Item Number: {{item.number}}
City Council / Board of Directors
Public Hearing(s)
Meeting of: June 18, 2024
Submitted By:
Fredy Bonilla, City Engineer
Subject:
Vacation of Green Tree Boulevard Excess Right-of-Way and CEQA determination Recommendation:
That the Honorable City Council:
(1) Open and conduct a public hearing to consider the vacation (abandonment) of portions of roadway easements on Green Tree Boulevard;
(2) Hear evidence offered by persons interested in the vacation; (3) Find the vacation not subject to environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Sections 15060(c)(2) and 15060(c)(3); and
(4) Adopt Resolution No. 24-047 vacating the easement dedications as described and depicted by the exhibits attached thereto and ordering the recordation of the same, subject to the prior satisfaction of conditions requiring replacement access.
Fiscal Impact:
There is no impact as a result of this action.
Strategic Plan Goal:
This item aligns with “Goal C Community and Economic Development” in the Victorville Strategic Plan 2023-2026. The vacation of the excess right-of-way will allow for future development of the vacant parcels.
Background:
Dedication of easements for public street purposes were offered to the City of Victorville by a parcel map recorded in 1980 and instruments recorded in September of 1989. These existing easements are along Green Tree Boulevard just east of Hesperia Road, within the Green Tree Boulevard Extension Project (Project) that was completed in May of 2023.
The alignment of the new extension (re-alignment) was modified to meet traffic safety standards and Public Right-of-Way (ROW) was acquired for the modified alignment. It 3 6
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was known in the design stage of the Project that there would be portions of the existing ROW not needed upon the completion of the Project (excess ROW) which would require vacation (abandonment). The excess ROW proposed to be vacated by the City is depicted on the location map in Attachment B.
Discussion:
Property owners affected by the re-alignment have requested that the excess ROW be vacated (see the request letters in Attachment D). As a result of these requests, City Staff reviewed California Streets and Highways Code (SHC) Division 9, Part 3 to determine if the excess ROW could be vacated. Staff determined the excess ROW may be vacated by utilizing the General Vacation Procedures in SHC Sections 8320 – 8325, provided certain preliminary requirements of the SHC are met.
SHC Section 8313 requires the City Council to consider the City's General Plan prior to vacating a street. Although such consideration would normally require a report by the Planning Commission, no report is required for street alignment projects of a minor nature such as this; particularly given that re-alignment and abandonment was originally contemplated in the Project’s design phase. SHC Sections 8314 and 892 further require a determination that the excess ROW is not useful as a non-motorized transportation facility (i.e., a bikeway) prior to approving an abandonment. This determination can be made because the City’s General Plan circulation element geometrics include such facilities within the remaining right-of-way not being vacated.
Prior to adopting a resolution vacating a street, the General Vacation Procedure requires the City Council to hold a notice of public hearing to hear evidence offered by interested persons and make a finding that the described ROW is unnecessary for present or prospective public use. Such a resolution may also provide that the required recording of the resolution only occur after certain conditions have been satisfied. To ensure the proposed vacation does not leave parcel number 3090-331-05 landlocked, a condition has been included in the resolution requiring the owner of parcel number 3090-331-04 to provide the City with an access and utility easement to and from an improved public street benefitting said parcel before the resolution can be recorded. Please refer to Attachment A, Resolution No. 24-247, for details. A legal description of parcel number 3090-331-04 is Exhibit “C” to said resolution.
SHC Section 8320(b) requires the public hearing notice to include a legal description and map of the street or portions thereof to be vacated and for said notice to be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the City for two successive weeks prior to date of the hearing. The City complied with this requirement by publishing the public hearing notice (which included a legal description and map of the street or portions thereof to be vacated) notice in the Valleywide Newspaper on May 24, 2024 and June 7, 2024. The legal description and map are included as Exhibits "A" and "B" to Resolution No. 24-247 (which is also Attachment A of this Staff Report). Attachment C is a copy of the official documents that originally created the streets.
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SHC Sections 8332 and 8323 further require that notices of the vacation be posted conspicuously along the line of the proposed vacation at least two weeks prior to the date of the public hearing, a requirement with which City Staff have also complied.
The proposed vacation is not subject to environmental review under CEQA pursuant to CEQA Guidelines sections 15060(c)(2) and 15060(c)(3). Because the action would result in the vacation of portions of easements for streets that are not needed for such purposes, the vacation will not have a reasonably foreseeable direct or indirect effect on the environment, and/or is not a project subject to CEQA as defined in Guidelines section 15378.
Staff recommends that the Honorable City Council: open and conduct a public hearing to consider the vacation of the excess ROW (easements); hear evidence offered by persons interested in the vacation; and adopt the attached Resolution No. 24-047 making the findings needed to vacate easements as described and depicted by the attached exhibits and impose certain conditions thereon.
Staff remains available for any questions the Council may have.
Attachments: A. Resolution No. 24-047 including Exhibits “A”, “B”, and “C” B. Location Map
C. Copies of official documents that created the existing easements D. Letters from property owners requesting the vacation