Council fixes inadvertent repeal in UDC affecting Planning Commission, Board of Adjustment and Historic Preservation
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Summary
The City Council adopted Ordinance O25-23 to restore membership and administrative provisions for the Planning Commission, Board of Adjustment and Historic Preservation Commission that were omitted from the 2024 Unified Development Code; the measure passed after debate and a failed motion to table.
The Glendale City Council voted to adopt Ordinance O25-23 to restore provisions for the Planning Commission, Board of Adjustment and Historic Preservation Commission that were unintentionally omitted from the city’s 2024 Unified Development Code (UDC).
City Attorney Mr. Bailey told the council the ordinance is intended to correct a clerical error that repealed changes the council originally adopted in 2022 and to reinsert the previously approved language into the UDC. “This evening, before you is a request to fix what appears to be an inadvertent repeal of a previous Council action,” Mr. Bailey said. “But for the fact of this error, this would be the existing codebook.”
The council debated procedure and whether the item should have first gone to committee; one council member asked if the change could be split into separate votes for each commission, and the city attorney said the item is a single piece of legislation that had been noticed as introduced. A motion to table failed on a roll call vote. After discussion the council approved the ordinance on a roll call, with Council Members Leandro Baldenegro, Diana Guzman, Mehlner and Vice Mayor Lauren Tomachoff and the chair voting aye; Council Members Lupe Conchas and Bart Turner voted no. Turner explained his no vote, saying, “I’m going to vote no on this simply due to the changes to the planning commission. I did not at the time and I still do not support having non residents serve on our most important, probably most, desirable... commission.”
City staff said the omission was a staff error; the clerk’s office and city attorney plan to review the process and the city may engage the auditor to determine how the omission occurred. The council approved the ordinance to restore the prior 2022 provisions and directed staff to bring any substantive policy changes back for separate consideration.
The ordinance is intended as a technical correction, not a policy change; if the council wishes to alter the substance of membership or selection rules, staff said such changes would be presented later as a substantive amendment.