Transcript Land Use Managing the Public Process

SESSION: Land Use & Environmental Law – Shaping Our Communities
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Our Panelists:
Celena Chen, Deputy City Attorney
City of Oakland
Anagha Dandekar Clifford, Attorney
Wendel, Rosen, Black and Dean LLP
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The Players
• Applicant
• Public Agency
• Community/Public/Special Interests
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Applicant and Public Agency
Can be:
• Independently effective:
each using separate tools
to reach intended goals
• Working together
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Sharing Information
Split in authority: For many years California Oaks Foundation v.
County of Tehama (2009) 174 Cal.App.4th 1217, was cited to support
the proposition that the common interest doctrine applied to
communications between counsel for the lead agency and project
applicant. Supporting that was Citizens for Open Government v. City
of Lodi (2012) 205 Cal.App.4th 296 which stated that the lead agency
must show that public interest in nondisclosure outweighs the public
interest in disclosure to claim deliberative process privilege. Recently
Citizens for CERES v. Superior Court (2013) 217 Cal.App.4th 889, held
that the common interest doctrine does not apply to
communications between applicant’s attorney and lead agency
while the EIR being prepared.
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Sharing Information (cont.)
Best course is to work
together knowing that any
communication may be
treated as part of the public
record.
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Know the Law in your Jurisdiction
• Disclosure
• Public Meetings
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Running a Public Meeting
• Process and procedures in
place: make them known
and stick to them
• Respect
• Control your meeting:
– Create rules of conduct and post at
meeting
– Explain the meeting rules (i.e., speaker,
time limits and purpose of agenda items)
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Community
• Category 1: Those that
don’t care (disengaged)
• Category 2: Those that want information or
may have some opposition but are willing to
work with you
• Category 3: Those whom you will never
please
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Loss of Control
• When Category 3 or other interests take
control of the process or the meeting, we
have process failure.
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Know your World
• Go to your stakeholders’
meetings (don’t be satisfied
with simply holding your own).
• Engage your constituency. Talk to them, not at
them (the community wants to be a part of the
process).
• Keep the information flowing. It’s an iterative
process. People support what they help create.
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Learn your Landscape
Anticipate those who may:
• Support
• Oppose
• Obstruct
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Encourage Supporters’ Voice to:
• Attend
• Participate
• Advocate
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Can’t Control Everything
• Use process safeguards,
maintain respect and
decorum
• Try to be fair, but firm
• Move forward deliberately
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THANK YOU
For more information, contact:
Celena Chen
[email protected]
Anagha Dandekar Clifford
[email protected]
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