DATE: 10/16/2024
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Planning and Development Department
2024-82
REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION
SUBJECT:
WAIVER FROM SECTION 15.48.020 OF THE CORONA MUNICIPAL CODE
REQUIRING THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE MISSING PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS LOCATED AT 1686 LAUREL CANYON CIRCLE (APN 107-201-017) (APPLICANT:
OLGA MORALES)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
This staff report asks the City Council to consider a waiver from Section 15.48.020 of the Corona Municipal Code (CMC) on the City’s requirement to construct the street widening, curb and gutter, sidewalk, streetlight, and relocation of utilities located along the frontage of 1686 Laurel Canyon Circle. The subject property contains an existing single-family home constructed in 1989. The subject property was created according to the development standards of the County of Riverside before annexing to the City of Corona in 1992. No public improvements according to the City’s standards exist in the neighborhood. The applicant is proposing to construct an addition to the existing home on the property and is requesting the public improvements required per the CMC be waived.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
That the City Council waive the requirement from Section 15.48.020 of the Corona Municipal Code requiring the construction of the missing public improvements along the frontage of 1686 Laurel Canyon Circle.
BACKGROUND & HISTORY:
The applicant and property owner of 1686 Laurel Canyon Circle is proposing to construct an attached 785-square-foot addition to the first floor of the home and a 494-square-foot deck to the second floor, located directly above the addition. The property contains an existing single-family home that was constructed in 1989. The subject property is part of Tract No. 10168-1 which includes 35 lots located on Bel Air Street, Arturo Way, and Old Temescal Road. A portion of Old Temescal Road was later renamed to Laurel Canyon Way and Laurel Canyon Circle.
Tract No. 10168-1 was originally a subdivision located in an unincorporated area within the County of Riverside. On August 4, 1992, the property consisting of Tract No. 10168- 1 was officially annexed to the City of Corona.
The single-family homes on Laurel Canyon Circle were built in 1989 and the street was designed to a County of Riverside standard with a 50-foot right-of-way width and a roadway width of 32 feet. The street was constructed with asphalt, concrete curb, and landscape along property frontages with no sidewalk or streetlights. The street improvements are consistent with the County of Riverside street standard at the time of construction and no additional public improvements according to the City’s residential street standard have been constructed within this development. No liens exist on any of the properties in Tract No. 10168-1 for the future construction of the missing sidewalk and streetlights.
According to CMC Section 15.48.020(A), any new structure or addition greater than 650 square feet on a property shall be evaluated for missing or deficient public improvements along the property’s street frontage. In this case, the property is required to be improved according to the City’s low volume local street standard, which requires a 60-foot right-ofway width. The low volume local street standard requires a roadway width of 36 feet, a parkway width of 12 feet on each side of the street, and streetlights.
Per CMC Section 15.48.20(E), additions or enlargements of structures are not subject to dedications of right-of-way. Since Laurel Canyon Circle currently has a right-of-way width of 50 feet, the street does not have sufficient right-of-way to accommodate the missing public improvements required for a low volume local street. No sidewalk exists along the property’s frontage or on the street frontage of the adjacent and surrounding properties.
As such, no sidewalk connectivity exists. Additionally, the City’s standard for locating street lights requires a network of multiple street lights for a local street, which also does not exist in the existing neighborhood. Therefore, it is impractical and ineffective to construct a single street light in a neighborhood without an existing street light system.
The applicant submitted a public improvement waiver request to the City requesting that the City Council waive the construction of the missing public improvements along the subject site’s frontage. The applicant has indicated the construction of the missing public improvements would be incongruent with the properties that are immediately adjacent to the subject property and cause an unforeseen financial hardship in the construction of the addition to their property.
ANALYSIS:
CMC Section 15.48.030 allows the City Council to grant a waiver or defer the construction of the public improvements required per CMC Section 15.48.020(A).
Staff has determined that the findings exist for the City Council to grant the waiver from the requirement to construct the missing public improvements for the following reasons:
a) The construction of the missing public improvements would be inconsistent with the appearance of this neighborhood and not adjoin other improvements. The improvements at this property would create an incongruent pattern along the existing street and would essentially be an island that stands on its own with no connection to a sidewalk beyond the boundaries of the subject property. b) There is insufficient right-of-way width to accommodate all of the necessary public improvements to meet the City’s low volume local street standard. c) The cost of constructing these public improvements would make the overall project financially infeasible and is an unnecessary hardship to the applicant. d) Tract No. 10168-1 was developed according to the development standards of the County of Riverside before the property was annexed to Corona, which does not meet the right-of-way of the City’s street standard for a low volume local street.
The City accepted the current configuration of the public streets in Tract No. 10168-1 at the time of the annexation of the property to the City. The existing neighborhood has been established for almost 35 years, and the absence of the required public street improvements is not expected to adversely affect the safety of the community.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The applicant has paid the required processing fee for this waiver in the amount of $968.
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS:
This action is exempt pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the Guidelines for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which states that a Project is exempt from CEQA if the activity is covered by the commonsense exemption that CEQA applies to only Projects that have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. Where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA. There is no possibility that this action on granting waivers from CMC Section 15.48.020, will have a significant effect on the environment. Therefore, no environmental analysis is required.
PREPARED BY: MICHAEL KALLENBAUGH, ASSOCIATE ENGINEER
REVIEWED BY: JOANNE COLETTA, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR ATTACHMENTS:
1. Exhibit 1 – Location Map
2. Exhibit 2 – Letter from the Applicant requesting a waiver from CMC Section
15.48.020