(a) Where an applicant for a coastal development permit determines that he or she is not prepared to respond to the staff recommendation at the meeting for which the vote on the application is scheduled, the applicant shall have one right, pursuant to this section, to postpone the vote to a subsequent meeting. The applicant's right to postpone shall be exercised prior to commencement of the public testimony portion of the public hearing.

(b) An applicant's request for postponement, not made as a matter of right pursuant to section 13073(a), shall be granted at the commission's discretion. The executive director shall, to the extent feasible, notify all persons the executive director knows to be interested in the application of the postponement. The commission shall not grant a request for postponement under this subdivision unless it determines that sufficient time remains under applicable deadlines for its action on the application.

(c) Any request for postponement pursuant to subsections (a) or (b) shall be in writing or stated on the record in a commission meeting and shall include a waiver of any applicable time limits for commission action on the application. If an applicable time limit cannot be waived and the deadline for Commission action is before the subsequent regularly scheduled Commission meeting, the request for postponement shall be denied. Where a request for postponement is granted pursuant to subsections (a) or (b), the applicant shall provide another set of stamped, addressed envelopes consistent with the requirements of section 13054.