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Honorable Mayor Pulido Santa Ana City Council November 18, 2019 Page 12 Finally, notice regarding the City Council's potential action on a matter that required the recommendation from the Planning Commission cannot be given until afterthe Planning Commission has issued its recommendation. Failure to do so results in inadequate notice under established law. Here, only the staff report contained the recommendation from the Planning Commission —not the earlier, defective notice. As the courts have explained, notice without those recommendations is patently insufficient: As we will explain, section 65856 is silent on the timing of the notice and therefore creates an ambiguity as to when, in relation the planning commission's recommendation, the notice may be given. As we will further explain, a construction of section 65856's notice provision is inextricably bound with what must be included in that notice, a question that must be answered by looking to section 65094, which states that the contents of that notice must include a "general explanation of the matter to be considered." Consistent with the purpose behind the Planning and Zoning Law, we will interpret the phrase "general explanation of the matter to be considered" to include the planning commission's recommendation. Therefore, notice of a legislative body's hearing cannot be given until the planning commission has made a recommendation on the matter under consideration. (Environmental Defense Project of Sierra County v. County of Sierra (2008) 158 Cal.App.4th 877, 888, as modified (Jan. 9, 2008).) Because inaccurate notice is akin to no notice at all, the Project cannot go forward on the defective notice issued without the requisite recommendations from the Planning Commission. (Drum v. Fresno County Dept. of Public Works, supra, 144 Cal.App.3d at p. 783.) 7. RESERVATION OF RIGHTS AND REQUEST FOR WRITTEN NOTICE For the foregoing reasons, among others, PSNA respectfully requests that the City Council deny the proposed Project, consistent with the Planning Commission's recommendation. Additionally, PSNA reserves its rights to submit further public comment at and up to the close of the record on the Project and requests formal, written notice in advance of any future meetings or notices of determination related to the Project. 4398.101 / 8504501.2