Council criticized for delaying vote on home-building rules Council criticized for delaying vote on home-building rules (March 17, 2004)

By Rebecca Wallace
Almanac Staff Writer

Even though the Menlo Park City Council postponed until June a decision on the future of a divisive new set of home-building rules, it looks like those rules will rear their persistent heads again this week.

Planning Commissioner Kelly Fergusson, who led a signature-gathering campaign on a referendum petition against the proposal, has challenged the council's vote to table the matter, saying the council broke state law.

Ms. Fergusson said the fact that her petition was certified by the City Clerk on February 26 with more than 2,500 signatures meant that the council was obligated to decide at its March 2 meeting whether to rescind the new rules or have the voters decide whether to do so, either at a special election or on the November ballot.

Meanwhile, Chuck Kinney, who voted against the new rules, said he planned to bring the issue up at the March 16 council meeting to see if his colleagues were interested in creating a revised compromise ordinance.

"If there is no interest, however, to possibly modify this ordinance then why wait any longer. We should vote to either rescind or place (it) on the ballot," he wrote in a memo to the council.

Ms. Fergusson said she would wait to see the outcome of the March 16 meeting before deciding whether to take any action; she said she's not planning any legal action against the city at this time.

Councilwoman Mickie Winkler, who supports the rules and made the motion to table, said she felt it was appropriate for the council to take more time to learn more about why residents are for and against the plan.

"There is absolutely no downside in getting more information," she wrote in an e-mail to the Almanac.

City Attorney Bill McClure has said that a literal reading of state law indicates that a council must act at the first scheduled meeting after a referendum petition is certified. He added, however, that many councils do not, typically agreeing that a short delay is acceptable.

For example, the Palo Alto council recently put off a decision on a development on High Street "while they considered options" for dealing with a referendum petition, Mr. McClure wrote in a memo to the Menlo Park council. A little over two months later, they voted to put the issue on the ballot.

Passed in January, the home-building rules never took effect because of the petition. Supporters say their framework makes the approval process easier to navigate, while critics worry that they open the door to oversized homes.

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