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Tomorrow night the Council will discuss an agreement to settle a lawsuit regarding the Housing Element, which is more than a decade out of date. The agreement includes payment of $114,000 to cover the other parties' attorney fees, commitments to a long list of tight milestones for creating a revised Housing Element as well as to overlays aimed at increasing residential density considerably.
The public deserves some answers to questions like:
1. Why was the update delayed this long when it was known in the 1990s that the "current" document would end in 1999?
2. How could it get to the point, discussed as a vulnerability for years, that the city got sued and has to pay for the insult?
3. How does this agreement fit with the proposed ECR/DT plan?
4. Why did the city proceed with the Menlo Gateway, ECR/DT plan, Facebook approvals with the full knowledge that the entire General plan is out of date and might provoke reactions like this suit?
5. Whose responsibility was it to keep the city out of such trouble and ensure plans are addressed when they should? Will the responsible parties be fired (planning head, city lawyer?)
see city website for details in the staff report for tomorrow evening's meeting
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