AgdaPkt 2010-11-22 clsd and regular

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8.A ATTACHME�'ge 5 _� PLG-Blake Lyon Subject: FW: Follow-up to My Request for a Continuance Importance: High From: Marc Warsowe [mailto:mwarsowe@sbcglobal.net] Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2010 1:55 PM To: Council-]eff Ira; Council-Alicia Aguirre; Council-Ian Bain; Council-Rosanne Foust; Countil-Jeff Gee; Council-Barbara Pierce; Council-]ohn Seybert; ATTY-Pamela Thompson; MGR-Peter Ingram; PLG-Jill Ekas; PLG-Charles ]any; PLG- Christopher Rogers; Robert Carroll; CLK-Silvia Vonderlinden Subject: Follow-up to My Request for a Continuance Importance: High Dear Council Members, I want to thank you all for your kind reception of our request for a continuance of the Appeal Hearing of the approved Architectural Permit for 448 Saint Francis, scheduled for November 22nd. I made several references in that very short presentation, to which I would now Iike to provide documentation and some additional detail. • First and foremost, there is no statutory basis for denying our request for a continuance. To the contrary, there is statutory support for granting our request: o Sections 48.5 and 48.6 of Article 48 of the Zoning Ordinance, Action on Appeal and Public Hearing, respectively, make no provision, one way or the other, with respect to establishing rules and procedures to grant or deny a request for a continuance. Neither, for that rnatter, does Section 2.126.B. and C., Appeals From Denial of Building Permit, of Chapter 2, Article IX, Division 3, Board of Building Review, of the Code of Ordinances. o Indeed, the only time the Council has spoken on this subject and set rules and procedures is in Chapter 1, Article II, Section 1.20.6.F.3 of the Code of Ordinances, Appeal of Administrative Citation, which specifies with particularity hearing rules and procedure with respect to granting an automatic continuance for the appeal of an administrative citation: The party contesting the administrative cdtution may request one continuance fvr any reasnn, in writing, not less than twenty-four (24) hours in advance of the scheduled hearing. The deferred hearing wil! nvt be deferred more thun ninety (90) days after the request for hearing was made. A request for continuance made less than twenty-four (24) hours before the scheduled hearing may be granted by the administrative hearing officer based on exigency only. [Emphasis added.] o Therefore, since the intent of the Council with respect to granting continuances is unequivocally expressed in this section. I believe it is reasonable and appropriate to apply this procedural rule with respect to our request for a continuance, since the relevant ordinance is silent as to this particular point. • Second, equity and fair play require that our request for a continuance be granted, as we are extremely disadvantaged with respect to the other participants involved in the Hearing, that is, our neighbor, Bob Carroll, and the Planning Department. Both Mr. Carroll and the City have professionals familiar with the subject matter either on retainer or on staff -- individuals, who, as part of their everyday 9-to-5 paid i