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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPALM SPRINGS -- ARC Rules of Procedures DRAFT SEP 2024 City of Palm Springs Planning Services Department 3200 East Tahquitz Canyon Way • Palm Springs, California 92262 Tel: (760) 323-8245 • Fax: (760) 322-8360 • Web: www.palmspringsca.gov ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW COMMITTEE RULES OF PROCEDURE (Draft Revision: September 2024) PURPOSE, EFFECT, AND AUTHORITY In the absence of a rule herein to govern a point or procedure or the making of a motion, Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised, shall be used as a guide. The purpose and intent of the Architectural Review Committee in adopting the rules herein shall be to provide directory guidelines relating to the conduct of the public business by or on behalf of the Architectural Review Committee, and in the event of any noncompliance with or violation of any provision herein, such will not be deemed to affect the validity of any action taken, unless otherwise specifically provided by law. These rules are intended to be consistent with State law and City Charter/ordinance; however, in the event of any inconsistency with State law, State law, City Charter and City Ordinance shall prevail. In the event of any inconsistency between these rules and Robert's Rules of Order, these rules shall prevail. The scope and effect of these rules shall be determined by the Chair in conformity with Section 16.1 hereof. TABLE OF CONTENTS: A. Election and Terms of Office B. Duties of Officers and Staff C. Meetings D. Policies E. Subcommittees F. Amendment of Rules CITY OF PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA – ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW COMMITTEE Rules of Procedure – September 2024 DRAFT Approved date:_______________ Page 2 of 11 A. ELECTION AND TERMS OF OFFICE 1. The Chair and the Vice-Chair shall be chosen by majority vote of all members of the committee at the first regular meeting of the Committee held after June 30 of each year (PSMC 2.06.020), or at the next subsequent meeting. 2. The Chair and Vice-Chair shall hold offices for one (1) year and thereafter until their successors are chosen. In case of any vacancy in office, the vacancy shall be filled by majority vote of all members of the committee at the first regular meeting after the occurrence of such vacancy. B. DUTIES OF OFFICERS AND STAFF 1. Chair: The Chair shall preside at all meetings of the committee. The chair shall appoint all subcommittees and shall perform all other duties necessary, customary, or incidental to this office. The chair may move, second, and debate motions from the chair, subject only to such limitations on debate as are imposed on all Architectural Review Committee Members, and shall not be deprived of any rights and privileges of a committee member by reason of acting as chair. 2. Vice-Chair: In the event of absence of the chair or the chair’s inability to act, the Vice-Chair shall perform the duties of the chair. In the event of the absence or of the inability to act of both the chair and the vice-chair, the remaining members of the committee shall appoint one (1) of their members to act as temporary chair by majority vote of the remaining members present. 3. Secretary: The Planning Director or his/her designee serving as the Secretary shall provide professional and technical advice to the Architectural Review Committee, shall assist the committee in the discharge of its responsibilities, and shall maintain minutes of meetings and records of hearings and official actions. The Secretary or designee shall act as timekeeper for limiting speakers allocated time. C. MEETINGS 1. Regular Meetings of the committee shall be open to the public and shall generally be held on the first and third Monday of each month at 5:30 pm in the Large Conference Room at City Hall, 3200 East Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs, California. Absent direction from the City Manager otherwise, the committee will not schedule meetings during the month of August. If the regular meeting day falls on a legal holiday, no meeting shall be held on such holiday, but a regular meeting shall be held on the next suc ceeding Tuesday. The CITY OF PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA – ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW COMMITTEE Rules of Procedure – September 2024 DRAFT Approved date:_______________ Page 3 of 11 Secretary shall post an Architectural Review Committee meeting calendar at the beginning of each calendar year. 2. Adjourned Meetings: Any meeting may be adjourned to a time, place and date certain, but not beyond the next regular meeting. Once adjourned, the meeting cannot be reconvened. 3. Special Meetings of the committee shall be open to the public and shall be held at such times as the committee may determine, or they may be called by the chair any time on 24 hours’ notice if an urgent situation warrants such a meeting. 4. Notice of Meetings: The agenda for all regular, adjourned and special meetings shall be available to the general public and the secretary shall cause a copy thereof to be posted at least 72 hours before a regular or adjourned regular meeting and at least 24 hours before a special meeting on the exterior bulletin board on the west wall of the City Council chamber. Such agendas shall also be posted on the City’s website, in accordance with the same timeframes set forth above. 5. Quorum: A majority of the members of the ARC shall constitute a quorum for the purpose of conducting business. A majority vote of those present shall be necessary to approve any item of business. 5.1 Legally Required Participation If a majority of the Architectural Review Committee shall be disqualified to vote on a matter by reason of a conflict of interest, the committee shall select, by lot or other means of random selection , such number of its disqualified members that, when added to the committee members eligible to vote, shall constitute a quorum. 6. Voting: Every official act taken by the committee shall be by motion adopted by a majority vote. 6.1 Voting Procedure: On the passage of every motion, the vote shall be taken by voice or roll call and entered in full upon the record. 6.2. Roll Call Voting: A roll call vote shall be used for all new or unfinished business matters. Any other question before the committee shall not require a roll call vote unless requested by any member. Any member may change his or her vote before the next order of business. 6.3 Reconsideration: Any member who voted with the majority may move a reconsideration of any action at the same meeting. After a motion for reconsideration has once been acted upon, no other motion for reconsideration thereof shall be made without unanimous consent of the committee. CITY OF PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA – ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW COMMITTEE Rules of Procedure – September 2024 DRAFT Approved date:_______________ Page 4 of 11 6.4 Conflict of Interest: Any committee member prevented from voting because of a conflict of interest shall publicly disclose the nature and extent of such conflict and refrain from participation, debate and voting. Such committee member shall leave the meeting room during debate and voting on the issue but shall be free to address the committee as a member of the public on the matter in accordance with State law, after which they should leave the room during the remaining debate and voting. 6.5. Failure to Vote: Every Architectural Review Committee member should vote unless disqualified for cause, which disqualifying case has been publicly disclosed. 6.6 Tie Votes: Tie votes shall result in no action. 7. Order of Business at any regular meeting shall be as follows: • Call to Order • Roll Call • Acceptance of Agenda • Public Comments (agenda and non-agenda items) • Consent Calendar • Unfinished Business • New Business • Committee Member Reports • Director Reports • Adjournment 8. Electronic Notification of Agenda: The agenda shall be sent electronically to the committee members at least 72 hours before a regular or adjourned meeting or 24 hours before a special meeting. 9. Roll Call: Before proceeding with the business of the committee, the secretary shall call the roll of the committee and the names of those present shall be entered in the minutes. The order of roll call shall be alphabetical with the chair called last. 10. Public Comments: During the public comment portion of the meeting any person may address the committee on any subject pertaining to committee business, whether listed on the agenda or not, except at special meetings , where only items appearing on the agenda may be addressed . A limitation of three (3) minutes shall be imposed upon each person so desiring to address the committee during the public comment period on the agenda. Speakers shall be informed of their time limitation. CITY OF PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA – ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW COMMITTEE Rules of Procedure – September 2024 DRAFT Approved date:_______________ Page 5 of 11 Members of the public wishing to speak on an item of old or new business on the agenda should be directed to do so during Public Comment. Depending upon the extent of the agenda, and the number of persons desiring to speak on an issue, the chair may limit testimony. Any person may speak for a longer period of time, upon approval of the committee, when this is deemed necessary, such as when a person is speaking as a representative of a group or has graphic or slide presentations requiring more time. 11. Consent Calendar: Items of a routine nature, and non-controversial, shall be placed on the consent calendar. All items may be approved by one blanket motion and vote. Under “Approval of the Agenda” any committee member may request that any item be withdrawn from or added to the consent calendar for separate consideration. However, any committee member may abstain or recuse from voting or vote “no” on any consent calendar item without requesting its removal from the consent calendar, and the secretary shall record such abstentions/recusals or no votes in the minutes. 12. New and Unfinished Business Items shall be conducted in the following order: Staff Report Initial Questions to Staff by the Committee Chair invites the application to speak (10-minute time limit) Chair invites comments (if any) from the public. Chair opens the floor for deliberation by Committee members. Motion / Action by the Committee Chair calls the roll call vote and announces the final action. Committee questions of the staff should be factual and seek pertinent information. Committee member questions and comments should not be argumentative and committee members should not get into debates with staff or the applicant. The chair may invite the applicant to respond to questions of the committee or to respond to proposed conditions of approval. 13. Limitation of Debate: As a matter of preferred protocol and courtesy to fellow members of the committee, no committee member should speak more than once upon any one subject until every other committee member choosing to speak thereon has spoken and no committee member should speak for an excessive length of time each time he or she has the floor, without the approval of the majority of committee members present. 14. Dissents and Protests: Any committee member shall have the right to express dissent from or protest to any action of the committee and have the reason entered in the minutes. If such dissent or protest is desired to be entered in the minutes, this should be made clear by lang uage such as "I would like the minutes to show that I am opposed to this action for the following reasons..." CITY OF PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA – ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW COMMITTEE Rules of Procedure – September 2024 DRAFT Approved date:_______________ Page 6 of 11 15. Parliamentary Procedure: The rules of parliamentary practice as set forth in Robert's Rules of Order shall govern all meetings of the committee, except as otherwise herein provided. 16. Rules, Decorum and Order: 16.1 Points of Order: The chair shall determine all points of order subject to the right of any committee member to appeal to the full committee present. If any appeal is taken, the question shall be, "Shall the decision of the chair be sustained?" in which event a majority vote shall govern and conclusively determine such question of order. 16.2 Decorum and Order - Committee Members: i) Every committee member desiring to speak shall address the chair and upon recognition by the chair, shall confine themselves to the question under debate. ii) A committee member desiring to question the staff shall address their question to the Planning Director, who shall be entitled either to answer the inquiry, or to designate some member of staff for that purpose. iii) A committee member, once recognized, shall not be interrupted while speaking unless called to order by the chair; unless a point of order is raised by another committee member or unless the speaker chooses to yield to questions from another committee member. iv) If a committee member is called to order while they are speaking, they shall cease speaking immediately until the question of order is determined. If ruled to be in order, they shall be permitted to continue. If ruled to be not in order, they shall remain silent or shall alter their remarks so as to comply with rules of the committee. v) Committee members shall accord the utmost courtesy to each other, to City employees and to the public appearing before the committee and shall refrain at all times from rude and derogatory remarks, reflections as to personal integrity, abusive comments, and statements as to motives and personalities. CITY OF PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA – ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW COMMITTEE Rules of Procedure – September 2024 DRAFT Approved date:_______________ Page 7 of 11 vi) Any committee member may move to require the chair to enforce the rules and the affirmative vote of a majority of the committee members present shall require the chair to so act. vii) Members of the committee shall not leave their seats during a meeting without the consent of the chair, except as may be necessary to view exhibits provided by staff or by applicants. 16.3 Decorum and Order – City Employees: Members of the Planning Department staff and employees of the City shall observe the same rules of procedure and decorum applicable to members of the committee. Any staff member desiring to address the committee or members of the public shall first be recognized by the chair. All remarks shall be addressed to the chair and not to any one individual committee member or member of the public. 16.4 Decorum and Order - Public: Members of the public attending Architectural Review Committee meetings shall observe the same rules of order and decorum applicable to the committee. Any person, wishing to address the Architectural Review Committee shall, before speaking, be asked to provide their name, address and city of residence, but such address need not be disclosed publicly if speaker so wishes. Any person while addressing the committee making obscene, slanderous, profane, or similarly offensive and disruptive remarks, or who engages in loud, boisterous, or other disorderly conduct, which remarks or conduct disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of the public meeting, and any person, while attending the committee meeting, making remarks from the audience, or stamping their feet, whistling, yelling, or making a similar demonstration, any of which disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of the public meeting, shall, at the discretion of the chair, or a majority of the committee, be instructed to leave the committee meeting and/or be physically removed from the room by the sergeant -of- arms. Prior to such removal, the chair or sergeant at arms shall warn the individual that their behavior is disrupting the meeting and their failure to cease their behavior may result in removal. Aggravated cases shall be prosecuted on an appropriate complaint signed by the chair. 17. Enforcement of Decorum: The Chief of Police or his or her designee shall be ex-officio sergeant-of-arms of the committee. The Chief of Police shall carry out all orders and instructions given by the chair for the purpose of maintaining order and decorum. Any person disrupting committee proceedings may be prosecuted for a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, may be punished by fine or imprisonment or both. Upon instructions from the chair, as set forth above, it shall be the duty of the Chief of Police or the Chief’s representative to eject any person from the room or place them under arrest or both. CITY OF PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA – ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW COMMITTEE Rules of Procedure – September 2024 DRAFT Approved date:_______________ Page 8 of 11 18. Maintenance of Order: The chair is responsible for the maintenance of order and decorum at all times. No person is allowed to speak who has not first been recognized by the chair. All questions and remarks shall be addressed to the chair. 19. Rules of Chair Final: In presiding over Architectural Review Committee meetings, the chair shall decide all questions of interpretation of these rules or other questions of procedure requiring rulings. Any such decision or ruling shall be final unless overridden or suspended on appeal by a majority vote of the committee members present and voting. The decision shall be binding and legally effective (even if clearly erroneous) for the purpose of the matter under consideration. 20. Motions: 20.1 Processing of Motions: When a motion is made and seconded, it shall be restated by the chair before debate. A motion so stated shall not be withdrawn by the mover without the consent of person seconding it. 20.2 Division of Question: If the question contains two or more divisible propositions, the chair may, and upon request of a committee member shall (unless appealed) divide the same. 20.3 Precedence of Motions: When a motion is before the committee, no motion shall be entertained except the following which shall have precedence in the following order: 1. Adjourn 2. Fix Hour of Adjournment 3. Table 4. Amend 5. Postpone 20.4 Motion to Adjourn: (not debatable) A motion to adjourn shall be in order at any time, except as follows: 1. When repeated without intervening business or discussion 2. When made as an interruption of a committee member while speaking. 3. When the previous question has been ordered, and 4. While a vote is being taken. A motion to adjourn "to another time" shall be debatable only as to the time to which the meeting is adjourned. CITY OF PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA – ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW COMMITTEE Rules of Procedure – September 2024 DRAFT Approved date:_______________ Page 9 of 11 20.5 Motion to Fix Hour of Adjournment: Such a motion shall set a definite time at which to adjourn and shall be undebatable and unamendable except as to time set. 20.6 Motion to Table: A motion to table shall be used to temporarily bypass the subject. A motion to table shall be undebatable and shall preclude all amendments or debate of the subject under consideration. If the motion shall prevail, the matter may be "taken from the table" at any time prior to the end of the meeting. If no t taken from the table, the committee may continue discussion of the matter or the matter shall be placed on a future agenda as a new matter. 20.7 Motion for Previous Question: Such a motion shall be used to close debate on the main motion and shall be undebatable. If the motion fails, debate shall be reopened; if the motion passes, a vote shall be taken on the main motion. 20.8 Motion to Amend: A motion to amend shall be debatable only as to the amendment. A motion to amend an amendment shall be in order, but a motion to amend an amendment to an amendment shall not be in order. An amendment modifying the intention of a motion shall be in order, but an amendment relating to a different matter sha ll not be in order. A substitute motion on the same subject shall be acceptable and voted on before a vote on the amendment. Amendments shall be voted first, then the main motion as amended. 20.9 Motion to Continue: Motions to continue to a definite time shall be amendable and debatable as to propriety of postponement and time set. If desired, the maker of the motion to continue may also move to reopen the hearing to receive further testimony. D. POLICIES 1. Publicity: Members of the ARC shall release no official information or "stories" to the press unless otherwise authorized by the Secretary or the City’s Public Relations Director. No committee member shall speak for the committee as a whole without specific permission of the Secretary. When speaking publicly about an issue that is, has been, or could be, considered by the Committee, Committee members should clearly state that they are speaking on behalf of themselves individually, and not on behalf of th e Committee or City, unless specifically authorized to do so on behalf of the Committee. CITY OF PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA – ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW COMMITTEE Rules of Procedure – September 2024 DRAFT Approved date:_______________ Page 10 of 11 2. Attendance: Each committee member shall attend every regular or special meeting unless unavailable for a valid reason. A committee member may be excused by the Committee if prior notice is given to the secretary, and if the reason for the absence is stated. In the minutes and in the attendance record the secretary shall indicate members present and excused. 3. The absence of a member without advance notification to the secretary for three (3) consecutive regular meetings or is absent for 25% of the duly scheduled meetings of the commission within any fiscal year, shall be reported to the City Clerk and the committee member's office shall thereupon automatically become vacant. E. SUBCOMMITTEES 1. Use and Formation of Subcommittees: The committee may utilize subcommittees from time-to-time as may be appropriate to assist in efficiently conducting the business of the committee. The chair may form subcommittees on an as-needed basis. 2. Subcommittee Purpose: Architectural Review Committee subcommittees may be formed to serve the following non-exclusive purposes: a. Compliance Review – Adopted Criteria. Subcommittees may be formed to review applications in detail for conformance to adopted architectural review criteria or to suggest conditions of approval. b. Compliance Review – Conditions of Approval. Subcommittees may be formed to review amended plans for approved applications to confirm compliance with conditions of approval imposed by the committee or the Planning Commission. The purpose(s) of each subcommittee should be described at the time of formation. 3. Composition of Subcommittees: No more than three committee members shall serve on a subcommittee. A Planning Department staff member will serve as Secretary for the subcommittee. Members of the general public shall not be appointed to subcommittees. 5. Subcommittee Action and Reports: Subcommittees are prohibited from taking action on any items discussed in the subcommittee meetings. Action on items may only be taken by a quorum of the Architectural Review Committee as part of a regularly scheduled and noticed Architectural Review Committee meeting. Reports of subcommittee meetings shall be CITY OF PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA – ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW COMMITTEE Rules of Procedure – September 2024 DRAFT Approved date:_______________ Page 11 of 11 provided verbally or in writing at an Architectural Review Committee meeting. F. AMENDMENT OF THESE RULES These Rules and Regulations may be amended by the committee at any regular meeting or special meeting by a majority vote, provided that the proposed amendment is included in a written agenda of such meeting and if the change is one within the authority of the committee. (End)