1 Danielle Habr
From: Michael Durkee <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2022 2:07 PM
To: City Council
Cc: Danielle Habr; Janet Coleson; Troy Fujimoto; [email protected]; Mariam Azamey; Katherine Porter; Michael Durkee
Subject: Request For Short Continuance - 406 Kahrs - Appeal - Ms. Azamey/Mr. Unger Attachments: Mariam Azamey - Request for Continuance (9.29.22).docx Dear Honorable Mayor Harris and City Councilmembers,
Attached please find a letter submitted on behalf of my clients seeking City Council approval of a short continuance from the Council's meeting of October 3, 2022 to the Council's meeting of November 7, 2022.
Dear City Clerk/ADA Coordinator Habr, please ensure that the attached letter is delivered to the City Council for their October 3, 2022 meeting and is made a part of the administrative record for this matter.
Thank you all very much.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael Patrick Durkee, Esq.
Michael Patrick Durkee
Attorney at Law
(510) 918-5873
[email protected]
www.michaelpatrickdurkee.com
www.landusenavigators.com
September 29, 2022
1 Law Offices of
Michael Patrick Durkee
1250- I Newell Avenue, #156
Walnut Creek CA 94596
(510) 918-5873
[email protected]
Via Email
Honorable Mayor Michael G. Harris
and City Council
City of Pleasant Hill
100 Gregory Lane
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
Re: Request for Short Continuance
Dear Honorable Mayor Harris and Councilmembers:
We have been retained by Ms. Mariam Azamey and Mr. James Unger to assist them with various issues related to their properties at 406 Kahrs Avenue, including the construction of a small room accessible to Ms. Azamey where she performs physical therapy related to her debilitating and degenerative medical condition in privacy.
A Council hearing regarding the allowance and accommodation of this physical therapy room is set for City Council consideration at the Council’s October 3, 2022, meeting.
Unfortunately, as Ms. Azamey shared with City Staff, Ms. Azamey’s current health will not allow her to appear before the Council on that date. We are therefore respectfully requesting a short continuance to the City Council’s November 7, 2022, meeting.
We are aware that Ms. Azamey’s neighbors do not believe Ms. Azamey suffers from this debilitating and degenerative neurological disorder, that they have been posting those beliefs on social media, and that they have been pressuring City Staff to act with regards to Ms. Azamey’s physical therapy room regardless of her current health. Please remember, however, that this situation involves a person with an acute and medically substantiated disability. With respect, we submit that the City’s main concern should be about Ms. Azamey’s needs and appropriate accommodations, not the neighbors’ campaign of pressure and misrepresentations. In any event, we will commit to November 7, 2022, and agree that no additional continuances will be sought.
Granting this short continuance request will also benefit the City, its Staff, and the City Council in its consideration of this matter. We will be submitting materials shortly that will provide an analysis of the facts, the law, and the physical constraints on the property that will provide information beneficial to City Staff’s recommendation and the City Council’s ultimate action. Additionally, we intend to use this short time to have discussions with City staff that may September 29, 2022
2 produce solutions that ultimately obviate the need for a hearing altogether. If that proves successful, we will be dismissing this appeal.
In short, we understand and respect that the City wishes to resolve this issue in a timely, equitable, and legally sufficient manner. In that spirit, we respectfully submit that a short continuance will better provide the information and fair hearing (that Ms. Azamey can attend and testify at) necessary to accomplish that goal. It is our respectful request, therefore, that the City Council grant a short continuance of this appeal to its meeting of November 7, 2022. Again, we commit to not asking for any additional continuance.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael Patrick Durkee, Esq.
Cc: City Clerk
City Attorney
City Manager
City Planning Staff
Ms. Mariam Azamey and Mr. James Unger
Katherine Porter, Esq.