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U LV 360;0,andAvenur, No- 3413 Oakland CA 94610 Tel 510-501-6837 UNITED LATINOS VOTE November 9, 2021 Vince Sarmiento Mayor City of Santa Ana 20 Civic Center Plaza Santa Ana, CA 92701 RE: Santa Ana Planning Commissioner Conflict of Interest Dear Mayor, Council, Commission and Staff: On behalf of United Latinos Vote, I am writing to express concern over an invalidating conflict of interest occurring at the October 25, 2021 Santa Ana Planning Commission. Such action raises several issues which require your further action. On October 25, 2021, a legally -biased Santa Ana Planning Commissioner cast the deciding vote on her own motion to amend Municipal Code Section 41-1900 et al. (the "Housing Opportunity Ordinance", or "HOO"). Due process requires the unwinding of the Commission's decision and a rehearing without the biased Commissioner's participation. Commissioner Isuri Ramos is a "Trairdng and Development Associate" for Latino Health Access ("LHA") and cams between $1,001 - $1 0,,000. She also works for Kennedy Commission at, a salary between $10,001 - $100,000. St. Joseph Hospital (the "Hospital") is listed as one of nine major "fanders" on the Kennedy Commission's website. Out of three public comment letters provided to the Commission in advance of the October 25 hearing on the HOO, two were submitted by organizations with close ties to Commissioner Ramos. LHA submitted a letter to the Commission in support of the proposed amendments to the HOO and affordable housing funds policies (the "LHA Letter"). Specifically, the LHA Letter recommend that the Commission: Increase the HOO's in -lieu fee from $5 to $15 per square foot (LHA Letter, , p. 2); • Apply the HOO "to all residential developments in the City" (id.); and • "[M]ake new construction of affordable housing for extremely low- and very low- income families a priority when using the housing fund monies (id.). The Hospital also sent a letter to the Commission in support of the proposed. amendments to the HOO (the "Hospital Letter"). The Hospital Letter asked that the Commission take the same actions as the LHA Letter, including providing nearly word-for-word recommendations compared to the LHA Letter. (See Hospital Letter, pp. 2-3.) Such a coincidence is unlikely, suggesting that the Hospital coordinated with LHA.