It shall be the purpose of this section to implement minimum procedural standards for the conduct of city and county zoning hearings. Further, it is the intent of the Legislature that this section provide those standards to insure uniformity of, and public access to, zoning and planning hearings while maintaining the maximum control of cities and counties over zoning matters.
The following procedures shall govern city and county zoning hearings:
(a)
All local city and county zoning agencies shall develop and publish procedural rules for conduct of their hearings so that all interested parties shall have advance knowledge of procedures to be followed. The procedural rules shall incorporate the procedures in Section 65854.
(b)
When a matter is contested and a request is made in writing prior to the date of the hearing, all local city and county planning agencies shall insure that a record of all their hearings shall be made and duly preserved, a copy of which shall be available at cost. The city or county may require a deposit from the person making the request.
(c)
When a planning staff report exists, the report shall be made public prior to or at the beginning of the hearing and shall be a matter of public record.
(d)
When any hearing is held on an application for a change of zone for parcels of at least 10 acres, a staff report with recommendations and the basis for those recommendations shall be included in the record of the hearing.
Notwithstanding Section 65803, this section shall apply to chartered cities.