Does a no to a no recomendation make a yes ?

[Guest Cooleng]

At a council meeting, a planning committee made a recommendation to deny the request for rezoning and conditional use permit for a parcel of land. A motion was made to accept the recommendation, but the city council voted and motion to accept the recommendation of the planning committee was denied. No further motion or voting was made according to the meeting minutes.  Does the request for rezoning and conditional use permit automatically pass? or should a new motion have been made to grant rezoning and conditional use permits ?

 

Thanks !!

[Josh Martin]

At a council meeting, a planning committee made a recommendation to deny the request for rezoning and conditional use permit for a parcel of land. A motion was made to accept the recommendation, but the city council voted and motion to accept the recommendation of the planning committee was denied. No further motion or voting was made according to the meeting minutes.  Does the request for rezoning and conditional use permit automatically pass? or should a new motion have been made to grant rezoning and conditional use permits ?

 

So far as RONR is concerned, the latter, but be sure to check whether the council's rules or applicable law say anything on this subject.

 

I'd also note that so far as RONR is concerned, motions should not be made in a negative form in the first place to avoid exactly this kind of confusion, but your council's rules or applicable law may (and probably do) vary on this point with respect to zoning requests.

[Guest Edgar]

I'd also note that so far as RONR is concerned, motions should not be made in a negative form in the first place to avoid exactly this kind of confusion

 

But was the motion made in a negative form?

 

A motion was made to accept the recommendation, but the city council voted and motion to accept the recommendation of the planning committee was denied. 

 

The recommendation (of the committee) was "negative" (i.e. to deny the request) but the motion (of the council) to accept the recommendation was "positive" (and it lost).

[Josh Martin]

But was the motion made in a negative form?

 

The committee made a recommendation to deny a request. In the ordinary case, this has no useful purpose, as the same objective could be accomplished by doing nothing. A member then making a motion to approve the committee's recommendation to deny the request gets a bit confusing, especially if (as in this case), that motion is then defeated.

 

(It would be useful for the committee to make such a recommendation if it was considering a motion to approve a request that the assembly had referred to it, but in such a case, the assembly would still vote on the motion to approve the request - not the committee's recommendation.)

 

This doesn't seem to be an ordinary case, though. I assume that, in this case, there is some purpose to denying a request, as opposed to rejecting a motion to approve a request, or doing nothing at all.

[Guest Edgar]

I assume that, in this case, there is some purpose to denying a request, as opposed to rejecting a motion to approve a request, or doing nothing at all.

Perhaps. Though it should be noted that the request hasn't (yet) been denied.

And I agree that it could have been handled in a less confusing manner. I was only saying that the motion (to accept the committee's recommendation) was not phrased in the negative.