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Camarillo council repeals Policy 7.01, streamlining non‑city general plan amendments
Summary
The City Council voted unanimously to repeal City Council Policy 7.01, removing the referral, annual and triennial review steps that had governed non‑city general plan amendment requests and directing staff to accept and process applications under the standard planning review sequence.
The Camarillo City Council voted 5‑0 on Feb. 26 to repeal City Council Policy 7.01, the decades‑old rule that required a council referral and periodic reviews before applicants could file non‑city general plan amendment requests.
Planning staff warned the council the policy had become lengthy and redundant. "Policy 7.01 was adopted in 1976 and was last amended in 2021," said Ms. Lee, a staff member, as she laid out the referral schedule and the sequence of annual and triennial reviews that applicants faced. She told the council staff recommends repealing the referral mechanism so applicants may immediately file a general plan amendment and associated permits for standard processing by staff, hearings before the Planning Commission and a final council decision.
The repeal, staff said, would eliminate steps they characterized as duplicative and would mirror processes used by neighboring jurisdictions. "The big takeaway from this complicated flowchart is to show that the process is quite complex and lengthy," Ms. Lee said. She also asked the council to determine the repeal was not subject to CEQA review.
A longtime local applicant, Dennis Hardgrave, told the council he had worked with every iteration of the rule and advised repeal. "I half built out city... We had multiple vacant properties that people were coming and bombarding staff with applications," Hardgrave said, describing how the referral process could discourage potential projects.
Councilmember Martinez Bravo moved to repeal Policy 7.01; a second was made and the motion passed on a roll‑call vote of 5‑0 (Martinez Bravo, Santangelo, Tremblay, Vice Mayor Tennyson and Mayor Kildee). Staff will now accept general plan amendment applications under the standard application and review process and will bring individual applications forward for Planning Commission recommendation and council action as required.
Councilmembers said the change is intended to make the process clearer to applicants and to reduce staff and council workload created by repeated status reviews and triennial hearings.
