(1) The city manager may exempt a limited equity cooperative housing unit project from any provision of section 2.1060 to 2.1084 of this code except for the purchaser disclosures required under sections 2.1074(4) and 2.1074(5). Such exemptions may be for any or all of the provisions of sections 2.1060 to 2.1084 of this code, or any part thereof. Any such regulatory exemption shall be granted only where the operation of federal or state law or an executed agreement with a federal or state agency requires the cooperative housing unit project to offer equivalent protection to affected tenants and prospective purchasers and equivalent displacement benefits to relocated tenants as the afforded under section 2.1060 to 2.1084 of this code.

(2) The city manager may grant a complete or partial application fee waiver to any such limited equity cooperative housing project if equivalent application fees to governmental agencies, reduced city costs in the processing of the project’s permit applications, or past city financial support or funding approval for the particular project make the imposition of such fees unreasonable in his or her judgment.

(3) The city manager may issue administrative rules identifying such federal or state regulations, laws, or regulatory programs for housing cooperatives, which duplicate or offer equivalent protection as that afforded under sections 2.1060 to 2.1084 of this code prior to granting any such exemption. Such administrative rulemaking shall solely be initiated upon a petition for rulemaking to the city manager of an interested person. Such petitioner must show that the specific benefits under federal or state regulation are equivalent to the specific benefits granted under sections 2.1060 to 2.1084 of this code. Once these administrative rules have issued, the application of the rules to any permit application shall be determined and adjudicated in the conversion permit process.