AGENDA #3b(1)

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]

Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2005 9:12 AM

To: Town Council

Cc: [email protected]; Cal Horton; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

Subject: Sunrise Road Funding Extension Tenative Agenda Item 2-14

To: Mayor and Town Council

From: Doug Schworer

Date: February 10, 2005

Subject: HHOC Funding Extension Tentative Agenda Item 2-14

The purpose of this letter is to request that the agenda item concerning extension of the  $ 50,000 loan to Habitat for Humanity of Orange County (HHOC) for Sunrise Road (Ridge)be moved back from the February 14th to the February 28th  Business meeting. The reason for this is that the public has not been provided with adequate time to review the Manager’s recommendation regarding this matter.

The Town did not provide the public with a copy of HHOC request for an extension in a timely fashion.  On multiple occasions, I, as a citizen residing in the vicinity of the proposed development, have requested that the Town provide me copies of all information received from HHOC regarding the Sunrise Road development.  Despite several email mails and a phone call to the Town Manager, it was over two weeks after the Town received a request for a funding extension from HHOC that I was advised that HHOC had filed this request.

Furthermore, because the public did not receive the manager’s recommendations until February 10, I will not be able to meet with members of the planning department until February 11.  Effectively, the Town is allowing the public just two business days to investigate the Manager’s recommendation, digest the data, and develop a position.  This is hardly much time for a project that is over two years in the making.   

Background:

In early January 2005 we sent an email to the Town Manager requesting how the HHOC Sunrise Road funding expiration would be handled by the Town. We followed up the email with a call to the manager and a second email.  No specific response was received from the Town until January 28th--over two weeks after the Town received a letter from HHOC requesting an extension to the loan--when I received a call from Chris Bernett of the Planning Department advising me of the letter and that the request would be considered at the February 14 council meeting

Earlier this week, I contacted the Town Clerk  asking how this would be discussed at the Council meeting: agenda item, consent agenda, or informational item?  The Town clerk advised me this would be an agenda item, read me the recommendation, and transferred me to Lyron Barnes in the Planning Department for further explanation.  I left a message on Lyron Barnes voice mail. Later in the afternoon, I received a call from the clerk advising me that the recommendation would not be made public until Thursday, February 10th and therefore could not be discussed until after that date. I scheduled a meeting with Lyron Barnes for 9:00 a.m on Friday, February 11 to review the rationale behind the recommendation and hopefully gain some insight into what factors were considered in developing the recommendation.

The Town received HHOC’s request for an extension approximately one month ago and has had adequate time to internally socialize the request and develop its recommendation. If discussion of this item occurs on February 14 as currently scheduled, our coalition will have had only a few days to review the recommendation and prepare our position.

 We do not feel this is adequate time by any standards, and is yet another instance where the Town appears to alter the normal public processes in dealing with the Habitat proposal.  This is entirely unacceptable.   We therefore request that the Town reschedule the discussion of Habitat’s request for February 28th, providing the public with ample time to assess and comment on this request for public funds. 

cc: Mike Brough - Brough Law Firm

     Cal Horton