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File Number: 19-277 <br />ultimately make a recommendation to the relevant City approving body for final action. The costs <br />of the third party reviewer would be passed through the City to the applicant. <br />The City Council considered the resolution at its March 18, 2019 meeting, and directed that the <br />item be referred to the Rules Committee for additional review and discussion. The Rules <br />Committee considered the proposed resolution at its April 11, 2019 meeting. At that meeting, <br />staff provided clarification regarding the following issues: <br />1.Who is eligible for this alternative review? <br />The proposed changes would make the option of review by an independent third party available <br />to City elected and appointed officials, as well as City employees. <br />2.Is the process optional? <br />The proposed resolution creates the option for CDD applications to be reviewed by independent <br />third party plan reviewers. The option would allow the applicant to decide whether he/she wanted <br />his/her application reviewed by a third party to address actual or perceived conflicts of interest or <br />claims of bias. <br />3.What is the cost of the independent review? <br />Regardless of whether an application is reviewed by City staff or an independent third party, the <br />applicant is required to pay the actual costs of such review. In some situations, third party review <br />may actually be cheaper because the hourly rate of third party reviewers utilized by the City is <br />often less than the hourly rate of available City staff. <br />4.What types of applications are eligible for the third party review? <br />The proposed changes to the Administrative Code would make any CDD application eligible for <br />third party review, and it would be the applicant’s decision whether or not to elect to have an <br />application reviewed by an independent third party reviewer. An applicant may find it unnecessary <br />to select the third party review option for applications subject to ministerial approval. An <br />application is subject to ministerial approval if staff uses no discretion in reviewing and approving <br />the application. For example, a building permit is a ministerial approval, since applications that <br />meet the requirements of the Building Code are required to be approved. Ultimately, it is the <br />decision of the applicant whether or not to use an independent third party reviewer. <br />The Rules Committee recommended that the proposed resolution be changed to provide that in <br />no event would the cost paid by the applicant for the third party plan review be greater than the <br />amount the applicant would have paid if the application was reviewed by City staff. In situations <br />where the cost of the third party plan review was greater, the applicant would pay an amount equal <br />to what he or she would have paid if the application was reviewed by City staff, as estimated by <br />the Community Development Director. This change was recommended to prevent City public <br />officials from having to pay more for their applications to be reviewed as a result of their position <br />or employment. The Rules Committee unanimously recommended the City Council consider the <br />proposed resolution with this modification. <br />Page 2 City of San Leandro Printed on 5/14/2019