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Home My WebLink About4004 Ordinance ORDINANCE NO. AN ORDINANCE of the City of Pasco, Washington, Amending Section 4.02.030 "Definitions" and Section 4.02.100 "Permit Procedures" Permitting Video Record of Proceedings WHEREAS, as a service to the public, the City has initiated the unedited video recording and broadcast of City meetings, including meetings of the City of Pasco Planning Commission and the City of Pasco Code Enforcement Board; and WHEREAS, the video recordings of these proceedings are broadcasted to the public and retained as an accurate public record of the proceedings; and WHEREAS, the City Council, from time to time, sits in a quasi-judicial capacity of hearing closed record appeals of hearings held before both the City of Pasco Planning Commission and the City of Pasco Code Enforcement Board; and WHEREAS, the City Council recognizes that such technology provides an accurate and more engaging method of preserving the record, including the ability to view and judge the demeanor of the witnesses, thereby providing the Council a better opportunity to accurately perceive the proceedings; and WHEREAS, the use of a record, supplemented by video recording of the proceedings benefits the citizens who have matters pending in such proceedings by providing a better record, and therefore, contributing to a better result; and WHEREAS, with the introduction of the video record as a part of the official record of proceedings, negates the video record from constituting an ex parte communication, NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PASCO, WASHINGTON, DO ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. That Section 4.02.030 entitled "Definitions" of the Pasco Municipal Code, shall be and hereby is amended and shall read as follow: 4.02.030 DEFINITIONS. Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this Title. (1) "Closed record appeal" means an administrative appeal on the record following an open record hearing on a project permit application when the appeal is on the record with no or limited new evidence or information allowed to be submitted and only appeal argument allowed. (2) "Director" means the Director of Community and Economic Development unless another department or agency is in charge of the project permit in which case it refers to the chief administrative officer of that department or agency. Ordinance Amending Sections 4.02.030 and 4.02.100 Page 1 (3) "Open record hearing" means a hearing, conducted by a single hearing body or officer that creates the record through testimony and submission of evidence and information. An open record hearing may be held prior to a decision on a project permit to be known as an "open record predecision hearing." An open record hearing may be held on an appeal, to be known as an "open appeal hearing," if no open record predecision has been held on the project permit. (4) "Project permit" or "project permit application" means any land use or environmental permit or license required from the City for a project action, including but not limited to subdivisions, planned unit developments, conditional uses, shoreline substantial development permits, permits or approvals required by critical area ordinances, site-specific rezones authorized by a comprehensive plan or subarea plan, but excluding the adoption of amendment of a comprehensive plan, subarea plan, or development regulations except as otherwise specifically included in this subsection. (5) "Public meeting" means an informal meeting, hearing, workshop, or other public gathering of people to obtain comments from the public or other agencies on a proposed project permit prior to a decision. A public meeting may include, but is not limited to, a design review of architectural control board meeting, a special review district or community council meeting, or a scoping meeting on a draft environmental impact statement. A public meeting does not include an open record hearing. The proceedings at a public meeting may be recorded and a report or recommendation may be included in the local government's project permit application file. (6) "Record" means the memorialization of testimony, evidence and other communication submitted or created during a hearing and obtained through unedited audio, video or other lawful means of recordation. (Ord. 3151 Sec. 1, 1996). Section 2. That Section 4.02.1.00 entitled "Permit Procedures" of the Pasco Municipal Code shall be and hereby is amended and shall read as follows: 4.02.100 PERMIT PROCEDURES. (1) All project permits and project permit applications, except zone changes, plats, street vacations, and other legislative decisions, shall be processed and reviewed in the following manner,upon receipt of a completed application: (a) For an application requiring legislative action or which is illegal, the application shall be denied or processed in accord with subsection (2). (b) For applications which involve more than one permit, the City will prepare a temporary schedule for review by all interested agencies, departments, and the applicant. The schedule will be prepared during the application completion determination in accord with Section 4.02.060. Ordinance Amending Sections 4.02.030 and 4.02.100 Page 2 (c) Depending upon the scope of the project, the City will schedule necessary public meetings to coordinate the permit process and gather information following appropriate notification as provided in 4.02.090. (d) Unless otherwise required, no open record hearing will be held unless there is a bona fide objection to some portion of the permit or from some determination made during the course of the permit processing. When required, only one open record hearing will be held. The open record hearing will be before the officer or body having jurisdiction over the matter in dispute or over the matter requiring the open record hearing. If the matter disputed or for which an open record hearing is required falls within the jurisdiction of more than one department or agency, a joint hearing will be held if practical. (e) A decision or joint decision if possible, shall be issued and notice given thereof, including the time for appeal and the person or body to whom the appeal must be made. Unless another time is provided, an appeal must be filed within ten days of the decision. The longest appeal period following a joint hearing controls if there are multiple appeal periods. (f) The body or bodies with appellant jurisdiction shall hold a joint closed record appeal. An open record appeal may be held for matters for which no open record hearing has previously been held. The decision of the person or bodies hearing the appeal may be joint or separate. Every effort shall be made in the event of separate decisions to ensure that they are issued simultaneously. Any review of the decision or decisions must be made to the superior court within 21 days. (g) In the event that no appellant body is designated for a matter, the matter shall be heard by the Hearing Examiner. (2) In a closed record appeal before the Pasco City Council: (a) The record shall include an unedited video record of the proceeding (b) Each City Council member shall have reviewed the entire record by transcript and/or video record. (c) No City Council member shall be disqualified on the basis of appearance of fairness from participating in the proceeding due to having reviewed a City broadcast of the proceeding so long as that Council member has complied with the requirements of subsection (b) above. (23) If the decision on an application must be made by the Pasco City Council, the application will normally be denied until legislative approval has been obtained. Except for comprehensive plan amendments which may never be processed other than as part of the annual review, an applicant may request combined processing in accord with subsection (1) of this section. Ordinance Amending Sections 4.02.030 and 4.02.100 Page 3 t'IA� %I=) The actual costs of any hearing or appeal not otherwise required will be borne by the person requesting the review or objecting to a decision. Security for the costs must be posted prior to the setting or notice of hearing or appeal. The failure to post security is a waiver of any objection. Section 3. This Ordinance shall take full force and effect five (5) days after its approval, passage and publication as required by law. PASSED by the City Co 'I oftpe City of Pasco, Washington, and approved as provided bylaw this day of Zt-, f 12011. Matt Watkins, Mayor APPRO AS TO FORM: no T Debbie Clark,-C&Y(fi-e — Leland B. Kerr, City Attorney Ordinance Amending Sections 4.02.030 and 4.02.100 Page 4