WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.004 A good commissioner can tell, from the first pages of a staff report, what decision is actually being asked. 2 00:00:06.004 --> 00:00:07.616 Use the same pass every time. 3 00:00:07.616 --> 00:00:14.453 It comes from the way the Institute for Local Government teaches project review, tightened for a California housing agenda. 4 00:00:14.453 --> 00:00:15.825 First, name the action. 5 00:00:15.825 --> 00:00:18.511 Is this ministerial, and therefore not yours? 6 00:00:18.511 --> 00:00:26.328 Is it a conditional use permit, a variance, a map, a design review, or a legislative recommendation to change the plan or the zone? 7 00:00:26.328 --> 00:00:29.312 The findings you must make are different for each. 8 00:00:29.312 --> 00:00:40.530 In Torrance a conditional use permit requires eleven findings, including compatibility with the neighborhood, a suitable site, adequate access and services, and no harmful noise or hazard. 9 00:00:40.530 --> 00:00:46.617 Do not borrow those findings for a variance, and do not borrow variance findings for a plan amendment. 10 00:00:46.617 --> 00:00:48.109 Second, test consistency. 11 00:00:48.109 --> 00:00:52.226 What is the general plan designation, and what does the zoning allow? 12 00:00:52.226 --> 00:00:53.718 If they conflict, say so. 13 00:00:53.718 --> 00:01:02.789 For housing, consistency is judged against objective standards: rules an applicant can measure before filing, with no room for a personal judgment call. 14 00:01:02.789 --> 00:01:05.355 A height limit of thirty feet is objective. 15 00:01:05.355 --> 00:01:09.651 A rule that upper floors must "step back to ease the transition" is not. 16 00:01:09.651 --> 00:01:16.036 A court of appeal said so in California Renters Legal Advocacy and Education Fund versus City of San Mateo. 17 00:01:16.036 --> 00:01:24.092 If a housing project meets the objective rules, the Housing Accountability Act sharply limits your power to deny it or cut its density. 18 00:01:24.092 --> 00:01:26.272 Third, walk the site without romance. 19 00:01:26.272 --> 00:01:36.522 What is next door, and does the use clash with it in a way the code actually regulates: truck noise against bedrooms, a driveway through a sidewalk, grading on a steep slope? 20 00:01:36.522 --> 00:01:42.354 Can people reach it on foot, on a bike, in a car, and with a delivery truck, or do the paths cross? 21 00:01:42.354 --> 00:01:50.660 Is there a listed historic building, a floodplain, a very high fire zone, or a habitat constraint that a specific written standard addresses? 22 00:01:50.660 --> 00:01:54.254 Neighborhood character, standing alone, is not that standard. 23 00:01:54.254 --> 00:01:56.551 Fourth, read the numbers the code uses. 24 00:01:56.551 --> 00:02:02.383 Height, setbacks, lot coverage, floor area, parking, private open space, window area on the street. 25 00:02:02.383 --> 00:02:09.511 Write down each one the project misses, and then ask whether a density-bonus waiver or concession has already excused it. 26 00:02:09.511 --> 00:02:13.282 A missed standard that state law waives is not a denial finding. 27 00:02:13.282 --> 00:02:15.756 Fifth, read the environmental cover sheet. 28 00:02:15.756 --> 00:02:20.704 Exempt, negative declaration, mitigated negative declaration, or full impact report. 29 00:02:20.704 --> 00:02:25.947 If it is exempt, the fight will be about whether every condition of the exemption is met. 30 00:02:25.947 --> 00:02:32.015 If it is not, you will need the baseline, the thresholds, and the mitigation, which is its own episode. 31 00:02:32.015 --> 00:02:35.772 Then look at the economics only as far as the law allows you to. 32 00:02:35.772 --> 00:02:39.471 A condition that is legal can still make a project unbuildable. 33 00:02:39.471 --> 00:02:44.755 Ask what the condition costs per home and whether a cheaper design meets the same purpose. 34 00:02:44.755 --> 00:02:55.029 Torrance keeps a small share of the property tax and a much larger share of sales tax, so replacing a store with apartments is a fiscal question as well as a housing question. 35 00:02:55.029 --> 00:02:59.608 Ask staff what the site produces in taxes now and what it would produce after. 36 00:02:59.608 --> 00:03:04.951 Close the pass by drafting, in your notes, the sentence you would say if you voted tonight. 37 00:03:04.951 --> 00:03:13.522 If you cannot tie that sentence to a finding and a page of the record, you are not ready, and the right move is a question to staff, not a speech.