A Crescent City planning commissioner whose home and business are near Sam Schauerman’s 14-unit townhouse development says she was barred from making public comment at a recent meeting.

Shawna Hyatt is accusing city staff of directly swaying the outcome of a Planning Commission decision on Feb. 12 approving the architectural design review of the townhouse development at 708 J Street. 

She said that City Attorney Martha Rice emailed her after the meeting, stating that she was in error and apologizing. But Hyatt says what occurred isn’t an isolated incident.

“We’re continuously lied to by city staff,” she told Redwood Voice Community News on Thursday. “We’re not given information that’s requested and they use (contract planner) Ethan Lawton as their pawn to obfuscate all of the information when we are trying to ask questions and get clarifications.”

City Manager Eric Wier called the situation complicated and unfortunate. He acknowledged that Rice tried to explain to Hyatt that she was erring on the side of caution when it comes to the Political Reform Act’s provisions on conflicts of interest.

Wier said that though Hyatt wasn’t able to publicly state her concerns regarding the townhome development, several of her neighbors shared her misgivings.

“It doesn’t rectify the situation,” the city manager said. “But I think from a content standpoint (planning commissioners) did consider some of those things.”

Hyatt appeared before the Crescent City Council on March 2 asking them to consider livestreaming Planning Commission meetings on YouTube. At the end of that meeting, councilors directed staff to place that topic on the next agenda for discussion.

On Thursday, Wier told Redwood Voice that if the community wants to view Planning Commission meetings on YouTube, the city can make that happen. It may not always be live, however, since internet at the Wastewater Treatment Plant building is “spotty,” he said, but a recording can be posted to YouTube after the meeting.

Schauerman’s development initially went before the Planning Commission for architectural design review on Jan. 8. Situated in the city’s high-density residential district, the units would include two bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms with garages and separate driveways. When they’re finished, the units will be available to rent at the market rate.

Schauerman had already done some grading work under a city permit in December, Wier said.

Hyatt, whose business, Del Norte Tax, is just across the street, said the development is too big for the lot it sits on. She, and others, are worried about its impact on other properties in the area. Hyatt is concerned about additional rainwater runoff associated with the project — she said she videoed a “significant mud flow” going down J Street from the Schauerman property in December.

Hyatt also wonders about the number of hookups to the wastewater treatment plant that will be associated the townhome development

“I have asked for flow reports and data and information that would give us the ability to determine the amount of hookups it’s capable of handling (and) it’s capacity,” she said. “I’ve asked for that since December and I’ve never been given that information.”

When Hyatt and her colleagues were initially asked to review the architectural design of the Schauerman development in January, only three planning commissioners attended. She said she began addressing her concerns when Wier stopped the meeting and, after a brief recess, told her that since her business and home are within 500 feet of the project, she needed to recuse herself.

With only two planning commissioners left to consider the matter, the architectural review of the 708 J Street development was continued to Feb. 12 due to a lack of a quorum. Hyatt said she was told that while she wasn’t able to vote on the matter, she was told she could still speak as a member of the public.

“I was OK with that because I would still be able to say what I wanted to say,” she said. 

At the Feb. 12 meeting, Hyatt said Rice asked her to excuse herself to another conference room at the Wastewater Treatment Plant and told her she would come get her when it was time for public comment. 

When Wier came to get Hyatt, she found that her colleagues had already voted and those who attended the meeting wanting to weigh in about the development were leaving.

“He said, ‘Oh, I changed my mind,’” Hyatt told Redwood Voice. “‘I wasn’t willing to let you make public comment because I didn’t want your testimony to sway any of the other commissioners’ decision.’”

The next day, Hyatt said she emailed Wier and Rice asking them why she was unable to provide public comment.

The state’s Political Reform Act prohibits public officials from making, participating in making or attempting to use their position to influence a governmental decision in which they have a financial decision.

According to the email Rice sent to Hyatt on Feb. 25, when there is a conflict of interest, the official announces the conflict, recuses themselves and leaves the room until the discussion is concluded. However, there are exceptions under the California Code of Regulations, which allows the official to appear “on matters related solely to the official’s personal interest.”

Those exceptions occur when the conflict concerns real property owned by the official, members of the official’s immediate family or the official and members of their immediate family. They also occur when the conflict concerns a business entity owned by the official or their immediate family or both or if the official or their immediate family or both exercise control over a business entity.

In her email, Rice told Hyatt that she interpreted the exception provision to mean that if her property was the subject of the agenda item, she could participate in a personal capacity. However, after conferring with Wier, the city attorney said she realized the language could be interpreted in more than one way and sought definitive guidance.

That led Rice to a Fair Political Practices Commission advice letter from March 20, 2023 concerning a wireless telecommunication facility in Los Altos Hills, California that was within 500 feet of a planning commissioner. In that letter, the FPPC advised that the exception provision means a public official can offer public comment on an item for which they have a personal financial interest.

According to Rice’s email, the public official can comment on how the proposed action on their personal interest will affect them or their family.

“I had that wrong,” she told Hyatt. “That is not on Ethan (Lawton) or Eric (Wier) or Chair Walp. That was on me and for that, I sincerely apologize. The correct advice is that you can ethically make public comment regarding the effects of the proposed action on your property.”

Rice said she erred on the side of caution when she advised the Planning Commission not to allow Hyatt to make a public comment on Feb. 12. But reiterated that she was mistaken. Rice said she plans to prepare a memorandum to send to the Planning Commission, City Council and staff clarifying the ability of an official to offer public comment.

“I know that does not fix the error that was made, but it will clarify for everyone that public comment as to the effects of the proposed action on a public official’s personal interest is allowed even when there is a disqualifying conflict of interest,” Rice said.

According to Wier, several members of the public raised concerns about landscaping, parking and stormwater mitigation. The December storm that Hyatt caught on video took Schauerman’s team off guard a little bit, but he now has “best management practices” in place, Wier told Redwood Voice. This includes laying down straw wattles and silt fences to control the runoff from his property.

The developer is also using sand bags to help with runoff control, Wier said.

Long term, one of the conditions for the Planning Commission’s approval requires Schauerman to design a system that detains water coming off the property “such that it wouldn’t change the flow.”

In a March 5 email to Hyatt, Wier also apologized, reiterating Rice’s comments that they wanted to maintain the integrity of the process. 

Now that the architectural design was approved, construction has begun on the 708 J Street project, Hyatt said. Concrete is already being poured.

Despite the apologies, Hyatt insists that Wier and Rice violated her civil rights, including her Constitutional right to free speech.

“This law is crystal clear, how could you possibly misinterpret it?” Hyatt asked rhetorically. “Actions such as this are a liability to the City of Crescent City. Moving forward, I asked for public access. I haven’t gotten a response. I’m not expecting a response, but if they don’t address this I’m printing this off and I’m going to the next City Council meeting and I’m reading it to them.”