1976-11-09 - Laserfiche WebLink

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November 2, 1976 TO: The Honorable Mayor and Members of the Council FROM: Thomas F. Lewcock, City Manager SUBJECT: Applicant Withdrawal Policy At the Council meeting of October 26, 1976, the Council directed that a report be prepared relative to withdrawal of applications. We believe such an ordinance should have two separate components. Those components would be the method by which an application can be withdrawn and secondly how fees would be handled. Application Withdrawal The purposes for a policy of withdrawal include: 1) Making clear to an applicant the procedure that must be followed for withdrawal; 2) An easy procedure for the applicant to follow; 3) A procedure which does not have negative impact on the City's position relative to an application; 4) A procedure which minimizes the time spent by Council and staff on an application which the applicant no longer desires to pursue. Next it is necessary to isolate which kinds of applications are subject to the policy. Basically, applications can be divided into two categories: those which are administratively processed and those which require Council approval. We see no reason to specify the method of withdrawal for applications which are administratively handled. Normally such applications are handled in a short period of time. The real problem with administratively handled applications is how to handle fees. This will be discussed in the following section There are two critical points to the application process where a Council ruling is necessary. Those points are: (1) before an application is placed on Council or Planning Commission agenda and, (2) after an application is placed on the Council or Planning Commission agenda. Under condition one, the most convenient way of proceeding for both applicant and staff is a simple withdrawal of an application at an administrative level. In order to avoid any misunderstanding, however, such withdrawal should be in writing.