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Letter from Berliner Cohen dated June 29, 2016ANDfiEW L FABSft RALPH J,SWANSON RgGGYLSPRNGOAY JOSB'H E.DWORAK SAMUa L FARB ALAN J.PiNNEfi UNOA A.CAllOM JAMES P.CASHMAN STEVEN J.CASAO NANCY J.JOHNSON JEROLD A.REflON JONATHAN D.WOIF KATHLEEN K.SIPlE KEVIN F.KELiEY RETIRED SAMUEL J.COHEN ROBERT W.HUMPHREYS HUGHL ISOLA ROBERT L.CH0R7EK MARK MAKJEWICZ JEFFREY S.KAUFMAN JOUE HOUSTON BRIAN U SKETIER JOHN F.DOMINGUE HARRY A.LOPEZ CHARLES W.VOLPE MICHAEL VIOLANII Christine h.long AARON M.VAIENTI Christian E.pcone SUSAN E.BISHOP SANDRA O.SEPUIVEOA BERLINER COHEN LLP TEN ALMADEN BOULEVARD ELEVENTH FLOOR SAN JOSE,CAUFORNIA 95113-2233 TELEPHONE:(408)286-5800 FACSIMILE:(408)998-5388 www.befliner.com Branch Olfice» M«fc«<LCA *ModestaCA June 29,2016 THOMAS P.MURPHY stacey a,zariler EKfEN P. KENNEDY LAURA PAIAZZOLO KMBERLY G.FLORES JEREMY F.SEGAa DAWN C.SWEATT KAIHLRN F.SHERMAN MtCHAEL J.CHENG JENNIFER Y.LEUNG D^O.TETRAULT OF COUNSEL SANFORD A.BERLRJER STEVEN U HALLORIMSON FRANK R.UBKAUS ERIC WONG TYLER A.SHEWEY H,SHR^NYUU SARA L. POLLOCK BEAUC.CORREIA LAWRENCE LN DAVID A.BELLUMORI JACQUES F.6ARI10T STEPHEN C.SCOROEUS MICHAEL C.BRANSON JUSTIN D.PRUEin ANTHONY DOJAGER MICHAEL G.UAMS NANCY L. BRANDT LESUE KALM MCHUGH VIA EMAIL AND U.S.MAIL Laurel Prevetti Town Manager Town of Los Gatos 110 E.Main Street Los Gatos,CA 95030 Re: Town Council Special Meeting June 29,2016,Agenda Item 1 North Forty Phase I Story Poles Our File No.:09427-065 Dear Ms.Prevetti: In my letter to you of June 28,2016,1 explained that the Town Story Pole Policydoes not allow for the Town to consider,on its own motion,a change to the granted Story Pole Exception Approval.Whenthatletterwaswrittentheagendaforthespecialmeetinghadnotyetbeen posted. Agenda item 1on thenow-postedagenda,states:"Consider a timeextension forStoryPoles for the Phase 1North Forty Development Applications." The purpose of this letter, now that the agenda has been posted, is to emphasize that under the Town Story Pole Policy, the Town Council has no jurisdiction to modify the previously granted Story Pole Exception Approval. As the staff report notes, this approval is in the nature of a permit, and Grosvenor and SummerHill (the "Applicants") have a vested rightto relyon this permit. In fact, as discussed in my previous letter, they have relied on the permit to their considerable expense and to the considerable disruption of ongoing businesses on the property. 4839-1684-66921/2 A15\09427065 Laurel Prevetti June 29,2016 Under the Story Pole Policy,the design and placement of the story poles is to be administered bythe staff alone. TheTown Council mayonly getinvolved underthe Policy ifthere isarequestforan exception made bythe applicant.Asthestaffreportpointsout,these Applicants didrequestan exception whichwasgrantedon February 16,2016. Whenthey requested a further exception,the Town Council denied it. The Policymakesitveryclear, however,that exceptionsarecontemplatedonlyuponrequest bythe applicant.Thereisno intrinsic authoritv fortheTown Council to modify its approved permit on its own initiative. Case law supports the proposition that a city council does not have unlimited authority simplyto intervene incity matters asit may desire.For example,in fVoody's Group Inc.v.City of Newport Beach(20\5)233 CaI.App.4"'1012,the Court ofAppeal held that a councilmember could not appeal a decision of the planning commission to the city councilwhen such appeal was not explicitly authorized bythe citycode,inspiteof a longstanding "policyandpractice"of allowing such appeals by councilmembers. See also Cohan v.City of Thousand Oaks (1994), 30 Cal.App. 4th547(Similarholding;"[The applicants]shouldnotbe subjected totheblatant disregard oftheir due process rights.TheCouncilsimplysubmittedtotheroarofthe crowd").Similarly,inGabric v. City ofRancho Pales Verdes {\911),73 Cal.App.3d 183,acity council called up a building permit for review, and the Court held that such action was outside of the power of the council, since the issuance of building permits was a staff function, not a council function. It isthus abundantly clear that the Town Council of Los Gatos has no power in this instance torequirean extension ofthe60-daydurationforthestorypolesthatwas previously granted bythe Story Pole Exception Approval permit. We request that this letter as well as my letter of June 28, 2016 be made a part of the record of this matter. Very truly yours, lEN,LLP cc:Mayor and Councilmembers Town Clerk Rob Schultz,Town Attorney Joel Paulson,Planning Director Wendi Baker Don Capobres ANDREW L.FABER E-Mail:andrew.faber@berliner.com 4839-1684.8692v2 .9- ALF\0M27065