April 13th, 2016

Jennifer Ray, Mayor

City Council Members
City Hall, 317 Broad St.
Nevada City, Ca. 95959

Dear Mayor and City Council Members;

I wrote you a letter on March 25th regarding permitting issues with the planning
department. I have not received a response or any confirmation that you are looking into
the matter. Today I checked the Nevada City Zoning Code and, as of yet, no changes have
been made to the verbiage.
Since our March 15th meeting with city planner, Amy Wolfson, city manager, Mark
Prestwich, and city attorney Hal McGraw, Shirley Kinghorn and I have had no further
communication as to the status of the citys inquiry into our potential permitting
conundrum. At the March 15th meeting Shirley Kinghorn was asked to fill out a
Homeless Service Questionnaire, but there has been no communication from Amy after
this was done. There was a recent article in The Union, referencing this matter, but it did
not absolve the city of the responsibility of direct communication with us. This situation
has now dragged on for a couple of months and has been very stressful to say the least.
ThecurrentNevadaCityMunicipalCodedefinesemergencyshelterasfollows:
Emergencyshelterisafacilityprovidingsleepingaccommodations,mealsandother
socialandmedicalservicestoindividualswhoarehomeless.Anemergencyshelteris
intendedtoprovidehousingforuptosixmonthsforeachhomelessindividualserved.
Anysuchfacilitymustbestatelicensedandoperatedbyanonprofitorgovernmental
agencyandprovide24houroversightbyqualifiedindividuals.
By comparison, section 50801 of the California Health and Safety Code, the definition of
Emergency Shelter reads: Emergency shelter means housing with minimal supportive
services for homeless persons that is limited to occupancy of six months or less by a
homeless person. No individual or household may be denied emergency shelter because
of an inability to pay.
Amy, stated in the February 23rd, Potential Zoning Violation letter, that State Licensing
is integrated into the meaning of emergency shelter. In a March 15th phone call
placed to Amy, Paul McDougal, of the Housing and Community Development
Department, took exception to this statement. The State is very specific in the way SB2 is
written that licensing is not, in any way, a requirement implied or otherwise.McDougal
alsotookexceptiontoNevadaCityswordinginsectionsoftheMunicipalCodeand

HousingElementwhichstatesthatStateLicensingisarequirementforemergency
shelters,transitionalhousing,andsupportivehousing.
NevadaCityisnowinapositionofhavingtocorrectthezoningcodeverbiagetoreflect
statelaw,strikingtherequirementforaStateLicense.Also,therequirementfora
ConditionalUsePermitisnotapplicableintheLightIndustrialZone.Hopefullythiswill
endsomeoftherecentconfusionregardingemergencysheltersinNevadaCityandthe
factthattheStatehasmandated,viaSB2,forallcitiestoexpandtheirzoningto
accommodateemergencyshelters,transitionalhousing,andsupportivehousingin
specificallydesignatedzoneswithinthecitylimits.
TheCityhasaresponsibilitytoallitscitizenstoimplementSB2impartiallyandfairly.
TheStatehasmadeitveryclear,inpassingSB2,theirrequirementsforservingand
protectingtheverypoorestinourcommunitiesandthosewhoareatmostriskbecauseof
lackofadequatehousing.Iamaskingthatthecityzoningcodebecorrectedpromptlyso
therearenofurthermisunderstandingsliketheonethecityhasdraggedusthroughthe
lastcoupleofmonths.IamalsoaskingforawrittenresponsefromtheCityCouncilthat
theyareattendingtothismatter.

Sincerely

PauliHalstead
cc:BrianHamilton&TeresaYinmengLiu,TheUnion