Division 4 — HEARING BODIES AND NOTIFICATION

Sec. 30-22. - Hearing bodies.

The following hearing bodies shall make decisions on the various procedures provided for in this Development Code. All hearing bodies shall be responsible for the hearings indicated in Table No. 30-22.

Decisions of any "reviewing body" may be appealed to the City Council, except where state law limits such appeal to the City Engineer. If the Planning Commission is listed above as the "appeal body," the Commission must first review an appeal before it may be forwarded to the City Council for consideration.

DCD—Director of Community Development—Approval body

PC—Planning Commission—Approval body

CC—City Council—Approval body

PR—Parks, Community, and Human Services Commission—Recommending body

X—Indicates the reviewing and/or the approval body

a—Indicates that the reviewing body is to provide a recommendation to the City Council

b—Indicates that the reviewing body is to provide a recommendation to the Planning Commission

(Ord. No. 1898, § 6, 7-26-22; Ord. No. 1906, § 11, 10-25-22)

Sec. 30-23. - Hearing notification.

Notice shall be given for all hearings requiring notice not less than ten calendar days prior to the hearing or as otherwise required by the California Environmental Quality Act. In addition to the notice required by this division, the City may give notice of the hearing in any other manner it deems necessary or desirable.

Notification procedures

(1)

Legal advertisement. Notice shall be made by publication in a local newspaper of general circulation in the City of Fontana no less than one time and no less than ten calendar days prior to the date of the hearing.

(2)

Property owner. Notice of hearing shall be mailed or delivered to the owner of the subject real property or to the owners duly authorized agent no less than ten calendar days prior to the public hearing.

(3)

Project applicant. Notice shall be mailed or delivered to the project applicant no less than ten calendar days prior to the public hearing.

(4)

Local agencies. Notice of the hearing may be mailed or delivered to each local agency expected to provide water, sewage, streets, roads, schools, or other essential facilities or services to the project.

(5)

Surrounding property owners.

a.

Notice of the hearing shall be mailed or delivered to all owners of real property as shown on the latest equalized assessment roll within 660 feet of the real property that is the subject of the hearing, or such greater as determined by the Director of Community Development or his/her designee, The City may utilize records of the county assessor or tax collector.

b.

If the number of owners to whom notice would be mailed or delivered pursuant to this subsection is greater than 1,000, the City, in lieu of mailed or delivered notice, may provide notice by placing an advertisement of at least one-eighth page in at least one local newspaper of general circulation within the local agency in which the proceeding is conducted at least ten days prior to the hearing.

(6)

Request for notification. Notice of the hearing shall also be mailed at the owner's expense as established by the adopted fee resolution or delivered at least ten days prior to the hearing to any person who has filed a written request for notice with either the clerk of the governing body or with another person designated by the governing body to receive such requests.

(7)

Failure to receive notice. The failure of any person or entity to receive notice of the hearing shall not constitute grounds for any court to invalidate the actions of the City for which the notice was given.

Sec. 30-24. - Posting.

(a)

City initiated projects. If a notice of public hearing for a City initiated general plan amendment, specific plan, zone change, design review, and tentative tract or any other application affecting a specific property or properties exceeding 20 acres and/or would result in the mailing or delivering of more than 1,000 notices, the notice of public hearing shall also either be:

(1)

Published in at least one newspaper of general circulation in the City no less than one time and no less than ten days prior to the date of the hearing; or

(2)

Posted at least ten days prior to the hearing in at least three public places in the City, including one public place in the area directly affected by the proceeding.

(b)

Applicant initiated projects. Notice of public hearing for applicant-initiated projects affecting a specific property shall also be made by a posting on the site (by the applicant) in a conspicuous location no longer than ten days after the initial review.

(1)

A four-foot by eight-foot sign or signs shall be required to be posted at the project site. Daycare notification may be a two by two banner visible from the right-of-way. The purpose of the sign notice requirement is to notify the community and the neighbors in the affected area early in the review process, allowing the applicant and the City the benefit of citizens' comments during the initial stage of project review. A cash deposit to the City is required to ensure compliance with the notification requirements including removal of the notification sign. The project application shall not be deemed complete until the large sign is installed.

(2)

Sign criteria. In order to implement the signs as an effective form of public notification, the following rules and standards shall apply.

a.

Sign size and specification. All sign(s) shall be four feet by eight feet in size and be constructed to the specifications determined by the Planning Division. The specific project information text on the sign shall be provided by the Planning Division.

b.

Location and installation standards. All sign(s) shall be installed according to the specifications determined by the Planning Division. The signs shall be posted on each street frontage. Additional signs may be required as determined by the Planning Division.

c.

Sign removal and maintenance. All sign(s) shall be maintained and remain in place until the final decision on the application has been made or the application has been withdrawn. All sign(s) shall be removed by the applicant after 15 days of the final decision or date of withdrawal. Failure to remove the sign(s) within the prescribed period may result in forfeiture of the cash deposit.

(Ord. No. 1906, § 12, 10-25-22)

DIVISION 5. - APPEALS

Sec. 30-25. - Right of appeal.

(a)

Any action taken by the Planning Commission or the Director of Community Development in the administration and/or enforcement of the provisions of this chapter may be appealed as indicated in Table No. 30-22 by the applicant or any interested party. An appeal stays proceedings until a determination of the appeal has been made.

(b)

If the original review body fails to make its decision within the time limit specified for the various proceedings, the applicant may file an appeal with the City Council requesting a decision by that body. Such an appeal shall be made within 15 days after the expiration of the time limit specified for the hearing body to act.

Sec. 30-26. - Authority of Planning Commission decision.

Upon an appeal of a decision from the Director of Community Development, the Planning Commission shall consider the record and such additional evidence as may be offered and may affirm, reverse or modify, in whole or in part, the order, requirement, decision, determination, interpretation, or ruling appealed from or make and substitute such other or additional decision or determination as it may find warranted under the provisions of this chapter. Where new evidence is submitted that affects or has a direct bearing on important planning considerations that could not be considered at the Director of Community Development level because such evidence was not there presented, the Planning Commission may return the matter to the Director of Community Development for action to be taken in light of such new evidence. The decision of the Planning Commission may be made either at the time of the appeal hearing or at a continued public meeting held within 30 days of the appeal hearing date.

Upon appeal from a Planning Commission decision, the City Council shall consider the record and such additional evidence as may be offered and may affirm, reverse or modify, in whole or in part, the order, requirement, decision, determination, interpretation or ruling appealed from or make and substitute such other or additional decision or determination as it may find warranted under the provisions of this chapter. Where new evidence is submitted that affects or has a direct bearing on important planning considerations that could not be considered at the Planning Commission level because such evidence was not there presented, the City Council may return the matter to the Planning Commission for action to be taken in light of such new evidence. The decision of the City Council may be made either at the time of the appeal bearing or at a continued public meeting held within 30 days of the appeal hearing date.

The application for appeal shall be in writing and shall be filed in the Planning Division upon forms provided by the City. An appeal of any action in the administration or enforcement of this chapter shall indicate specifically the reasons for appeal.

Any appeal shall be filed within 15 calendar days after the approving body has taken action.

Upon receipt of the notice of appeal, the body hearing the appeal shall set a date for hearing of the matter and give notice of the date, time and place of the hearing to the appellant at least ten days prior to the date of the hearing. The appeal hearing shall be scheduled no sooner than 30 days nor no later than 90 days from the date the application has been deemed complete. This time limit may be extended by mutual agreement of the City and the appellant.

(Ord. No. 1936, § 4(Exh. A), 12-12-23)