1 ADJOURNED JOINT CITY COUNCIL & PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES April 22, 2025
MINUTES
ADJOURNED JOINT CITY COUNCIL AND PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING APRIL 22, 2025
1. CALL MEETING TO ORDER
An Adjourned Joint meeting of the City Council and the Planning Commission of the City of Rolling Hills Estates was called to order by MAYOR STEGURA at 5:00 pm.
3. ROLL CALL
City Council Members Present: Brown Schachter, Huff, Schmitz, Stegura, and Zerunyan (5:04 pm)
City Council Members Absent: None
Planning Commissioners Present: Medawar, Nicklas, Olson, Repp-Loadsman, Romanelli, Schachter
P&A Commissioners Absent: Yoo
City Staff Present: City Manager Greg Grammer
City Attorney Don Davis
Assistant City Manager Alexa Davis
Community Development Director Naughton
City Clerk Lauren Pettit
Assistant to the City Manager Jessica Slawson
Senior Planner Whitney Berry
4. PUBLIC COMMENT / PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS
NONE.
5. DISCUSSION ITEMS
A. NAVIGATING THE LANDSCAPE OF EVOLVING HOUSING-RELATED LAND USE LAWS
LOCATION: CITYWIDE
Recommendation: That the City Council and Planning Commission receive and file this presentation.
Community Development Director Naughton and City Attorney Davis provided a staff report (as per the agenda material), discussing the following topics:
- recent housing legislation trends
- decisions being more closely scrutinized by HCD Enforcement Division - the need for findings to be supported by the record
- hierarchy of Land Use Regulations
- the role of the Planning Commission
- California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
- due process, ex parte issues
- findings, including Commission/Council directed findings - conditions of approval
- recipe for effective review & action
- making a recommendation to Council
Discussion ensued about the process and sequence of meetings that occurred for the recent Vestar project, and how the process and timeline could be improved for future projects. - California Housing Law changes in long range planning, regulatory areas and administrative areas
- trends in the definitions of the burden of proof
- Housing Accountability Act
- Housing Crisis Act (SB 330)
2 ADJOURNED JOINT CITY COUNCIL & PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES April 22, 2025
Discussion ensued about holding a second Joint meeting in the future to finish the planned presentation as outlined in the staff report and PowerPoint presentation.
6. ADJOURNMENT
At 6:53 p.m. MAYOR STEGURA adjourned the meeting to the 7:00 p.m. Regular City Council Meeting.
Submitted by, Approved by,
Lauren Pettit Debby Stegura
City Clerk Mayor