Cross_cutting

1:13 we serve by appointment from the Board of County Counselors to review and decide development proposals in unincorporated Clark County. We are both experienced land use attorneys and we live outside of the jurisdiction so we don't have any personal connections. We're required to provide an impartial evaluation of each of these items. And I believe that I am impartial with regard to this one tonight. I don't have any personal business or familial connection to the applicant or the owners or any of the parties that have weighed in on this item so far. But I know about the proposals, what I have gleaned from the record, which I've had for approximately two weeks now. And if anyone has any questions or wishes to challenge my impartiality, feel free to do so during the public testimony portion

2:11 of tonight's hearing. My job tonight is to take public testimony, but I'm also required to evaluate and review the application, all of the public comments, the staff report, all the various staff comments. And ultimately it is my job to decide if this proposal meets or does not meet the applicable approval criteria. Those are the standards that are in the Clark County development code that existed on the day this application came in. And those are the standards that control the outcome of the decision. I can't take into account any issues that don't relate to those approval criteria. I can't be more stringent than they allow. I can't be more lenient than they require, but I'm required to fairly interpret the standards and decide if they have been met or not. And to just make that decision, I look to evidence in the record

3:08 and the applicant and the opponent's arguments about those criteria and decide whether there's sufficient credible evidence in the record to demonstrate that those standards are met or can be met through the imposition of conditions. And if that evidence is in the record, I'm obligated by state law and the local code to approve the development. My decisions are the county's final decision in these matters, but they can be, my decision can be appealed by anyone who has participated. That appeal would go to the Clark County Superior Court through the Land Use Petition Act. To appeal one of my decisions, you need to participate, either orally tonight or by submitting written comments before the record closes. And you need to raise before me any issue you wish to preserve for a subsequent appeal. And you need to present to me any evidence that you want me to take into account

4:08 or that you might want to rely upon in a subsequent appeal. So all that has to happen while the record is still open. And so the open close part of the record is a very important distinction. I typically close the record at the conclusion of public testimony, but in this post pandemic era, we always leave the record open for at least one week following the hearing. So any of you out there tonight who wish to respond to a testimony that comes in tonight or to formulate more or different arguments, you can submit those comments for at least a week following tonight's hearing by emailing them, regular mailing them, or hand delivering them to Mr. Kinsman, who is the staff planner on this item. Let me give a few procedural dos and don'ts for participating tonight

5:07 in this WebEx internet-based platform. We will get a primer on how to function when I'm done with my comments from the staff planner. But the order of events will be first, we take testimony from the county staff. That would be a verbal rendition of the written staff report that was issued prior to tonight's hearing. After that, I'll take the applicant's presentation. Applicant, you can assume that I'm generally familiar with the proposal and I need to know a couple of things from you. First of all, I need to know what is the most current form of this proposal with the latest revised set of plans, which according to my records is exhibit 71, the revised site plan for this, but I need you to confirm that so I and everyone else knows

6:06 what the current configuration is. Secondly, staff has prepared a report, it's exhibit 76, and it goes through all of the applicable approval criteria and analyzes each of those and the evidence that the applicant has submitted in support of the application here. So I need from the applicant in your opening comments, if you have any changes, corrections, challenges, objections to any of the findings that are in the staff report or any of the proposed conditions in the staff report. And I understand we have at least one memo from the applicant, exhibit 78 just came in dealing with concurrency findings and condition. So I need to know with specificity what corrections, changes, challenges you have to the staff report.

7:02 And finally, a lot of times we'll get testimony, public testimony in these hearings in a form of opposition, nominally opposition, but a lot of people want to know how this development when it is up and running is going to impact them, how it's gonna affect the local stormwater, how it's gonna affect the transportation system, how it's gonna look, those sorts of functional things. And oftentimes the applicant is in the best position to respond to those public comments, those public objections. And so I would look to you applicant to keep track of those comments as they come in in tonight's testimony and be prepared to respond to them in your final rebuttal this evening or in writing, written responses are very useful as well. So that's the applicant's presentation. After the applicant presentation,

8:00 then anyone else in favor of the application can testify. Then anyone with neutral testimony or questions can testify. And then finally, the third category, anyone who is opposed can testify. So I'll take each of those groups in that particular order. After the opponent testimony is over, I will go back to the applicant for final rebuttal. In all of these cases, the applicant gets the last word. They have the burden of proof and I always, in state law always allows applicants to bear that burden by getting the final word in response to opposition testimony So the applicant, I'll look to you to give final rebuttal tonight, but understand the record will be left open at least a week and you can do your final rebuttal in writing, in written form at the end of that open record period. So it's helpful to get verbal final rebuttal tonight

8:59 because people are tuned in, want to have some sort of response to their comments, but also you'll have a written opportunity. After the applicant's final rebuttal this evening, I'll go back to staff to see if there are any additional or parting comments that staff has based on the testimony that comes in tonight. And then my typical habit, as I mentioned, is to close the record and take the matter under consideration. We'll keep it open a week, perhaps longer, depending upon people's need for additional time. When you give your testimony, if you need additional time to formulate your comments, you can ask for more than just that one week. We can talk about it and schedule an open records sequence at the end. But if you want additional time, you need to make that request while the record is still open so that we, all of us can talk about it and decide what that schedule is.

9:56 Let's see, as I mentioned, my decisions, if you want a copy of my decision, you need to let us know that by providing us your contact information so that we can get that to you. I usually issue my decisions in writing approximately two weeks after the record closes. So again, when the record closes, matters. When you testify, do so in that order I just recited. You will have to, when you come to each category of people, you'll need to raise your hand. There's a little raise your hand function here and you'll be called on and your microphone will be unmuted. Begin with your name and give me some notion like where you live or where your property is relative to this development so I can understand better your comments and your concerns. Let me know if you represent somebody else so I understand who has a stake in the outcome here.

10:55 If you have any evidence you want me to consider, make sure you submit that by way of an exhibit. Everything that comes in will be assigned an exhibit number, be placed in the record. We have a lot of public comments already in the record that have all been assigned exhibit numbers. For those of you wishing to testify tonight, it is super helpful for me as I evaluate everything in the record when it comes time to write this decision, if I have your comments in writing. So the written comments that are in are great. That's exactly what I need. I'm a terrible note taker. So if you're gonna be reading your testimony, submit a copy of it as an exhibit, just email it to Mr. Kinsman and that way I won't make any mistakes about what points you are raising. And by the same token, if you have already submitted comments and you wanna testify tonight,

11:53 testify about something that isn't in your written comments or hit the high points. You don't need to read your written comments or recite what you have already submitted. If you agree with testimony that someone else has made, you can just say, "Hey, I agree with so-and-so. Thank you very much." And I'll ascribe those points to you. Remember that you need to raise any issue you wanna appeal on in your written comments or in your verbal testimony tonight. You need to raise the specificity, any code issue that you believe applies and explain why you think it is not met. See what other basic do's and don'ts here. I think that's about it. If you have any procedural questions going forward, feel free to ask those when the testimony's proceeding. So with that, I think it's time for a... Oh, we will be...

12:52 We have quite a few public testimony comments. If we, since it's likely we'll have a lot of public testimony tonight, we're gonna limit public comments to three minutes maximum. So again, because there's a time constraint, you might wanna submit your comments in writing. Three minute comment limitation. The applicant gets a maximum of 20 minutes for your opening presentation. I don't know if you need that. Your application has gone through several iterations and it's pretty well baked. So I think that's it by way of introduction and we're ready for a primer on how to function on WebEx, if you don't mind. Mr. Kinsman. - Yes, thank you, Mr. Examiner. Sorry, I was sending David Jardine a copy of something real quick. So let me get on my screen. Apologize for that.

13:49 Okay, thank you, Mr. Examiner, for everyone participating in tonight's hearing. If you wish to testify about a specific agenda item, staff ask that you raise your hand so that we can gauge who wishes to testify. If you are a call-in user, you can dial star three. If you are a web participant,