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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-07-14 Ordinance 4434ORDINANCE NO. 4434 ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALO ALTO AMENDING SECTION 2.40.035 OF CHAPTER 2.40 (MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS] OF THE PALO ALTO MUNICIPAL CODE TO PERMIT PREPARATION OF IMPARTIAL SUMMARIES OF THOSE BALLOT MEASURES WHICH EXCEED FIFTY PAGES IN LENGTH, AND DECLARING THE URGENCY THEREOF, TO TAKE EFFECT IMMEDIATELY The City Council of the City of Palo Alto does ordain as follows: SECTION 1. Findings. The Council finds and declares: A. At the regular City Council meeting of June 30, 1997, the Council introduced for first reading Ordinance No, 4433, entitled "Ordinance of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Approving a Development Agreement Between the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University and the City of Palo Alto" ("Development Agreement Ordinance"). The Development Agreement Ordinance includes as an attachment a copy of the Development Agreement between the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University and the City of Palo Alto. As a result, the Development Agreement Ordinance is several hundred pages in length. B. The City Council intends to submit the Development Agreement Ordinance to a referendum. Unlike State law which permits ballot pamphlet summaries (Elec. Code, §§ 9223, 9280), Palo Alto Municipal Code section 2.40.035 requires the ballot pamphlet to contain the full text of any measure submitted to the voters, regardless of its length. C. The city clerk has investigated the cost of.printing and :railing the full text of the Development Agreement Ordinance in the required form, including translations to Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese, and determined that the resulting election costs would be in excess of $200,000. D. The City Council has deteruained that printing and mailing the full text of the Development Agreement Ordinance to all voters would threaten public peace, health and safety because the volume and complexity of the materials, without any accompanying summary would discourage many voters from studying the important issues that are presented. The materials are highly technical in many places, and many voters could be confused by the contract and regulatory terminology. Erroneous or confused voting on the Development Agreement Ordinance would also threaten public peace, health and safety because the development of the Sand Hill Road Corridor is carefully conditioned to analyze and make findings on dozens of significant environmental impacts, the occurrence of which will depend upon the voters' decison making. In addition, the City Council has determined that the above -referenced printing and mailing costs are excessive, and that the expenditure would impair 970715 bdr 0051798 the City's ability to make other expenditures which are necessary to protect the public peace, health and safety. E, The City Council has further determined that the public interest will be best served by conducting the referendum election at the same time and in consolidation with the general election in November (at a cost of $30,000 to $44,©00), and that the relevant deadline for City action to consolidate the election is August 8, 1997. As a result, this Ordinance could not be enacted and effective in time for the city clerk and city attorney to complete their respective duties under state and local law as required for a November 1997 election. F. For the foregoing reasons, it is necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety to enact as an urgency measure an ordinance which authorizes the preparation of impartial summaries of ballot measures that exceed fifty pages in length. SECTION 2. Section 2.40.0 35 of Cr.a ter 2.40 of the Palo Alto Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: Section 2.40.035 (a) Whenever any ordinance or :measure is to be submitted to the electors at any municipal election, the city clerk shall cause a ballot question and the full text of the ordinance or measure to be printed in the sample ballot. The city clerk shall refer the ordinance or measure to the city attorney for preparation of the ballot question. The ballot question may differ from any other title of the ordinance or measure, and shall express the purpose of the ordinance or measure. (b) If the ordinance or measure exceeds fifty (50) pages when printed or typed single-spaced with not less than 12 -point type, the city clerk shall cause a summary of the full text of the ordinance or measure to be prepared and printed in the sample ballot. The city clerk shall refer the ordinance or measure to the city attorney who shall prepare a true and impartial summary of the full text of the ordinance or measure in such language that the summary shall neither be an argument, nor be likely to create prejudice, for or against the proposed measure. (c) In the event the full text of the ordinance or measure is not printed on the ballot, nor in the voter information portion of the sample ballot, there shall be printed immediately below the summary, in no less than 10 -point bold type, a legend substantially as follows: "The above statement is an impartial summary of the [ordinance or measure title]. If you desire a copy of the ordinance or measure, please call the Palo Alto City Clerk's Office at (insert telephone number) and a copy will be mailed at no cost to you." 2 970715t)4c 0051798 a SECTION 3. This ordinance shall be effective immediately upon adoption. SECTION 5. The Council finds that this project is exempt from the provisions of the Environmental Quality Act {"CEQA') because it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that this project will have a significant effect on the environment, This ordinance was introduced at a regular meeting of the Council of the City of Palo Alto which commenced on Monday, July 14, 1997, and was passed by a four -fifths vote of all Council members present at the meeting as follows: INTRODUCED AND PASSED: 1u1Y 14, 1997 AYES: Andersen, Eakins, Huber, Kniss, McCown:, Rosenbaum, Schneider, Wheeler NOES: MITITNTIONS: ABSENT: Fazzino ATTES ) PPRO rk APP • �r ;r r t t Attorney 4 Maana e r 970715 bdc 0051798 3