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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005/09/12 Board of Appeals & Advisors Minutes MINUTES OFA REGULAR MEETING BOARD OF APPEALS AND ADVISORS ' CITY OF CHULA VISTA, CALIFORNIA September 12, 2005 Conference Room No. 1 5:15 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Romo, Vice Chair Nagorski, Members Flach, Snider and Monaghan MEMBERS ABSENT: None MEMBERS ABSTAINING: None CITY STAFF PRESENT:. Building Official Brad Remp, Deputy Building Official Lou EI-Khazen, Plan Check Supervisor; Tom Nikzad, Assistant Director of Planning, Nancy Lytle, and Secretary Judi Bell OTHERS PRESENT: Jan Buddingh, Jr., new board member CALL MEETING TO ORDER: Chairman Romo called the meeting to order at 5:20 p.m. ROLL CALL: Members present constituted a quorum. 1. DECLARATION OF EXCUSED/UNEXCUSED ABSENTEEISM: None 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: MSU Monaghan/Flach (5-0) to approve the minutes of regular meeting of July 11, 2005. 3. NEW BUSINESS: Nancy Lytle, Assistant Director of Planning and Jan Buddingh, new board member (not yet confirmed by Council) were introduced to the Board. A. Ordinance Adopting the California Energy Code, 2005 Edition, and the Outdoor Lighting Zones Map, dated 9/2/05: Lou EI-Khazen, Deputy Building Official presented the proposed ordinance for adoption of the 2005 California Energy Code and gave details of the outdoor lighting zones map specific to Chula Vista. The California Building Standards Commission (CBSC) mandated enforcement of the 2005 Edition of the California Energy Code (2005 CEC) to begin October 1, 2005. This action will allow the City to incorporate appropriate local amendments into the enforcement program: The 2005 CEC also introduced regulations for outdoor lighting and designated Statewide default outdoor lighting zones. Changes to the State default lighting zones were needed and thus a proposal to adopt an outdoor lighting zones map for Chula Vista. The 2005 California Energy Code introduced regulations for outdoor lighting ,power allowances for newly installed lighting equipment and specific alterations to existing equipment. The regulations vary, according to each lighting zone (LZ). Parks, recreation areas and wildlife preserves are in LZ1; rural areas are LZ2; and urban areas are LZ3. The least amount of power is allowed in LZ1 and LZ2. LZ3 is allowed more. The different lighting zones are based on how bright the surrounding conditions are. The eyes adapt to darker conditions, and less light is needed to see. When the conditions get brighter, more light is needed. Chula Vista falls under two lighting zones: LZ 2 (rural) and LZ3 (urban). Board of Appeals and Advisors September 12, 2005 Page Two MSU Romo/Monaghan to recommend the Board accept Staffs recommendation and send to City Council for approval. B. Presentation of ethics/guidelines: Nancy Lytle, Assistant Director of Planning presented each member with a manual which consisted of a Boards, Commissions and Committees Handbook, sections of the Chula Vista Municipal Code which apply to the Board of Appeals and Advisors, information on"Everyday Ethics for Local Officials: I Finding Your Way", Key Ethics Law Principles for Public Servants and a user's guide to the Ralph M. Brown Act (Open & Public III). The Board of Appeals and Advisors' primary responsibility is to hear appeals of decisions of the building division when the building official has made a determination. If the applicant does not agree or would like to appeal the decision then it is brought to the Committee. Staff will provide a staff report identifying the basis for the original decision and the applicant will provide a report. In some cases staff may bring something before the board that needs to be validated. The decision needs to be made in public. Code enforcement issues may be brought to the board where the operator/owner may appeal a decision made by that section or code enforcement officer. The Brown Act was signed into law in 1953. It provides that we do everything in public. Meetings require advance noticing; the agenda is posted 72 hours before the meetings. Discussions that are not on the agenda should not take place. There should be no deliberations outside of the meetings. Conversations between board members should not be on what is being voted on inside the meeting. Government officials are not permitted to leverage their public office into private gain or make decisions that would net them some kind of private financial gain. The Form 700 is completed by anyone who would like to be on a committee or board. This documents all investments and property owned in thejurisdiction so that anyone can see where your interests are. In the case of a conflict of interest, you would recuse yourself from making any decisions. There is a 500 foot conflict map from each board member's home which gives an area of interest in which one must recuse him/herself. If there is something on the agenda that might be a conflict of interest, the Building Division should be notified. Someone from the City Attorney's office will help decide if it is a conflict. Conflict of office is another possible conflict in which, for instance, someone can not be a school board member and a City Council member. There is overlapping territory and different jurisdictions and interest, but the law finds that both can't be served properly. Public money for political purpose - If there was an initiative to change local building regulations and .the board supported it, it would be fine to discuss it and support it until it becomes a ballot measure. If it becomes an actual public initiative and an election and campaign are going to occur then our time and space and resources can't be devoted to that any longer. It's not only money, but also use of our time. Only personal time can be used to work on getting initiatives, etc. through. If, as a board member, you have a meeting with a Council member, you are not allowed to talk to another Council member about what was said at the meeting. Also, sometimes an appellant might try to get your home phone number and home address and ask.you to go out personally and meet with them on the site before the official meeting. Members need to be very cautious because you are receiving information that did not take place in the official deliberation process. You are advised to declare that you have had a conversation outside the meeting with a particular individual. It does not Board of Appeals and Advisors September 12, 2005 Page Three mean that you have to disqualify yourself, but that information needs to be part of the official record. Discussion and Questions: Nancy Lytle referred everyone to a commission at the state level called the Fair Practices Commission who are set up to answer questions about ethics laws. Also the League of California Cities website has information. 4. CHAIRMAN'S COMMENTS/REPORT: Mr. Romo said he had signed the Summary of Activities of the board for FY2004-2005 and he would like to distribute copies of that to the members. Secretary Bell indicated that she would bring copies to the next meeting for distribution. Mr. Buddingh was introduced again and gave a brief presentation of his background. He will be sworn in as a new board member at the next Council meeting. Each member introduced himself and presented their background. Mr. Snider announced that he would be relocating at some time, but didn't have a definite date. He would serve on the board as long as he is in the area. Mr. Nagorski announced his resignation effective immediately. BUILDING OFFICIAL'S COMMENTS/REPORT: The International Code Council's (ICC) annual conference will be held in Detroit, Michigan at the end of September. California will be there participating for the first time in many years because we are working to adopt the International Building Code and the International Fire Code. The State Fire Marshal should have the recommendations by January or February and then start moving forward to the Building Standards Commission. There is still a great deal of work to be done, but it's going in the right direction. Regarding those codes, California Building Officials (CALBO)won an award ofineritfrom the national organization for the accomplishments last year in working with the state and getting the decision turned around. As a result of the damage from Hurricane Katrina, we have been contacted as part of the Phase I callout process from the state to identify a number of individuals who would be willing and able to respond. Virtually all of the people in the Building Field Inspection side have been certified as meeting the State requirements to be able to respond to emergencies and do safety assessments. We have a team standing by to be called out and respond. Locallywe are updating and providing more details to our internal emergency operations for standard operating procedures for disaster response. We look forward to finalizing that in the next month or so. We are using a model provided to us by CALBO. There are quite a few details and questions coming in of who does whatjob, etc. With the hurricane damage, as investigations come out, there will be a lot of finger pointing and unfortunately lots will be pointed at those cities. We don't want to find ourselves in that position. We want to continue to train and be responsive. Code Enforcement is still getting tremendous support from Council. We are being much more aggressive and continue to close facilities which are not working with us. We think we are being generous in the amount of time we are giving, but in some cases they cannot bring it into compliance and we have taken steps necessary to issue cease and desist orders and we are getting support on that as well. We have hired two code enforcement officers and now are at full staff. There will be a groundbreaking at Otay Town Center, which is almost 900,000 square feet of commercial operations in Otay area. Several buildings are ready to be permitted and we expect to receive about 100 different tenant improvements being submitted within a two week period. They need to open October 26, 2006. This is the upscale shopping center which will be located near Toll Road 125. 6. COMMUNICATIONS (PUBLIC REMARKS/WRITTEN CORRESPONDENCE): None Board of Appeals and Advisors September 12, 2005 Page Four 7. ADJOURNMENT: Chair Romo adjourned the meeting at 6:28 p.m. to a regular meeting on October 10, 2005. BRAD REMP, .B.O. ASST. DIR. OF PLAN ING & BUILDING /BUILDING OFFICIAL SECRETARY TO THE BOARD OF APPEALS AND ADVISORS MINU TAKEN BY: JUDI BELL SECRETARY PLANNING & BUILDING DEPARTMENT. (J:\ Board of Appeals & Advisors FY 2005-2006\09.12.2005m.doc)