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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem GCity of Seal Beach Agenda Report Date: February 25, 2002 To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: John B. Bahorski tom/ City Manger I Subject: Process for Revising the Seal Beach Municipal Code SUMMARY OF REQUEST: Staff requests City Council to review the process to amend the Municipal Code and, if necessary, provide additional direction to staff on the process to update the Municipal Code. BACKGROUND: The Seal Beach Municipal Code has never had a comprehensive review to determine if the code is consistent with the Charter, State law, and current practice. In addition, the Municipal Code contains out -dated chapters and sections that are no longer needed. As staff reviewed the Municipal Code it became apparent that the Code could be reorganized to help the public, Council, and staff more easily use it. With the help of the City Attorney and City Clerk, the proposed code chapters have been reorganized to make the code more user - friendly. Revising the Municipal Code will provide the following benefits: • The Municipal Code will be consistent with the City Charter • Obsolete chapters or sections will be deleted to avoid confusion • The Municipal Code will reflect changes to State law • An updated Municipal Code will be an enhancement for the public, Council and staff AGENDA ITEM G The chapters of the code have been reorganized into the following sections: General Provisions, Elections, Administration/Personnel, Revenue/Finance, Business License Regulations, Franchises, Public Services, Public Morals/Welfare, Vehicles, Streets/Sidewalks/Public Places, Building/Construction, Subdivisions and Zoning. Due to the possible changes that may occur during the General Plan review and the formulation of a Local Coastal Plan, the Zoning chapter will not be part of the Municipal Code revisions. It is envisioned that the Zoning chapter will be revised once these two efforts are complete. PROCESS: Staff started the review of the Municipal Code on November 13, 2001 with the assistance of the City Attorney and City Clerk. The process began with each chapter of the Municipal Code undergoing a review by the appropriate City departments and the City Attorney to ensure the code was up -to -date with State law and reflected the current practice of the City. After receiving the department's comments, the City Attorney prepared the necessary revisions and each department was afforded the opportunity to review the proposed changes. The proposed Municipal Code review process for Council consists of reviewing no more than three chapters of the Municipal Code per workshop. The workshop format will give Council the opportunity to review any of the previously reviewed chapters and review three new chapters during the workshops. All workshops are open to the community and the media. Each workshop will be properly noticed in accordance with the Brown Act. The proposed Municipal Code changes will be posted on the City web site and will be available in the City Clerk's office. Following completion of this process the changes made by Council will be incorporated and public hearing(s) will be required to adopt a final draft of the Municipal Code. The public hearing(s) will be an additional forum to inform the public about the proposed Municipal Code revisions. Public testimony will be taken on the proposed changes and public comments will be considered by City Council. The community has numerous opportunities to monitor and influence the process during the workshop or public hearing phases of this project. Interested parties who cannot attend the workshop or meetings may submit written comments on the proposed revisions at anytime during the process. This is intended to be an interactive process so that Council and the community can make suggestions on any of the revisions that are proposed in the Municipal Code at anytime during the workshops and formal Council deliberations. At the conclusion of this process, the City Clerk will take the updated code and prepare it for distribution, the Municipal Code will also be posted on the City's web site. This will ensure the largest distribution occurs which should be a positive benefit to the community. To assist City Council and the community with the review process, the City Attorney has provided a cross reference to the existing Municipal code so that Council and community can easily compare the existing code with proposed revisions. Cross references to the existing Municipal Code are identified by the bracket (in bold) located at the beginning of each code section. FISCAL IMPACT: No fiscal impact. RECOMMENDATION: Review process and provide additional direction if necessary.