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Minutes of a Public Hearing On Proposed Charter Review Revisions 8-10-10 Page 7 This again is a more substantive recommendation for changes. It involves several sections of the Charter. A little history is necessary here to. Going back to 1974 when your first Charter came into effect, the founding fathers said that the Mayor and Council will introduce legislation to change zoning. That zoning will then be referred to the Planning Commission who must have public hearings, who must study it for at least 30 days, must make recommendations then to Council for or against the proposed rezoning. Council then had to have public hearings, public debates, and then they had to read it at least three times which spreads out over a number of weeks, give the public an opportunity to be heard again and then make a decision whether the zoning of the land should be changed, yes or no. Council made that decision. The voters had the right in another part of the Charter which existed in 1974 and still exists, if they didn't like the decision of Council, they could do what was called a referenduxn. That is, they can circulate a petition within 30 days after the ordinance was adopted. If that petition was submitted to Council within the 30 days with a sufficient number of signatures, the ordinance did not become law until it was voted on by the people. That is still in the Charter and no one is proposing to change that. That was the way it was in 1974. Come the 80's, there was a trend going around the country where zoning was occurring more frequently that the public did not like. As a result, there were charter amendments being made that required rezoning to go to the voters before the land could be rezoned. In other words, besides Planning Commission, besides Council making these public hearings and making their decision, once they made the decision that they were in favor of it, it then had to go on to the ballot at the next primary or general election. The voters then would make a decision whether or not to approve the rezoning or to reject the rezoning. That's been in the Charter since the late 80's in Mayfield Village. It was adopted in other communities at different times. One of the handouts you might have or information we do have is that there's a wide variety of people that do and don't have it. For instance the surrounding communities around here that do not have referendum zoning is: Chagrin Falls, Cleveland Heights, Garfield Heights, Highland Heights, Independence, Kirtland Hills, Mayfield Heights, Mentor, Richmond Heights, Rocky River, Shaker, Strongsville and Waite Hill. Those around us who do have it are: Lyndhurst, Eastlake, Moreland Hills, Orange, Pepper Pike, Solon and Willoughby Hills. There is a balance of some who do and some who don't. What has happened since the '80's that the Charter Review Commission took into account is that if a land is situated in a certain location and has a certain use assigned to it, the ultimate avenue that a property owner has if you do not allow them to use the land according to its highest and best use, they go to court. When