A Pasadena resident challenging the City’s approval of a controversial safe parking program at All Saints Church is arguing that the city has no legal authority to hold a hearing Wednesday to relinquish the permit because, he contends, the permit was never legally issued in the first place.
An attorney for Martin Truitt, who lives near All Saints, is asking Hearing Officer Alex Garcia to decline to hear the matter, arguing that the city’s attempt to formally relinquish Minor Conditional Use Permit No. 7318 assumes the permit is valid while that very question is pending before Los Angeles County Superior Court.
“This matter is proceeding without jurisdiction on a permit that is void ab initio,” Truitt’s attorney, Jordanna Thigpen, wrote in objections submitted to the city.
Thigpen argues that conducting the relinquishment proceeding would improperly presume the validity of the permit before the court decides the issue.
All Saints would be able to reapply for the permit if it is voluntarily relinquished. The church could also reapply if the court rules the CUP void, unless a judge rules otherwise.
The special public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Grand Conference Room at Pasadena City Hall, 100 N. Garfield Ave. Garcia will preside.
At issue is a permit allowing a safe parking program for up to 25 vehicles on a parking lot associated with All Saints Church. The program would allow unhoused people to sleep overnight in their vehicles under conditions imposed through the city’s land-use process.
The dispute stretches back to last year.
The Maryland Homeowners Association and ARE-Pasadena No. 5 LLC appealed the original hearing officer’s approval to the Board of Zoning Appeals.
All Saints also appealed a condition requiring participants to use church restrooms, seeking instead to use portable toilets and a handwashing station. The BZA upheld the modified permit with additional conditions, and The Maryland and ARE-Pasadena appealed to the City Council.
On Nov. 17, 2025, the City Council considered the appeal, but the environmental determination failed to receive five affirmative votes. Truitt argues that under Pasadena’s Municipal Code, the failure to affirmatively approve the California Environmental Quality Act determination constituted a denial and made the Council’s decision final.
The Council subsequently reopened the matter and on March 9 approved environmental exemptions and upheld the permit. The Council found the project categorically exempt from environmental review under three CEQA provisions and approved the MCUP with conditions.
Truitt contends the Council had no authority to reopen the November decision and that the March approval, environmental determination and subsequent Notice of Exemption are therefore void.
That dispute is now part of Truitt’s Superior Court case. He filed an amended petition in April seeking to have the March 9 actions declared void and challenging the city’s use of Robert’s Rules of Order to reopen the matter.
The latest proceeding began after All Saints decided it no longer wanted the permit.
According to Truitt’s filing, All Saints’ Vestry voted in June to withdraw the permit after learning the church would be responsible for financing litigation involving the permit under an indemnification agreement. All Saints’ attorney informed Truitt’s counsel on June 23 that the church intended to withdraw it.
Pasadena’s zoning code does not provide for simply “withdrawing” an approved permit. Instead, a permit holder may voluntarily relinquish a valid permit through a specified hearing process.
That distinction is at the center of Truitt’s argument.
He contends the city cannot relinquish a permit that was never valid and says the appropriate outcome is for the city to acknowledge that the March approval was void. He has warned that proceeding with the relinquishment could result in additional litigation.
Truitt is also challenging the relinquishment application itself. His filing argues that Erica Tamblyn, who signed the application, has not been shown to be the “permittee” authorized to surrender the land-use approval. The objections also question whether All Saints has the authority to relinquish the permit without authorization from the Episcopal Diocese.
The arguments are Truitt’s allegations and legal positions and have not been resolved by the court.
As of Wednesday morning, Garcia is still scheduled to consider whether the permit can be formally relinquished.
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