CM
CARNEY MEHR LAW
Kendra L. Carney Mehr
23 Corporate Plaza Drive, Suite 150
Newport Beach, CA
(949) 629-4676
[email protected]
November 25, 2024
City of San Bernardino
ommunity and Economic Development Departme
lanning Divisio
201 North E Street, 3rd Floor
San Bernardino, CA 92401
Personally Delivered
Re: Appeal to City Council re Planning Commission Resolution 2024-034 To the City of San Bernardino Planning Division of the Community and Economic Development Department:
Please find enclosed a complete application including the appeal form, filing fees, the public hearing notification packet, and fees for noticing and publication to appeal Planning Commission Resolution 2024-034 to the City Council.
Please contact the undersigned should you require any additional information or clarification.
Best regards,
Kendra Carney Mehr
Principal Attorney
REQUIRED INFORMATION
Specific action being appealed and the date of that action:
The Planning Commission's Adoption of Resolution 2024-034 approving Appeal 24-05 of Amendment to Conditions of Approval 23-01 for Administrative Development Permit 22-020 on November 12, 2024.
Specific grounds for the appeal:
The appeal heard by the Planning Commission was untimely. San Bernardino City Municipal Cade Section 19.52.100 (Filing of Appeals) of the City of San Bernardino Development Code states: An application for appeal must be filed on a City application form within 15 days following the final date of an action, accompanied by the appropriate appeal filing fee. This is also stated on the face of the City's appeal form. Additionally, San Bernardino City Municipal Code Section
19.52.140 (Reconsideration) of the City of San Bernardino Development Code states: If more complete or additional facts or information, which may affect the original action taken on an application by a review authority are presented, the review authority may reconsider such action taken, if a request for reconsideration is filed with the Department within 15 days following the final date of action.
And, the face of the City's Amendment to the Administrative Development Permit, the City stated: Please be advised that the decision is final unless a written appeal is filed, with the appropriate fee, within fifteen (15) days of the date following the final date of approval, pursuant to Section 19.52.100 of the City of San Bernardino Development Code.
The Amendment presented to the Planning Commission on November 12, 2024, became final on August 4, 2023. On August 4, 2023, the Permitee obtained a vested interest in the validity and finality of the Amended Permit. The Permitee was not even informed that the appellant had ever responded to the permit amendment until September 10, 2024 - again, more than a year after the permit became final.
A total of 412 days passed between the final action and the appellant submitted this appeal. The appeal was untimely and must be denied. In fact, the appeal should not have been heard by the Planning Commission at all.
Allowing appeal to go forward compromised the Permitee's due process and vested property right in the Amended Permit. For the Planning Commission to do anything other than deny the appeal is a violation of longstanding California law.
Finally, a city generally does not serve to enforce private association regulations. If anything, the Association's desire to enforce regulations outside of its CC&Rs or bylaws is a dispute between private parties that should be resolved by the parties in a civil matter. As the staff report for this matter stated, your City staff also concluded that: "staff removed conclusion is the same. These parties may address the association's overreach of its authority apart from this permit.
Action sought: A resolution of the City Council denying or rejecting the WBCA's appeal as untimely.
Appeal Application 2 07/2022