Chapter 47- Appeals
47.010 General provisions.
47.020 Procedures & fees.
47.030 Public notice of appeal.
47.040 Appeal hearing.
47.050 Action of appeal.
47.060 Withdrawal of appeal.
47.070 Reinitiation of project.
47.080 Finality of appeal.
47.010 General provisions.
Appeals of any action of the Planning Division or Planning Commission may be made by a party adversely affected by the action. Appeals shall be made in accordance with this chapter. The taking of any appeal stays proceedings in the matter appealed until a decision is rendered on the appeal. For purposes of this section, a party adversely affected by the action shall mean any party who, upon exhaustion of administrative remedies, would have standing to challenge the action in court.
47.020 Procedures & fees.
Appeals shall be filed in the manner specified below and shall be accompanied by the appropriate filing fee set by the Board of Supervisors:
- Planning Division Determinations. Appeals of a Planning Division determination or interpretation of the provisions of this General Plan, including consistency with the Land Use Element, shall be made by filing a written notice of appeal on a form provided by the division with the secretary of the Planning Commission within 10 calendar days following the division’s action; and
- Planning Commission Determinations. Appeals of any decision of the Planning Commission may be made to the Board of Supervisors by filing a written notice of appeal, on a form provided by the division, with the Community Development director within 10 calendar days following the Commission action. The Director will determine if the notice is timely and if so, will transmit it to the clerk of the Board of Supervisors to be set for public hearing as specified in Section 47.030.
47.030 Public notice of appeal.
Within 30 days of the acceptance of a Notice of Appeal, the Community Development director, in the case of an appeal of a Planning Division determination, or clerk of the Board of Supervisors, in the case of an appeal of a Planning Commission determination, shall set the matter for hearing and shall give notice of the date, time and place of the hearing to the appellant, the applicant, and to any other party who has requested in writing to be so notified. All appeals shall be scheduled for a hearing, which shall commence within 60 days of the date of filing the appeal.
47.040 Appeal hearing.
Appeals shall be de novo (i.e., the appeal body is not limited to a review of the record before the decision maker and the entire case may be repeated), except that the scope of the appeal shall be limited to those matters from which an appeal is taken. In hearing any such appeal, the appeal body may affirm, affirm in part, or reverse the previous determination that is the subject of appeal, provided that an appeal is not to be granted when the relief sought should be granted through a variance or amendment.
The hearing may be continued from time to time by the appeal body.
47.050 Decision.
The appeal body may render its decision at the conclusion of the hearing or at any time within 30 days following the hearing.
47.060 Withdrawal of appeal.
Any person who files an appeal of any decision rendered under any of the procedures included in the chapter may withdraw that appeal in accordance with the following:
- All withdrawals shall be in writing and signed by all persons who signed the appeal; and
- Any appeal may be withdrawn by the appellant prior to the giving of the Notice of Hearing on appeal with the consent of the Director, who shall have the discretion to withhold such consent if he/she is of the opinion that such withdrawal might act to deprive other interested persons of an opportunity to oppose the action appealed from.
Any withdrawal effectively made pursuant to the above rules shall be an abandonment of the appeal and the decision appealed from shall be reinstated as though no appeal had been made.
47.070 Reinitiation of project.
No matter appealed from and denied/disapproved by the Board of Supervisors or Planning Commission may be reconsidered for a period of one year from the date of final action unless such action was specifically stated to be without prejudice.
47.080 Finality of appeal.
The appeal of any decision to the Board of Supervisors, pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, constitutes the administrative appeal and remedy procedure for all land use decisions of the County. The decision of the appeal body, pursuant to 47.050, shall be final for all purposes unless a judicial action challenging the same is commenced within the time provided by law. Failure to make timely utilization of the administrative remedies of this chapter and the exhaustion of same shall bar further review.
