DATE: 04/02/2025
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Planning and Development Department
2025-131
REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION
SUBJECT:
WAIVER FROM SECTION 15.48.020 OF THE CORONA MUNICIPAL CODE
REQUIRING THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE MISSING PUBLIC STREET IMPROVEMENTS LOCATED AT 3980 HOWE STREET ASSOCIATED WITH THE CONSTRUCTION OF AN ACCESSORY STRUCTURE (APN 116-113-006) (APPLICANT: RICHARD DE
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
This staff report asks the City Council to consider a waiver from Section 15.48.020 of the Corona Municipal Code (CMC) for the City’s requirement to widen and improve the existing unimproved street section adjacent to 3980 Howe Street according to the City’s rural road standard and install a streetlight. The subject property contains an existing single-family home constructed in 1987. The subject property was created according to the development standards of the County of Riverside before annexing to the City of Corona in 1997. No public street improvements according to the City’s standards exist in the vicinity of the property on Howe Street and Galloway Lane. The applicant is proposing to construct a detached accessory structure on the property and is requesting the public street improvements 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 street improvements adjacent to 3980 Howe Street.
BACKGROUND & HISTORY:
The applicant and property owner of 3980 Howe Street is proposing to construct a 1,200 square foot detached accessory structure for a workshop and storage. The property contains an existing single-family home that was constructed in 1987. The subject property is situated at the northwest corner of Galloway Lane (formerly Williams Street) and Howe Street. It is part of the Overlook Addition No. 2 subdivision originally processed in the County of Riverside. On March 9, 1997, the unincorporated portion of the Overlook Addition No. 2 was officially annexed to the City of Corona.
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 public improvements along the property’s street frontage. In this case, the property is required to be improved according to the City’s rural road standard and a single streetlight may be required at intersections.
Galloway Lane requires a 50-foot wide overall right-of-way width, which includes a roadway width of 28 feet, and Howe Street requires a 50-foot wide overall right-of-way width, which includes a roadway width of 26 feet along the property’s street frontages.
The overall right-of-way width on Howe Street adjacent to the subject property does not exist and is only 40 feet wide. Because of the addition of the 1,200 accessory structure to the property, the owner is required to dedicate an additional 5 feet of right-of-way on Howe Street adjacent to the property to meet the half-street width from the street’s centerline. The overall right-of-way width for Galloway Lane exists adjacent to the subject property and no additional dedication is required.
The current street improvements are consistent with the County of Riverside’s street standard at the time of construction and no additional public street improvements have been constructed adjacent to the properties in the vicinity of 3980 Howe Street.
Additionally, no lien exists on any of the properties in the neighborhood for the future construction of the road widening to the city’s rural road standard.
The applicant submitted a public improvement waiver request to the City requesting the City Council waive the construction of the missing public street improvements along the subject site’s frontage. The applicant has indicated the construction of the missing public street improvements would be incongruent with the properties that are immediately adjacent to the subject property and cause an unforeseen financial hardship in constructing a detached accessory structure on the property.
ANALYSIS:
The property owner has agreed to dedicate to the City the five feet of the missing street right-of-way width on Howe Street adjacent to the property should this section of Howe Street be fully improved according to the City’s rural road standard in the future. Outside of the street dedication, CMC Section 15.48.030 allows the City Council to grant a waiver or defer the construction of the public street improvements required per CMC Section
15.48.020(A).
Staff have determined that the findings exist for the City Council to grant the waiver from the requirement to construct the missing public street improvements for the following reasons:
a) The construction of the missing public street improvements would be inconsistent with the current street improvements in the vicinity of 3980 Howe Street, which still maintains the original rural street improvements according to the Overlook Addition No. 2 subdivision processed by the County of Riverside. The existing neighborhood has been established for over 30 years, and the absence of the required public street improvements is not expected to adversely affect the safety of the community.
b) The cost of constructing the missing public street improvements would make the overall project financially infeasible and is an unnecessary hardship to the applicant because the cost of the street improvements would exceed the actual cost of construction of the accessory structure.
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 a waiver 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