A. 
Public Hearing Required. The following procedures govern the notice and public hearing, where required pursuant to this title. The designated approving authority shall hold a public hearing to consider all applications for a conditional use permit, variance, design review, planned unit development, specific plan, zoning code and/or map amendment, pre-zoning, development agreement, and General Plan amendment considered by the commission or council.
1. 
Notice affecting an ordinance or zoning ordinance amendment. If a proposed ordinance or amendment to a zoning ordinance affects the permitted uses of real property, notice of the hearing shall be given pursuant to this chapter, except that the notice shall be published, posted, mailed, and delivered, as applicable, at least twenty days before the planning commission hearing, and at least ten days before the city council hearing.
B. 
Notice of Hearing. Pursuant to California Government Code Sections 65090 to 65094, not less than ten days before the scheduled date of a hearing, public notice shall be given of such hearing in the manner listed below. The notice shall state the date, time, and place of hearing, identify the hearing body, and provide a general description of the matter to be considered and the real property which is the subject of the hearing.
1. 
Mailed Noice. At least ten days prior to the date of the public hearing, the director, or the city clerk for hearings before planning commission and/or city council, shall provide notice by first class mail delivery to:
a. 
The applicant, the real property owner or real property owner's duly authorized agent, and any occupant of the subject property; and
b. 
All real property owners of record within a minimum five-hundred-foot radius of the subject property as shown on the latest Riverside County tax assessor's assessment roll or a larger radius if deemed necessary by the director in order to provide adequate public notification. For project sites of ten acres or greater in size, the radius shall be increased to seven hundred fifty feet; and
c. 
All business owners of non-residential property and occupants and residents of non-owner occupied real property located within the city and within the required five hundred foot or seven hundred fifty foot radius of the subject property; and
d. 
Any person or group who has filed a written request for notice regarding the specific application; and
e. 
Each local agency expected to provide water, sewage, streets, roads, schools, or other essential facilities or services to the project, whose ability to provide those facilities and services may be significantly affected.
f. 
As provided for in Government Code Section 65093, the failure of any person or entity to receive notice given pursuant to this chapter shall not constitute grounds for any court to invalidate the actions of a local agency for which the notice was given.
2. 
Published Notice. Notice of public hearing shall be published in at least one newspaper of general circulation in the city.
3. 
Posting of Notices. At least ten days before the date of the public hearing, or twenty days pursuant to subsection (A)(1) above, the director or the city clerk, for hearings before the planning commission and/or city council, shall publish a notice in at least three places.
C. 
In addition to the notice required by this section, the city may give notice of the hearing in any other manner it deems necessary or desirable.
D. 
Receipt of Notice. Failure of any person or entity to receive any properly issued notice required by law for any hearing required by this title shall not constitute grounds for any court to invalidate the actions of a designated approving authority for which the notice was given.
A. 
Purpose. The purpose of the community engagement meeting is for an applicant of a proposed project to hold a meeting with surrounding and adjacent neighboring residents, property owners, and businesses prior to submitting an application to the city. The intent is to present project information and engage in a public outreach meeting early in the development review process of new projects so that the community would have an early opportunity to become familiar with the proposed project and identify any associated project issues or concerns. The community engagement meeting is intended to assist in producing applications that are responsive to neighborhood concerns, and to reduce the likelihood of delays and appeals. The city expects an applicant to take into consideration the reasonable concerns and recommendations of the neighbors and other interested persons when preparing an application.
B. 
Applicability. Community engagement meetings are required for any for any project that is five acres, or greater, and requires discretionary approval, including, but not limited to, any request for a discretionary approval of a conditional use permit, tentative map, planned unit development, specific plan, general plan amendment, change of zone, development agreement, variance, or combination thereof. At the discretion of the director, the director may require community engagement meetings for any project less than five acres due to extraordinary or exceptional factors.
C. 
Time frames to hold a community engagement meeting:
1. 
An applicant shall conduct a community engagement meeting not more than thirty days prior to, and not later than twenty days after, the date the project application is submitted to the city.
2. 
The applicant shall not be required to hold more than one community engagement meeting. However, if the director determines that there are substantive and significant changes between the project presented at the community meeting and when the project is determined to be accepted by the city, the director may require the applicant to conduct an additional neighborhood review meeting to solicit additional feedback prior to the scheduling of any required public hearings.
D. 
City Participation. The community engagement meeting is intended to be a developer-community interaction, and the developer is solely and exclusively responsible for holding the meeting required in this section. City staff are not required to attend and/or participate in the community meetings, and the meeting shall not be considered a public hearing. There will be other official opportunities for residents and neighbors to make comments during the development review process that would follow the neighborhood review meeting. Any city staff attendance at a neighborhood review meeting is for informational purposes only, does not represent the city's position on the merits of the development proposal and does not constitute an approval or denial of an application, now or submitted in the future.
E. 
Procedures.
1. 
The applicant shall select the meeting time and place. The starting time selected shall be limited to a weekday evening after 6:00 p.m. or a weekend at any reasonable time and shall not occur on a federally recognized holiday. The meeting shall be held at a location open to the public and in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The public meeting shall be held within the city of Cathedral City and as close to the subject property as practical to minimize the distance that attendees need to travel to participate, unless an alternate meeting location is approved by the director.
2. 
The applicant shall send by regular first class mail a written notice announcing the community engagement meeting to the director and those parties that would receive notice within a five hundred foot or seven hundred fifty foot radius of the project site, as specified in Section 9.09.010(B)(1) of this chapter. The director at his/her discretion may request the applicant to increase the mailing area size for the written notification if he/she believes that the nature of the project will result in the need for more public awareness.
3. 
The notice shall include the date, time and location of the meeting and briefly discuss the nature and location of the proposal. The notice shall be mailed not less than twenty days prior to the meeting date. The mailing list shall be obtained from the director by the applicant.
4. 
A sign at the building entrance and the notices sent by mail shall each contain the following statement: The intent of this meeting is to facilitate an early informal discussion between the project developer and the neighbors regarding the project. While required by the City of Cathedral City this meeting is not conducted by the City of Cathedral City and is in addition to any future hearings or public comment opportunities available under the City's development review processes.
5. 
At the community engagement meeting, the applicant shall describe the proposed application to persons in attendance. The attendees may identify any issues that they believe should be addressed in the application and recommend that those issues be submitted for city consideration and analysis.
6. 
The applicant shall prepare and make available the following materials for review and discussion at the public meeting:
a. 
Type, location, conceptual building elevations and total number of dwelling units for residential expected to be built; and
b. 
Type, location, and conceptual building elevations for non-residential projects; and
c. 
Conceptual site plan/plat layout showing buildings, road layout, parking, landscaping, topography and open space areas, and adjacent properties; and
d. 
Aerial photograph showing the subject property and adjacent properties.
e. 
At the community engagement meeting, a sign-in-in sheet shall be distributed to all meeting attendees that specifies the date, time, and location of the community engagement meeting and asks for the name, address, phone number, an electronic mail address of each meeting attendee, and whether the attendee wishes to receive notice of any future meetings or public hearings related to the project.
f. 
At the community engagement meeting, the applicant shall take notes of the discussion on the proposed application for eventual submittal to the city.
F. 
Community Engagement Summary Report.
1. 
The applicant shall submit a community engagement summary report summarizing the outcome of the community meeting required by this section and submit the community engagement report to the city prior to the first public hearing or other public meeting for the project held by the city. The summary report will be included as an exhibit as a part of the agenda report that is published prior to the public hearing, and shall include the following:
a. 
Dates, times, and locations of all meetings that attendees that received notice to attend to discuss the project, as specified in Section 9.09.020(E)(2) of this chapter.
b. 
A copy of the mailed notice.
c. 
The names and affiliation of those that attended the meeting that represented the applicant.
d. 
The names and department of staff that attended the meeting.
e. 
A sign-in sheet listing the names of the attendees that participated in the process, including their name, address, phone number, electronic mail address, and identifying whether the attendee requested notice of any future meeting or hearing.
f. 
An affidavit of the mailed notices.
g. 
Copies of written materials and plans presented at the community engagement meeting.
h. 
A copy of any written comments received during the meeting and a written summary of issues or concerns raised by attendees during the community engagement meeting.
2. 
If the applicant did not receive any responses to the meeting notice and no one attended the community engagement meeting or persons in attendance made no comments, the applicant shall submit evidence as indicated above, with the notes reflecting the absence of comment, attendance, or both.
G. 
Consideration of the Community Engagement Summary Report. The city shall consider as part of the development review process the concerns and issues raised by the neighbors and applicant at the community engagement meeting, including any agreed-upon solutions or resolutions to outstanding issues or areas of contention. The city, however, shall not be bound in its decision-making by any agreements or understandings made between the neighbors and applicants. Nothing in this section shall be construed to delegate development review decision-making authority to participants in the community engagement meeting.