1)
The City of Stockton shall conduct all land use hearings before the Planning Commission and Stockton City Council in accordance with the formal policy and procedural rules established below.
2)
CONSTRUCTION AND EFFECT
A)
These procedural rules shall be construed and applied so as to ensure a full and fair hearing of relevant evidence which is offered on a land use matter and to facilitate an orderly analysis of evidence and issues by the hearing body in such matters.
3)
CONTINUANCES, PRIORITY AND COMBINATION OF HEARINGS
A)
Continuances. When more than one item has been set for hearing at a particular time, the Chairperson, at the time set for such hearings, shall inquire of staff and the audience as to whether continuances are being requested on any of such items, and may order the hearing on any such item to be continued to a specified date and time; provided, however, that upon request of any member of the hearing body, continuance decisions shall be made by formal vote of all members present.
B)
Priority. It shall be the policy in land use hearings to take up those items first which are of interest to the greatest number of persons present. When more than one item has been set for hearing at a particular time, the Chairperson, at the time set for such hearings, shall ascertain the number of persons present on each item, and may direct that such items be heard in an order different from that specified on the hearing body's agenda; provided, however, that upon request of any member of the hearing body, decisions as to the priority of items shall be made by formal vote of all members present.
C)
Combination of Agenda Items. At the discretion of the Chairperson, matters set for hearing at the same hour may be heard and considered together and decided by one combined motion provided that: (i) no member of the hearing body objects to such combination; (ii) a written staff report has been prepared and filed for each of the matters to be combined; and (iii) all of the matters involve the same land. A separate resolution or ordinance shall be prepared for each matter decided by any such combined motion.
4)
PRESENTATION OF EVIDENCE
A)
Recordings. All hearings on land use matters shall be recorded by electronic device. Any person desiring to have a hearing recorded by a stenographic reporter at his or her own expense may do so, provided that he or she consults the hearing body's clerk or secretary to arrange facilities for such reporting prior to commencement of the hearing and advises the clerk or secretary of the full name and business address and telephone number of the reporter being used.
B)
Order of Procedure. Unless the Chairperson shall direct otherwise, the order for presentation of evidence on particular land use items shall be as follows:
i)
Presentation of staff or Planning Commission report;
ii)
Presentation of applicant or appellant;
iii)
Presentations of persons in favor of requested action;
iv)
Presentations of persons in opposition to requested action;
v)
Rebuttal by applicant or appellant;
vi)
Closing comments by staff.
The Chairperson may alter the above order of procedure for a particular hearing unless a majority of the hearing body members who are present object to such alteration. |
C)
Swearing of Witnesses. Witnesses will not ordinarily be sworn unless a specific request therefor is made and granted prior to the taking of any testimony. The Chairperson may, upon request of any member of the hearing body or advice of the City Attorney, require that all witnesses be sworn before giving testimony in a particular matter. Witnesses may be sworn as a group prior to the presentation of the staff or Planning Commission report.
D)
Rules of Evidence. The hearing need not be conducted according to technical judicial rules of evidence, but statutory and judicial rules regarding inferences and presumptions in civil litigation shall be applicable. Any relevant evidence may be considered if it is the sort of evidence on which responsible persons are accustomed to rely in the conduct of serious affairs. The Chairperson may exclude irrelevant or redundant testimony and may make such other rulings as may be necessary for the orderly conduct of the proceedings while ensuring basic fairness and a full airing of the issues involved. Evidentiary objections shall be waived unless timely made to the hearing body.
E)
Burden of Proof. The burden of proof of all legal prerequisites to the granting of the relief or action sought shall be upon the party requesting such relief or action.
F)
Exhibits and Staff Reports
i)
Subject to the conditions stated below, all exhibits, including documentary materials such as photographs, slides, drawings, maps, charts, letters, petitions and other physical evidence presented at a land use hearing, shall be retained in the Community Development Department file as part of the record of the hearing.
ii)
All exhibits presented to the hearing body will be marked for purposes of identification. Exhibits presented by City staff personnel will be marked in order numerically. Exhibits presented by persons other than City staff personnel will be marked in order alphabetically. Each exhibit shall also be marked so as to indicate the number of the case, the date upon which it is presented, and the name of the person by whom it is presented.
iii)
Any written staff report presented to the hearing body shall be marked as "Exhibit 1" and shall be made available to the public prior to, or at the beginning of, the hearing.
iv)
Any staff exhibit (e.g., a general plan or overhead transparencies) which has been or will be used in other hearings need not be retained in a particular case file, but shall be preserved by the Community Development Department for future reference and a notation indicating its location shall be made in the case file in any matter in which it has been used.
v)
Scale models and other physical exhibits which cannot be conveniently retained in case files may be photographed at the expense of, and then released to, the person submitting them. The photograph shall be entered in the file in place of the original exhibit, and a notation shall be made on the photograph as to where the original exhibit may be located.
vi)
Any person referring to an exhibit during testimony shall indicate the number or letter designation assigned to such exhibit.
vii)
Upon timely objection in non-legislative hearings, petitions and letters signed by persons not present at the hearing for questioning as to their contents shall be received by the hearing body only for the limited purpose of showing the names of the persons protesting or supporting the action under consideration.
G)
Oral Evidence. Any person desiring to speak must first be recognized by the Chairperson. All comments must be made clearly and distinctly into a microphone, and all speakers must first state their full names and addresses and the names of any persons in whose behalf they are appearing.
H)
Time Limits and Number of Witnesses. In order to expedite the conduct of the hearing, the Chairperson may limit the amount of time which a person may use in addressing the hearing body. The Chairperson may also limit the number of speakers or amount of testimony upon a particular issue in order to avoid repetitious and cumulative evidence. Except when necessary for immediate clarification of a particular point, no person shall be allowed to speak a second time until all others wishing to speak have had an opportunity to do so.
I)
Questioning of Speakers. Any person desiring to direct a question to a speaker or staff member shall submit the question to the Chairperson, who shall determine whether the question is relevant to the subject of the hearing and whether or not it need be answered by the speaker or staff member. Direct questioning of speakers or staff members may be allowed at the discretion of the Chairperson.
J)
Information Obtained Outside Public Hearing. Any member of the hearing body who has received evidence outside of the public hearing or has viewed the subject property or is familiar with the subject property shall disclose at the hearing such evidence, observations and familiarity with the property so that all interested persons may be aware of the information upon which the member is relying and have an opportunity to respond to such information.
K)
Field Investigations. The hearing body may take field trips to view property or for other purposes relevant to the hearing. All field trips shall be taken as part of a regular, adjourned or special meeting of the hearing body, and all interested persons shall be afforded the opportunity to be present to view the property and hear any reports or comments. A record of the field trip shall be entered into the minutes so the hearing record will indicate that the field trip was taken into consideration as evidence.
5)
DECISION
A)
Voting
i)
Approval of any request or appeal brought before the hearing body shall require the affirmative vote of not less than a majority of its members and may, if so specified by ordinance, require a greater number.
ii)
A motion to adopt or approve staff recommendations or simply to approve the action under consideration shall, unless otherwise particularly specified, be deemed to include adoption of all proposed findings and execution of all actions recommended in the staff report on file in the matter.
iii)
A member who is absent from any portion of a hearing conducted by the hearing body may vote on the matter at the time it is acted upon by the hearing body provided that the member: (1) has listened to the tape recording made of any portion of the hearing from which said member was absent; (2) has examined all of the exhibits presented during any portion of the hearing from which said member was absent; and (3) so states for the record prior to voting.
B)
Findings. On any matters which require the preparation of written findings, the staff report submitted on the matter shall contain findings proposed for adoption by the hearing body. Any motion directly or impliedly rejecting such proposed findings must include a statement of alternative or modified findings or a direction that the matter under consideration be continued for a reasonable amount of time in order for staff to prepare a new set of proposed findings consistent with the evidence which has been presented and the decision which is anticipated.