Chino Hills Municipal Code Ch. 1.20 Administrative Appeals

A. Except when an appeals procedure is otherwise specifically set forth in this code, any person excepting to the denial, conditional approval, suspension, or revocation of a permit, license, or other approval applied for or held by him or her pursuant to any provision of this code, or to any administrative decision made by any official of the city, if the denial, conditional approval, suspension, or revocation of such permit, license, or approval, or the determination of such administrative decision involves the exercise of administrative discretion or personal judgment exercised pursuant to any provision of this code, may appeal in writing to the Council by filing with the City Clerk a written notice of such appeal.

B. No appeal may be taken to any such administrative decision made by an official of the city pursuant to any provision of this code unless such decision has been first taken up with the department head concerned and with the City Manager, and each such official has not adjusted the matter to the appellant's satisfaction. Decisions of the Director of Community Development are appealable to the Planning Commission without being processed through the City Manager. In such a case, the party appealing the Community Development Director's decision shall follow the notice and time limits set forth herein.

C. No right of appeal to the Council from any administrative decision made by an official of the city pursuant to any provision of this code shall exist when such decision is ministerial and thus does not involve the exercise of administrative discretion or personal judgment, whether the administrative decision involves the denial, conditional approval, suspension, or revocation of a permit, license, approval, or any other administrative decision. There shall be no such right of appeal with regard to law enforcement activities involving state law.

(Ord. 91-05 § 2.04.100)

A. A written notice of appeal must be filed by an aggrieved party within twenty (20) days after the date of the city's notice of decision from which the appeal is sought. No notice of appeal shall be acted upon, after such twenty (20) day period and it shall be the duty of the City Clerk to reject as untimely any such appeal. If a notice of decision has not been served upon the aggrieved party in writing, the aggrieved party may, within ten (10) days after having knowledge of such determination, demand service of written notice thereof, and shall have twenty (20) days following such service in which to file the notice of appeal.

B. The notice of appeal shall set forth the following:

1. The specific action appealed from;

2. The specific grounds for the appeal; and

3. The relief or action requested from the City Council. Any notice of appeal not containing the information required by this section shall be returned to the aggrieved party, hereinafter the "appellant"; by the City Clerk with a statement specifying those parts of the notice of appeal that are incomplete and indicating the manner in which they can be made complete. The appellant shall thereafter be allowed five days in which to perfect and refile the notice of appeal.

C. Except in those instances where an appeal is filed by the City Manager or other public official pursuant to official duties, the written notice of appeal from the determination of an administrative official or from an administrative body of the city, as the case may be, shall be accompanied by an appeal fee established by resolution of the City Council.

(Ord. 91-05 § 2.04.110)

A. Upon the timely filing of a notice of appeal in proper form, and together with the payment of the requisite appeal fee, the City Clerk shall set the appeal for hearing before the City Council at the earliest possible date authorized by law and shall cause written notice of the appeal, including the time, place, and date of the hearing on the appeal, to be given to the appellant not less than five days prior to such hearing, unless such notice is waived in writing by the appellant. The City Clerk shall also cause a copy of the notice of appeal to be transmitted to the official or body upon whose decision the appeal was filed.

B. If two or more members of the City Council file with the City Clerk, within the time limitations set forth in subsection A of this section, written requests to have any decision of the Planning Commission submitted to the City Council for review, the City Clerk shall schedule the matter for Council consideration at the earliest possible date authorized by law. The filing of any such written requests shall be tantamount to an appeal brought pursuant to this subsection. An appeal brought pursuant to this subsection shall not require payment of the appeal fee as set forth in Section 1.20.020(C).

(Ord. 91-05 § 2.04.120)

A. The City Council may limit participation at the hearing to those parties directly interested, or may allow participation by the public. Such public participation, however, shall only occur when the Council deems it necessary to further the public interest. If a hearing is ordered open to public participation, notice of such shall be given by publishing notice of the public participation allowance in a newspaper of general circulation in the city not less than five days prior to the date of such hearing, and by such other means as the City Council deems necessary.

B. At the time of consideration of the appeal by the City Council, the appellant shall be limited to a presentation on the specific grounds of appeal and matters set forth in the notice of appeal. Appellant shall have the burden of establishing cause why the decision appealed from should be altered, reversed, or modified. The Council may continue the hearing on the matter from time to time to a future date. At the conclusion of its consideration the City Council may affirm, reverse, or modify the decision appealed from and may take any action which might have been legally taken in the first instance by the official or body from whose decision the appeal was filed. In ruling on the appeal, the finding and action of the Council shall be final and conclusive in the matter.

C. Within five days after City Council action on the appeal, the City Clerk shall cause to be served by first-class mail a written notice of decision on the appellant. The notice of decision shall be substantially in the following form:

CITY OF CHINO HILLS

NOTICE OF DECISION OF APPEAL

Notice is hereby given that the City [Council, Commission, etc.] has [action taken] on the appeal filed by [Party]. City [Council, Commission, etc.] action on this matter is now final.

If you wish to challenge this decision in court, PLEASE BE ADVISED that you may be limited to the statute of limitations period set forth in Chapter 1.24 of the Chino Hills Municipal Code. This statute of limitations may be as short as ninety (90) days from the date of this Notice.

(Ord. 91-05 § 2.04.130)