Agenda Item
City Council
Item #: 10.2. 1/11/2022 File #: 22-0011
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THRU: Thomas R. Hatch, Interim City Manager
FROM: Gary A. Sheatz, City Attorney
1. SUBJECT
Receive and file report summarizing measures taken to evaluate impacts addressed by Urgency Ordinance No. 18-21; and adopt extension of Ordinance No. 18-21, an urgency ordinance of the City Council of the City of Orange amending Title 16 (Subdivisions) and Title 17 (Zoning) of the Orange Municipal Code by enacting ministerial standards applicable to lot splits in single-family residential zones allowed as a result of SB 9, enacting ministerial standards applicable to the location, access, size and setback of second dwelling units in single-family residential zones allowed as a result of SB 9, and revising definitions to clarify said development standards.
2. SUMMARY
Government Code Section 65858(d) requires a written report describing the measures taken to alleviate the condition or conditions leading to adoption of Urgency Ordinance No. 18-21 prior to its extension. The extension of the Ordinance would continue to impose ministerial development standards on lot splits and construction of second dwelling units in R1 zones, and revise definitions related thereto for an additional ten months and fifteen days, unless permanent regulations are adopted prior to that time.
3. RECOMMENDED ACTION
Receive and file report and adopt the extension of Ordinance No. 18-21 and the findings of urgency.
4. FISCAL IMPACT
None.
5. STRATEGIC PLAN GOALS
Goal 1: Provide for a Safe Community
d: Assure the development of the City occurs in a fashion that maximizes public safety Goal 3: Enhance and Promote Quality of Life in the Community d. Assure the development of the City occurs in a fashion that maximizes public safety.
6. DISCUSSION AND BACKGROUND
In September 2021, Governor Newsom signed into law SB 9, which became effective on January 1, 2022. SB 9 requires the City to approve, as a ministerial action and without discretionary review, certain lot splits in single-family residential (R1) zones, and also requires the City to approve, also as a ministerial action and without discretionary review, certain applications to add a second dwelling City of Orange Printed on 1/5/2022Page 1 of 2
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Item #: 10.2. 1/11/2022 File #: 22-0011
a ministerial action and without discretionary review, certain applications to add a second dwelling unit on a single-family lot. Given the recent effective date of SB 9, the City has only just begun to field inquiries pursuant to SB 9. Urgency Ordinance No. 18-21 sets into place development standards allowed by SB 9, in an attempt to establish preliminary standards on the expected SB 9 development applications.
The negative impacts from the unregulated splitting of R1 single-family lots and addition of a second dwelling unit on a single-family lot, could quadruple the density of those zones, creating incompatibility with the City’scurrent single-family neighborhood development standards for those zones, among other City resource concerns. If unregulated, the increase in density and development of additional dwellings on single-family lots would cause numerous deleterious effects on the City’s infrastructure as well as the families residing therein, including parking and traffic problems, overuse of existing utility systems, loss of privacy, application of development standards not designed for higher density housing, fire, police and other public safety concerns, all of which effects constitute a public nuisance to the community.
In order to have standards in place by the January 1 effective date of SB 9, the City Council adopted Urgency Ordinance No. 18-21 on December 14, 2021, which addresses the immediate threat to the public health, safety and welfare caused by the ability to split R1 lots and add second units to R1 lots.
It provides procedures for evaluating applications for lot splits and additional residential units, establishes objective development standards for lot splits and additional residential units, and revises definitions relating thereto.
California Government Code Section 65858(a) permits the Urgency Ordinance, to be extended for ten months and fifteen days. As a matter of administrative clarification, Table 17.34.060.A in the ordinance has been corrected to clarify that the parking required for an SB 9 dwelling unit is an “enclosed”parking space. Aside from the addition of that one word, the Urgency Ordinance to be extended is the same as that adopted on December 14, 2021.
Staff’sreview of the potential impacts of SB 9 is on-going and requires additional time for research and empirical study. As such, staff is recommending adoption of the extension of Urgency Ordinance No. 18-21, to remain in effect until December 13, 2022.
7. ATTACHMENTS
· Ordinance No. 18-21-A
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