The La Jolla Community Planning Association’s certification as a recognized planning group for the city is in jeopardy and may be revoked April 24 by City Council if it does not revise its bylaws, according to a letter issued March 28 from the City Attorney’s Office.
A special meeting to discuss temporarily readopting the old bylaws with two modifications in order to avoid decertification will be held at 6 p.m. this evening, April 5, as recommended by Jim Waring, the city’s deputy chief of land use and economic development.
“The organization has received recognition as a planning group under the City of San Diego, and one of its rules is to follow Council Policy 600-24, which says before it uses the bylaws they must be approved by the city,” LJCPA President Tim Golba said. “The city is now saying, ‘OK, we can’t recognize anything you have done since putting the bylaws in effect.'”
In January, the LJCPA voted to approve bylaws, or rules that govern the planning group, containing language that made the document immediately effective before being approved by the City Attorney’s Office and the Planning Department ” a direct violation of Council Policy 600-24.
The bylaws have been approved by the City Attorney’s office, as announced by City Attorney Michael Aguirre at a special January meeting and again at a press conference held Wednesday, April 4. The letter issued to the group by Waring states that the LJCPA will be docketed for an April 24 City Council meeting and the mayor’s office will request decertification for the group if it continues to operate under bylaws that have not been approved by city officials.
It also states that the validity of any action taken by the group since the document was adopted ” including the March LJCPA trustee elections ” is under question by the city. But according to Aguirre, the March 1st election was conducted in compliance with all applicable laws and policies.
Modifications to the old bylaws would include changing the membership requirement from attending three meetings per year to one and eliminating proxy voting. These would put the group in conformance with council policy and relieve the issue of membership requirements preventing some residents from voting, Golba said.
La Jolla’s bylaws have been a source of contention since October 2006, when some residents were concerned that they would not be able to vote because of a three-meeting-per-calendar-year membership requirement.
The revised bylaws adopted in January changed that requirement from three meetings to one.
If the group decides to adopt the old bylaws temporarily with the modifications until the new document gains approval, the city has also agreed to validate the March trustee elections, according to Golba.
City Council will review each community planning group’s bylaws after May 1 to ensure that all are in compliance with the Brown Act, provisions that require official planning groups to give proper notice of public meetings.
Council is waiting to review all bylaw documents at that time and is not likely to look at La Jolla’s until then, unless it’s brought before council for decertification, Golba said.
Six newly elected trustees will sit on the planning group’s panel for tonight’s special meeting. The group will take two votes separated by those elected under the new bylaws and those elected under the old document.
The LJCPA meets at La Jolla Recreation Center, 615 Prospect St. For more information, visit www.lajollacpa.org or www.sandiego.gov.