City Council Memorandum
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL DATE: OCTOBER 20, 2026 FROM: COMMUNITY & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WARD: ALL
DEPARTMENT
SUBJECT: PLANNING CASE PC-2026-00408: ZONING TEXT AMENDMENTS AS PART OF AN OMNIBUS CODE CLEAN UP ISSUE:
Introduce and subsequently adopt an Ordinance approving an omnibus cleanup of Riverside Municipal Code Titles 18, 19 and 20 to update references and naming conventions, and make other minor, non-substantive changes and technical corrections as required to provide clarity, correct errors, or remove redundancy.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
That the City Council:
Determine that Planning Case PC-2026-00408 (Zoning Text Amendment) is exempt from further California Environmental Quality Review pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) (General Rule), as it can be seen with certainty that approval of the project will not have an effect on the environment; Approve Planning Case PC-2026-00408 (Zoning Text Amendment) based on the findings summarized in the Planning Commission Staff Report (Attachment 2); and Introduce and subsequently adopt the attached Ordinance amending Title 18 (Subdivision), Title 19 (Zoning), and Title 20 (Cultural Resources) of the Riverside Municipal Code (RMC).
BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS RECOMMENDATIONS:
City Cultural Heritage Board
On May 20, 2026, staff presented the amendments to Title 20 to the City Cultural Heritage Board, where they were unanimously recommended for City Council approval (Attachment 1).
City Planning Commission
On May 21, 2026 staff presented the amendments to Titles 18-20 to the Planning Commission, where they were unanimously recommended for City Council approval (Attachment 2).
Riverside County Airport Land Use Commission
Legislative actions affecting areas within the jurisdiction of the Riverside County Airport Land Use Commission (ALUC) require ALUC review to determine consistency with the 2014 Riverside County Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan (LUCP). On June 16, 2026, ALUC found the proposed package of amendments consistent with the LUCP (Attachment 3).
BACKGROUND
Planning Division staff continuously track the applicability and accuracy of Title 19 (Zoning) and related titles (Title 18 (Subdivisions) and Title 20 (Cultural Resources)) to ensure the regulations are consistent with state law, provide clear direction, and are not in conflict with other provisions. Staff identify inaccuracies, ambiguities, and/or conflicts and track this information so that periodic amendments can be made.
DISCUSSION
The proposed amendments span the entirety of Titles 18-20 and fall into two main categories:
Updating references to RMC titles and state legal codes and removing Title 1 duplicate text. These are revisions that CivicPlus, the third-party vendor that maintains the RMC, recommended in their 2024-2025 comprehensive legal review of the RMC (Attachment 4). City Council approved the recommended revisions to Titles 1-5 and 10 on March 10, 2026, and revisions to the remaining RMC titles will be brought to City Council at a later date.
Replacing all references to the Development Review Committee (DRC), the multi-department team of City staff that meets with applicants to first review (and in some cases approve) their development projects, with references to the Staff Application Review Team (START) to align with the ongoing refresh of the City of Riverside’s One Stop Shop.
Outside these two categories of changes, these amendments include other minor and non-substantive changes to correct and clarify language across the three titles.
The proposed amendments are included in the Draft Zoning Text Amendment Ordinance (Attachments 5 and 6). The following table explains each type of change in greater detail with examples. Further details can be found in the May 20th Cultural Heritage Board Staff Report (Attachment 1) and May 21st Planning Commission Staff Report (Attachment 2).
Type of Revision
Description
Examples of Changes
Legal Review Revisions
Update to References of RMC Titles
Currently, many RMC titles are known as and referred to as the code of the title’s name; for instance, Title 18 (Subdivisions) is often referred to as the Subdivision Code. Since only the RMC is formally a code, using the word code to refer to titles can confuse the reader into thinking that titles are separate from the RMC rather than part of it, or that a title reference is a reference to the broader RMC and vice versa. This update will remove the word code from references to titles (for awareness, many of these references in Title 19 will be changed later due to volume of changes needed). Only the RMC will be known as a code, except where state legal codes are mentioned.
In Section 18.030.010, the current text “The provisions of this Subdivision Code[…]” will become “The provisions of this Title […]”.
In Section 20.05.L, the current text “work in concert with the City’s Zoning Code” will become “work in concert with the City’s zoning regulations”.
Updates to References of State Legal Codes
Several references to state legal codes (i.e., Government Code, Public Resources Code, etc.) throughout the RMC are either incorrect, obsolete (have been repealed), or are incomplete (lack full citations), which can make it difficult for readers to locate appropriate citations. This update will correct references to state legal codes where needed.
Replacing an incorrect citation of Government Code Section 66441.7 with the correct citation of Government Code Section 66411.7.
Updating a reference to the obsolete Civil Code Section 1351 with a reference to the current Civil Code Section 4190.
Including Government Code Section 66410 et seq. in references to the Subdivision Map Act to specify the Act’s location within California Government Code.
Removals of Title 1 Duplicate Text
Titles 18-20 contain several sections that duplicate provisions of Title 1 (General Provisions) describing how the RMC and the City government should function. Repeating these provisions outside of Title 1 is redundant and introduces risk of internal inconsistency within the RMC. This update will delete the duplicate text from Title 1.
Removing Subsection A of Sections 18.060.030 and 19.060.030, which repeats Title 1 terminology conventions (i.e., meaning of “shall” vs “should” vs “may”).
Removing Section 20.45.030, which duplicates Title 1 severability provisions (if any part of any title in the RMC is declared invalid, it will not affect the validity of the rest of the title).
Replacing References to DRC with START
Replacing DRC with START
There are currently multiple references to the DRC within Title 19; as part of the One Stop Shop refresh, this update will replace all those references with references to START. The name START more accurately reflects the team’s composition as an ad hoc group of staff formed unique to each applicant’s case, and more clearly reflects its role as the starting point of the applicant’s development process with the City.
Renaming 19.150.045, “Responsibilities of the Development Review Committee”, to “Responsibilities of the Staff Application Review Team” Replacing DRC with START as a development approving authority in Table 19.650.020.
Moving the definition of the team from Section 19.910.050 (“D” Definitions) as DRC, to Section 19.910.200 (“S” Definitions) as START.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There are no anticipated fiscal impacts with this report.
Prepared by: Clarissa Manges, Assistant Planner
Reviewed by: Miranda Evans, Community & Economic Development Director Certified as to
availability of funds: Julie Nemes, Finance Director
Approved by: Gilbert Hernandez, Assistant City Manager
Approved as to form: James Johnson, City Attorney
Attachments:
Cultural Heritage Board Staff Report & Minutes – May 20, 2026 City Planning Commission Staff Report & Minutes – May 21, 2026 ALUC Director’s Determination of Consistency – June 16, 2026 Legal Review Changes Executive Summary
Zoning Text Amendment Draft Ordinance (Redline)
Zoning Text Amendment Draft Ordinance (Clean)
Presentation
PC-2026-00408 (AMD) – Zoning Text Clean Up