Amendments to this Title may be initiated by:

a.

Resolution of intention adopted by the City Council.

b.

Formal application by owner of land affected to either reclassify land from one zone to another zone, prezone the land or amend overlay zones. Each application together with all required information including that for environmental assessment shall be filed with the Planning Department and all required fees established by the City Council shall be paid.

c.

The Director of Planning may (i) expand the scope of a proposal otherwise initiated, (ii) initiate appropriate prezoning after annexation proceedings have started, and (iii) initiate any other amendment specifically authorized by the Council.

The Director of Planning shall assess and provide a written report to the Planning Commission regarding any proposed amendment as to its consistency with the Land Use Element and General Plan goals. The Director of Planning shall set for public hearing before the Commission each proposal determined to be consistent with the General Plan. Those determined to be inconsistent with the Plan shall be reviewed by the Commission to determine their merit during its annual review of the Land Use Element of the General Plan. Any proposed amendment determined by the Director of Planning to be inconsistent with the General Plan may be appealed to the Planning Commission. Such determinations made by the Commission shall be appealable to the City Council.

(Ord. 2312; May 12, 1983)

Public notice of each hearing will be given in the manner set forth in Sections 65854 to 65857, inclusive, of the California Government Code. The Planning Department will maintain a file of these sections and will make them available to any person.

The Director of Planning shall set each proposed amendment for public hearing and give the required public notice of the hearing.

The Commission shall make a recommendation to the City Council on each proposed amendment and shall include supporting findings and reasons. Such recommendation shall be certified by the Commission secretary in a written report to the Council.

Each Commission recommendation (i) on an amendment initiated by the Council, (ii) for approval of an application, or (iii) from which an appeal has been filed shall be set for public hearing before the City Council by the City Clerk at the earliest date consistent with State law and City Council policy. Public notice of the hearing shall be given as required in Section 24.03.030.

A Commission recommendation for denial of amendment initiated by application shall become an automatic denial without hearing before the Council unless the applicant files an appeal to the City Council. The applicant shall make the appeal in writing in which is set forth any error the Commission is alleged to have made in its determination, reasons the amendment requested should be granted, and shall pay the required filing fee. The appeal shall be filed in the office of the City Clerk within five days following the postmarked date of mailing the Commission recommendation to the applicant.

Any substantial change made by the Council in any recommendation by the Commission shall not be become final until such change is referred to the Commission and the Commission's report thereon has been reviewed by the council; however, this requirement shall not apply to any amendment or ordinance which was considered by the commission during its hearing.

Such report shall be filed in the office of the city clerk within forty days after submission of the proposed change to the commission, or such longer period as the council may designate. The failure of the commission to file such report within the period allowed shall be deemed to be its approval of the council action.

Either the council or planning commission may continue a public hearing to a certain date and time. However, if an applicant or his representative requests a continuance, new notices shall be mailed to those previously receiving them. The cost of such mailing shall be paid by the applicant prior to advertising the new hearing.