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Resolution No. 6583414 RESOLUTION NO. 6583 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CYPRESS, CALIFORNIA, SETTING PRIORITIES FOR FILING WRITTEN ARGUMENTS REGARDING A MEASURE RELATING TO AN ORDINANCE APPROVING THE CYPRESS TOWN CENTER AND COMMONS SPECIFIC PLAN, WITH RELATED GENERAL PLAN AND SPECIFIC PLAN AMENDMENTS AND ZONE CHANGES, AND PROVIDING FOR THE FILING OF REBUTTAL ARGUMENTS FOR CITY MEASURES SUBMITTED AT MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS WHEREAS, on June 27, 2016, the City Council of the City of Cypress adopted Resolution Nos. 6571 and 6572, giving notice of and calling for the holding of a General Municipal Election to be held on November 8, 2016, and requesting consolidation with the statewide General Election to be held that same day; and WHEREAS, at the General Municipal Election being held in the City of Cypress, California, on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, there will be submitted to the voters participating in the same the following measure: Shall an ordinance that approves the "Cypress Town YES Center and Commons Specific Plan" to allow for development of a town center, single - family and NO multi - family housing, commercial /senior housing and a public park on portions of Los Alamitos Race Course, the former Cypress Golf Club and adjacent properties, together with related general plan and specific plan amendments and zone changes, be adopted? WHEREAS, pursuant to Elections Code § 9281, the Cypress City Charter controls over all matters governing ballot arguments for voter - initiated initiatives and the Cypress City Charter provides, in pertinent part, as follows: "Section 903. Initiative, Referendum and Recall. There are hereby reserved to the voters of the City the power of the initiative and referendum, and of the recall of municipal elective officers. The provisions of the Elections Code of the State of California governing the initiative and referendum, and the recall of municipal officers shall apply so far as the same are not in conflict with this Charter." WHEREAS, Elections Code § 9282(a) provides, in pertinent part, that: "For measures placed on the ballot by petition, the persons filing an initiative petition pursuant to this article may file a written argument in favor of the ordinance, and the legislative body may submit an argument against the ordinance" and Elections Code § 9282(b) provides that "the legislative body, or any member or members of the legislative body authorized by that body, or any individual voter who is eligible to vote on the measure, or bona fide association of citizens, or any combination of voters and associations, may file a written argument for or against any city measure..."; and WHEREAS, based upon Elections Code § 9282(a) and (b), the Elections Code does not expressly allow individual voters who are eligible to vote on the foregoing measure, or bona fide association of citizens, or any combination of voters and associations from submitting written arguments on a voter initiated ballot measure; and WHEREAS, Article IV, Section 414 of the Cypress City Charter, entitled "Citizen Participation ", includes the requirement that the City Council allow all members of the public the opportunity to `offer suggestions for the betterment of municipal affairs" and allowing individual voters and groups to participate in submitting written arguments on the foregoing measure would be consistent with the Cypress City Charter; and 1 415 WHEREAS, the Cypress City Charter therefore permits that any individual voter who is eligible to vote on the foregoing measure, or bona fide association of citizens, or any combination of voters and associations be allowed to submit arguments for or against the ballot measure, and this is in addition to the proponents of the foregoing measure submitting arguments in favor of the measure and the City Council submitting ballot arguments against the measure, if any, under the Elections Code; and NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CYPRESS, CALIFORNIA, DOES RESOLVE, DECLARE, DETERMINE AND ORDER AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. That the recitals set forth above are true and correct and are incorporated herein by this reference. SECTION 2. That pursuant to the Cypress City Charter, the City Council hereby authorizes that in addition to those arguments provided under Elections Code § 9282(a), any individual voter who is eligible to vote on the foregoing measure, or bona fide association of citizens, or any combination of voters and associations may also submit arguments for or against the foregoing measure. Under this section, individual council members may also submit arguments in favor of or against the ballot measure, if they elect to do so. SECTION 3. That in accordance with the requirements of Division 9, Chapter 3, Article 4 of the California Elections Code, all written arguments for or against the foregoing measure: (1) shall not exceed three hundred (300) words in length; (2) shall be filed with the City Clerk by August 23, 2016; (3) shall be accompanied by the printed name(s) and signature(s) of the person(s) submitting it, or if submitted on behalf of an organization, the name of the organization, and the printed name and signature of at least one of the principal officers who is the author of the argument; and (4) shall be accompanied by the Form of Statement to be Filed by Author(s) of Argument as provided for in Elections Code § 9600. All written arguments may be changed or withdrawn on or before August 23, 2016, after which time no arguments for or against the foregoing measure may be submitted to the City Clerk. SECTION 4. That pursuant to Elections Code § 9287, if more than one written argument for or more than one written argument against any ballot measure is submitted to the City Clerk within the time prescribed, the City Clerk shall select one of the arguments in favor and one of the arguments against the measure for printing and distribution to the voters based upon the following preference and priority, in the order provided below and as provided by Elections Code § 9287, to the written arguments of the following: (a) The legislative body, or member or members of the legislative body authorized by that body, (b) The individual voter, or bona fide association of citizens, or combination of voters and associations, who are the bona fide sponsors or proponents of the measure, (c) Bona fide associations of citizens and (d) Individual voters who are eligible to vote on the measure. SECTION 5. That pursuant to Elections Code § 9285, when the City Clerk has selected the arguments for and against the foregoing measure which will be printed and distributed to the voters, the City Clerk shall send copies of the argument in favor of the measure to the authors of the argument against, and copies of the argument against to the authors of the argument in favor. The author or a majority of the authors of an argument relating to the foregoing city measure may prepare and submit a rebuttal argument not to exceed two hundred and fifty (250) words in length. A rebuttal argument may not be signed by more than five (5) authors. The rebuttal arguments shall be filed with the City Clerk on or before September 2, 2016. All written rebuttal arguments may be changed or withdrawn on or before September 2, 2016, after which time no rebuttal arguments may be submitted to the City Clerk. The rebuttal arguments shall be accompanied by the Form of Statement to be Filed by Author(s) of Argument as provided for in California Elections Code § 9600. Rebuttal arguments shall be printed in the same manner as the direct arguments. Each rebuttal argument shall immediately follow the direct argument which it seeks to rebut. 2 SECTION 6. That this resolution shall control over all prior resolutions and shall only be effective for the November 8, 2016 general election and shall expire thereafter. SECTION 7. That, to the extent required, the City Clerk shall cause the arguments and rebuttals to be printed and distributed to voters in accordance with the Cypress City Charter and State law regarding same. SECTION 8. That the City Clerk shall certify to the passage and adoption of this Resolution and enter it into the book of original Resolutions. PASSED AND ADOPTED by the City Council of the City of Cypress, at a special meeting held on the 9th day of August 2016. MA OR OF THE CITY CYPRESS ATTEST: fyl CITY CLERK OF THE CITY OF CYPRESS STATE OF CALIFORNIA ) COUNTY OF ORANGE ) SS I, DENISE BASHAM, City Clerk of the City of Cypress, DO HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing Resolution was duly adopted at a special meeting of said City Council held on the 9t" day of August, 2016, by the following roll call vote: AYES: 5 COUNCIL MEMBERS: Berry, Johnson, Peat, Morales, and Yarc NOES: 0 COUNCIL MEMBERS: None ABSENT: 0 COUNCIL MEMBERS: None CITY CLERK OF THE CITY OF CYPRESS 3 416