HomeMy WebLinkAbout7/7/2020 Item 08, Ulz
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From:Eva Ulz <
To:E-mail Council Website
Cc:Dietrick, Christine
Subject:Cultural Heritage Committee
Dear Council Members,
As you know, the responsibility for approving or denying proposed development projects in San Luis Obispo ultimately
rests with you, the City Council. When one of your decisions is challenged, the court looks in part to the administrative
record, including the transcript of advisory body meetings, to see whether that decision was based on findings, and
whether those findings were supported by substantial evidence.
While I respect your right to ask any advisory body member to step down, I also urge you to consider the message that
you are sending to other advisory body members. As long as the City has advisory bodies, the validity of your own
decision-making will rest in part on the diligence with which your advisors investigate and discuss the issues within each
of their purviews.
James Papp has been a tireless advocate for historic preservation in San Luis Obispo, and, in many cases, a staunch
defender of the City's legal interests by ensuring that CHC's recommendations were based on substantial evidence and
that appropriate findings made their way into the administrative record. His removal for such a vague offense as
incivility, however justified, will invariably have a chilling effect on the remaining Cultural Heritage Committee Members.
How will the rest of us know when we too have gone over the line by voicing disagreement with staff or project
applicants?
Civility is a wonderful goal. But it is undeniably a subjective one. And it should not come at the price of leaving the City
vulnerable to having its decision-making overturned by an out-of-town real estate developer or a group of disgruntled
neighbors.
Sincerely,
Eva Ulz
San Luis Obispo Resident
Member of the Cultural Heritage Committee since 2019
Member of the Jack House Committee, 2014 to 2018
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