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Councilmember McGovern questioned how long development would be held up if the City <br /> developed a hillside or grading ordinance through a City-initiated process, and City Manager <br /> Fialho said it would not be consistent with the way the City addresses its ordinance and he <br /> believed it could take 6-12 months. Mayor Hosterman believed we could have language that re- <br /> affirms language in the General Plan in order to give people the opportunity to say yes to a <br /> deliberative process versus future Councils having to grapple with bad language. City Manager <br /> Fialho said he heard Councilmember Cook-Kallio say, a measure to an alternative that would <br /> describe a process that eventually would be ratified by the voters, but Mayor Hosterman say, <br /> can you put up by way of a measure, existing General Plan policies in place as an alternative to <br /> the Initiative, which are two different things. He said this can be done and can be part of the 30- <br /> day process, if directed to do so. <br /> Councilmember McGovern felt if the Council uses what the public has put forth and better define <br /> items, it would augment the Initiative. Councilmember Sullivan believes there is a split <br /> community on these issues, there is a right and wrong way to do this, we need information from <br /> the report to make a decision, and his original thought about a task force was to bring people <br /> together to arrive at an implementing ordinance and Initiative authors would like to participate in <br /> this. But, if we put something competing on the ballot, we would drive a wedge between those <br /> authors and a Council-driven process. <br /> Councilmember Cook-Kallio said Council could put something on the ballot that clarified the <br /> Council's intent which could include stakeholder comments. Councilmember Sullivan confirmed <br /> that this process could be done prior to putting something else on the ballot in order to have a <br /> cooperative measure. Councilmember McGovern supported coming back in a way that is not <br /> competing but rather an adjunct to what Initiative the people put forward. <br /> Mayor Hosterman said understanding the language in the Initiative cannot be changed, it will <br /> either be adopted by the Council or it will be placed on the ballot. For the Council to have an <br /> opportunity to have a deliberative process that is all inclusive, she believes we should ask staff <br /> to come up with language opportunities that would allow the Council to do this and would make <br /> clear to the community the Council's intent is to put together a hillside ordinance that we can <br /> implement and that future Councils can support. She confirmed with Councilmembers that they <br /> were amenable to looking at the language opportunities to use on the November ballot as well <br /> as directing staff to prepare a report. <br /> Vice Mayor Thome confirmed there were time limitations to place an item on the ballot and <br /> supported putting something on the ballot that defines a process and identifies the Council's <br /> intent. <br /> Councilmember Sullivan said the entire ordinance would not need to be developed by the time it <br /> needed to go on the ballot, but rather work through issues of consistency and work with the <br /> stakeholder group, because he was not supportive of a competing measure. <br /> Mayor Hosterman said she does not want a competing measure but wants to engage the entire <br /> community in the process. She does not think this can be done in the next 30 days, but the City <br /> can put additional language on the ballot which gives people the opportunity for people to go in <br /> a different direction and she believed this is important. City Manager Fialho voiced caution in <br /> how the City approaches it, as it is bound by CEQA laws. He confirmed that the Council wants, <br /> in addition to the Section 9212 analysis, to come up with conceptual ideas for how there might <br /> be a complimentary and alternative measure that further refines the Initiative which the Council <br /> can debate and discuss when the matter returns in June. He suggested holding off on the City <br /> Attorney presenting an impartial analysis, as this is difficult without a Section 9212 report. <br /> City Council Minutes 15 May 20, 2008 <br />