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Home My WebLink AboutCorrespondence PLANNER 5/4/2007 Page 1 of2 KARP Gary From GRILE Bill Sent Friday, May 04, 2007 5 48 PM To Springfield Mayor, LUNDBERG Christine (Springfield Councilor), BALLEW Anne (SMTP), PISHIONERI Joe (Springfield Councilor), RALSTON David (SMTP), WOODROW John, WYLIE Hillary (Springfield Councilor) Cc GRIMALDI Gino, TOWERY Jeffrey R, LEAHY Joe (HL), MOTT Gregory, DONOVAN James, METZGER Mark, KARP Gary, SOWA Amy Subject A REFRESHER ABOUT QUASI-JUDICIAL LAND USE DECISON-MAKING Good day again Mayor and Councilors Gino asked me to give you a brief refresher about your quasI-Judicial responsibilities given the Marcola Meadows hearing before you on Monday evening The City Attorney, of course, IS the best authOrity to prOVide gUidance for you about legal matters but If you Will accept my "lunch-room lawyer" credential, the information that follows Will hopefully be useful - "QuaSI-JudiCial" hearings occur when the Council SitS In Judgment of a land use application In effect, you are like a panel of Judges ThiS IS an Important responsibility that comes With a set of requirements that are spelled out In statute and case-law The baSIC requirement IS that you be "fair" and "Impartial," and that you receive the Information upon which your deCISions are to be made In a way that allows all Sides to an Issue to see and hear that Information In the same manner that you do ThiS IS where "bias" and "ex parte contact" come to play "Conflict of Interest" eXists If you would have a financial or personal beneficial Interest In the outcome of the deCISion (other than a benefit shared by the public at large) "Bias" eXists If your thinking about an Issue ,elated to a land use application IS already firmly established, reaardless of any facts you may hear that are contrary to your pre-determlned deCISion Financial confilcts of Interest occur from time to time and there IS no shame In these prOVided the conflict IS disclosed, everyone has conflicts at one time or another Failure to disclose such conflicts can have legal consequences, so elected offiCials are typically careful to disclose these "Ex parte contact" occurs any lime you receive information outSide the format of a public hearing process, such as If you are approached at the grocery store by someone for or against an application you are hearing or Will hear, or If you receive a letter at home expressing an opinion about an appllcallon coming before you as a deCISion-maker Ex parte contacts are not unlawful and do not disqualify you from partlclpaling In a quasI-judicial land use proceeding orovlded you disclose me nature and substance of the contact and declare for the record that you can stili make a fair and Impartial ruling even though you had the contact It IS Important for you to know that contacts between you and the City Attorney, City Manager and staff are not ex parte contacts under the law As such, feel free to call staff any time you have a question about a pending land use matter that Will come before you However, communications between elected offiCials are ex parte contacts and must be disclosed At the start of a land use proceeding, you Will be asked whether or not any of you have bias or have had conflict of Interest or ex parte contact related to the application, and If there IS any reason why you are unable to make a fair and Impartial ruling In the matter you are to deCide Any land use deCISion you are to deCide must be based upon "findings of fact and conclUSions of law" establishing that the deCISion does or does not meet speCific criteria set for In either the ZOning Code, Comprehensive Plan and I or StateWide Planning goals, statutes and administrative rules The staff report presented to you Will always Identify what these are, and of course the applicant knows them as well Under Oregon law, the burden of proof IS on the applicant, and It IS the applicant not the City that must proVide "substantial eVidence In the whole record" to support the ultimate conclUSion that the criteria are met likeWise, those opposed to an application must proVide substanlial eVidence In support of their pOSition In order to persuade you that theirs IS the correct one As quasI-Judicial deCISion-makers, your Job IS to listen objectively to all eVidence presented, weigh that eVidence just as a JUry must weigh eVidence, listen to adVice from the City Attorney and then render a fair and Impartial deCISion Our Code and Oregon land use law are both rich With procedure The City Attorney and staff Will do their best to help gUide you through these The most Important thing for you to do IS to listen to the eVidence, understand the criteria and then make a fair and Impartial deCISion It IS easy to get overwhelmed by the compleXity and volume of eVidence placed before you and to become confused by what many would say IS the "mystery" of all the land use rules and requirements ThiS IS natural Our Job as staff IS to answer your questions In plain English and do our best to help Simplify your deCISion I hope thiS helps Please don't be reluctant to ask If you have questions that need answers 51712007 Page 2 of2 Thanks Bill Bill Gnle, Director Development Services Department City of Springfield 225 Fifth Street Spnngfield, OR 97477 Tel 5417263619 Fax 541 726 3689 Ematl bgnle@cl spnngfield or us Internet http Ilwww CI spnngfield or usldsd/dept_dsd htm 5/7/2007 Page I of 1 KARP Gary From Sent To Cc Subject SOWA Amy Friday, May 04, 2007 11 45 AM GRILE Bill, LAUDATI Nlel, SPIRY Bill, KARP Gary GRIMALDI Gino Agenda Review Follow-up 5/3/07 Final On behalf of GinO, I am sending the follow-up from yesterday's Agenda Review meeting Thanks, Amy BIll Gnle/Gary Karp Marcola Meadows - Criteria of tesltmony for this Item needs to be displayed In the Council Chambers for the Council and the audience (Greg said this would be done) BIll Contact Councilors P,sh,Onerl and Wylie to explain how the quasI-Judicial meeting works and the process for hearing testimony Amy Contact Mike Reeder to let him know that the Mayor has denied his request of additional time to speak The Mayor and Council would like him to provide any written testimony, however, so they can read through It (done) Gino/Amy TEAM Sofd Budaet - Provide the proposed FY08 TEAM Springfield budget to the Mayor and Council In memo form In their boxes Nlel Krev/Carter Donations - Council leadership thought inViting Millie Krey and Don Carter to the respective groundbreaklngs to recognize them for their contributions would be most appropriate They will conSider what type of thank you they would like to present (plaque, etc ) Gino/BIll SpIry Non-Union Waoes - Council leadership agreed that bringing this to Council In the form of a resolution was appropriate Amy JOint meetlnos - Schedule the JOint Meeting with PPTF Hold off on the meeting with the Chamber for now AmJ Sowa CII)' of Sp"llgfield 225 Fifth Street SpIIllgfield, OR 97477 (54/) 726-3700 pholle (541) 726-2363fax 5/4/2007 ~e LeahY- Village at Marcola Meadows ~ 'v_ Cou-rlcll t-iear!!:!g~ay_ 7 ----- - = --------- ~ --------_.__.,._._-~-~_... -~-~- -...-.......--.-.--- Page 111 FD~ lW f'K'0 ~ ..-- PI 0'1 5()W f'\ S\,\~v-~""~ ~ ...)\l^- From To Date Subject "Mlcheal Reede~' <mreeder@agsprp com> <gmott@cl spnngfield or us>, <JJL@haroldleahy com> Tue, May 1, 2007 546 PM Village at Marcola Meadows City Council Hearing May 7 :-B [.MAllED Gentlemen I would like to request that I be allowed to speak at the May 7th City Council heanng on this plan amendment/zone change application on behalf of my client Jerry's BUilding Matenals Inc more than the usual 3-mlnute allotment I would likely need no more than 30 minutes, but 15 minutes may be a bit too short Joe suggested I contact the City Recorder to make a formal request, which I will do As far as the Issue of whether this heanng will allow new eVidence, I concur with the memorandum of the City attorney dated Apn117, 2007 If there IS any additional Information submitted by the City or the applicant regarding this Issue, I would appreciate a copy of this correspondence I will be prepared to address this Issue at the heanng If necessary In either case, whether new eVidence can be submitted or not, the heanng IS de novo which allows any person the opporturllty to speak The fact that Jerry's did not appear at the PC level IS of no consequence The question IS whether new eVidence may be presented, which I submit, IS allowed, notwithstanding SDC 7 080 LUBA generally refuses to reverse or remand a decIsion based on procedural error unless It can be shown that the error substantially prejudices the complaining party's substantial nghts See, e g Marson V Clackamas County, 22 Or LUBA 497,502 (1991) This IS a very high hurdle Indeed This IS true especially since the PC Record IS Incomplete Without the opportUrllty to review the tapes of the PC meeting, It IS Impossible for the City Council to adequately review the Record A de novo heanng with opporturllty to present new eVidence will cure the Record defect and will not prejudice any party, including the applicant Yours, Mike Mlcheal M Reeder Arnold Gallagher Saydack Percell Roberts & Potter 800 Willamette Street, SUite 800 Eugene, OR 97401 Telephone (541) 484-0188 Facsimile (541) 484-0536 E-Mail mreeder@agsprp com TAX ADVICE DISCLAIMER Pursuant to federal law, you are adVised that any federal tax adVice contained In thiS commUrllcatlon (including attachments) was not Intended or wntten to be used, and It cannot be used, by you for the purpose of (1) avoiding any penalty that may be Imposed by the Internal Revenue Service or (2) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaclton or matter addressed herein The Information contained In thiS electrorllc communication IS pnvlleged and/or confidential The information IS for the sole use of the Intended addressee If the reader of thiS commUrllcatlon IS not the Intended addressee, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, dlstnbutlon and/or copYing of thiS commUrllcatlon or the information contained In thiS commurllcatlon IS stnctly prohibited If you have received thiS commurllcatlon In error, please Immediately notify us by telephone at 541/484-0188 and thereafter, Immediately destroy thiS electrorllc commurllcatlon Thank you cc "Bill Potter" <wpotter@agsprp com>