San Jose Municipal Code Part 5 Zoning Protests

A. The owner of any property within the protest line as defined in Section 20.120.410 or within the subject territory may file a formal protest against a proposed zoning, except when adoption is by urgency ordinance.

B. Such protest must be filed in writing with the director no later than 5:00 p.m. on the fifth (5th) day before the date of the opening of the council's hearing on a proposed zoning ordinance.

C. Each such protest shall set forth the following:

1. The name and address of the protestant.

2. The street address of the lot owned by the protestant or such other information as will enable the director to determine the boundaries and location of such lot.

3. A statement of protestant's interest in such lot together with such evidence thereof as the protestant may wish to submit.

4. The zoning of such lot owned by protestant.

5. The protestant's reasons for protesting the proposed zoning of the subject property.

D. Minor errors or omissions in the information set forth in such a protest petition may be waived by the city council. However, no such protest petition shall be deemed filed unless the following conditions are met:

1. It is signed by one or more owners of an undivided interest of at least fifty-one percent (51%) in the lot or parcel for which such protest is filed, such interest being not merely an easement. A tenant under a lease which has a remaining term of ten years or longer shall be deemed an "owner" for purposes of this section.

2. All signatures thereto are acknowledged.

3. Where the owner of an eligible protest site is a legal entity other than a person or persons, the protest petition is signed by the duly authorized officer of such legal entity.

4. Where such legal entity is a homeowners association, the protest petition is signed by the duly authorized officer of such association, or, in lieu thereof, by fifty-one percent (51%) of the members of such association.

(Ord. 26248.)

A. A majority protest occurs when the director determines that written protests have been filed by the owners of sites bounded by fifty (50) percent or more of the total length of the protest line, or by the owners of not less than fifty (50) percent or more of the area of the subject property.

B. Upon the filing of such a petition the director shall investigate the same and determine:

1. The boundaries and location of the parcel for which such protest petition is filed and whether it is an eligible protest site;

2. The full amount of protest line bounding such lot or parcel; and

3. Whether the protestant's interest in such lot or parcel qualifies for the filing of a protest.

C. In making such investigation and determination, the director shall not be limited to the information contained in the petition. The director may request the protestant to furnish additional necessary information and may otherwise obtain such information. If the director desires additional information from the protestant, the protestant shall be so notified and given a reasonable time after such notice to furnish whatever additional information the director deems necessary to make said determinations. If the protestant does not furnish such additional information within the time prescribed or if despite the furnishing of such additional information plus whatever other information the director may have obtained, the director is still at the close of the council's hearing unable to make said determinations, such petition shall be void and shall not be considered.

D. As used in this part, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

1. "Protest line" means and includes the sum of the perimeter lines, adjoining frontage lines, and opposite frontage lines bounding all the eligible protest sites, provided that no part of any boundary line of any eligible protest site shall be counted more than once in computing the total length of the protest line.

2. "Subject property" is the land proposed to be zoned, excluding any portion thereof situate in a street.

3. For purposes of this part, "parcel" means a lot or parcel of land undivided by any street and excluding therefrom any portion thereof situate in a street.

4. An "eligible protest site" is a parcel which is an abutting site, an adjoining frontage site, or an opposite frontage site.

5. A "protesting site" is an eligible protest site for which a protest petition has been filed under and in accordance with the requirements of this section.

6. "Street" means a public street. A "common street" is a street on which the subject property, and another parcel, each have a frontage.

7. A "common street frontage line" is the frontage line which the subject property and another parcel have on the same side of a common street.

8. A "perimeter line" is a common boundary line between the subject property and an abutting site.

9. An "abutting site" is a parcel which abuts the subject property.

10. An "adjoining frontage site" is an abutting site with a common street frontage line which is one on the same side of the common street as that of the subject property, such common street frontage line, at its terminus closest to that of the subject property, being not separated from that of the subject property by any intervening parcel.

11. An "adjoining frontage line" is the uninterrupted common street frontage line of an adjoining frontage site, but in no event more than one hundred feet (100) thereof, beginning at the terminus thereof closest to the common street frontage line of the subject property.

12. An "opposite frontage site" is a parcel which is situate on the opposite side, from the subject property, of a common street which is not designated as an existing or proposed freeway or expressway in the latest adopted general plan of the City of San José, provided that the common street frontage line of such parcel is situate wholly or partly within lines extending across the common street and drawn from the terminus of the common street frontage line of the subject property and at right angles to such frontage line of the subject property, or at right angles to a tangent thereto if such frontage line is an arc. Such lines extending across the common street shall be referred to herein as "lateral lines."

13. An "opposite frontage line" is all of the common street frontage line of an opposite frontage site situate within the lateral lines plus so much of the uninterrupted continuation thereof beyond an intersecting lateral line, up to a maximum of one hundred feet beyond such lateral line as is situate outside of the lateral lines.

(Ord. 26248.)

If the director determines that a majority protest has been filed:

A. In order to consider a motion to adopt the proposed ordinance, the city council must first override the majority protest by an affirmative vote of at least two-thirds (2/3) of its members. Such override must occur within sixty (60) days from the close of the public hearing on said ordinance;

B. The city council may deny the proposed ordinance without first approving or overriding the majority protest; or

C. If the city council fails to override the majority protest and also fails to deny the proposed ordinance within sixty (60) days from the close of the public hearing on the proposed ordinance, said ordinance shall be deemed denied by the city council on the sixty-first (61st) day.

(Ord. 26248.)