Judith Miller requesting postponement of appeal hearing
until September because a number of people in the neighborhood association will be
out of town for the summer and their attorney will be out of town during the months
of July and August. Staff meets with applicant to discuss potential revisions to
project to address neighbors concerns and applicant notes they will explore design
changes to address neighbor’s issues and submit to staff to present to the
neighbors.
June 26, 2008: Staff meets with neighborhood representatives to discuss project
revisions proposed by applicant.
July 7, 2008: Staff informs applicant that July 21
st
hearing date will be postponed
due to noticing issues. Applicant notified that new hearing date will be August 18th.
July 10, 2008: Staff informs Grace Ressler representing the appellants of the
August 18
th
hearing date.
July 28, 2008: Public Notice of August 18
th
hearing date mailed.
July 30, 2008: Letter sent to Judith Miller and Grace Ressler outlining the timeline
related to the appeal and informing them that the August 18
th
date has been set.
DISCUSSION
As outlined above, the project approval and appeal both occurred in April. Both the
Appellants and the Applicant are entitled to a timely appeal hearing and as such the
initial hearing was set for June 23
rd
. Staff then met with the Appellants to ascertain
the issues they were primarily concerned with and noted that they would work with
the Applicant to see if design changes could be made. The Appellants requested a
delay of the appeal hearing to July and staff accommodated this request by moving
the hearing date to July 21
st
. In the interim staff worked with the Applicant to
consider potential design changes. Staff met with the neighbors on June 26
th
to
present the design changes proposed by the Applicant. The July 21
st
hearing date
was subsequently changed to August 18
th
due to a delay in the required public
noticing resulting from the on-going meetings between staff, the Appellants and the
Applicant. The Appellants continued to request a September hearing date. The City of Culver City, California
City Council Agenda Item Report
August 18
th
date was chosen as a result of the Applicant’s request to move forward
with the hearing after two postponements resulting from an attempt by staff and the
Applicant to address the neighbors concerns.
Staff recommends the Council consider the Appellants’ request for postponement
and direct staff as deemed appropriate.
ATTACHMENTS:
None.
FISCAL IMPACT:
In the event the Council grants the Appellants’ request for postponement, staff will
need to re-notice the new public hearing date at a cost of approximately $1,200.
MOTION:
That The Council:
1. Continue the Public Hearing for the 4043 Irving Place appeal to September 15,
2008.
OR
2. Take no action