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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 2001 (Urgency Ordinance Regarding Accessory Dwelling Units)CLERK’S CERTIFICATE I, LINDSAY LARA, Clerk of the City of San Rafael, and Ex-Officio Clerk of the Council of said City, do hereby certify that the foregoing: ORDINANCE NO. 2001 AN URGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL ESTABLISHING A TEMPORARY MORATORIUM ON THE ISSUANCE OF ACCESSORY DWELLING UNIT AND JUNIOR ACCESSORY DWELLING UNIT PERMITS ON PROPERTIES LOCATED ON CERTAIN HILLSIDE STREETS WITHIN THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL AND DECLARING THE URGENCY THEREOF is a true and correct copy of an Ordinance of said City, and was passed and adopted as an Urgency Ordinance at a REGULAR meeting of the City Council of said City, held on the 18th day of October 2021, by the following vote, to wit: AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Bushey, Hill, Kertz & Mayor Kate NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None ABSENT:COUNCILMEMBERS: Llorens Gulati WITNESS my hand and the official Seal of the City of San Rafael this 19th day of October 2021 Lindsay Lara, City Clerk 1 ORDINANCE NO. 2001 AN URGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL ESTABLISHING A TEMPORARY MORATORIUM ON THE ISSUANCE OF ACCESSORY DWELLING UNIT AND JUNIOR ACCESSORY DWELLING UNIT PERMITS ON PROPERTIES LOCATED ON CERTAIN HILLSIDE STREETS WITHIN THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL AND DECLARING THE URGENCY THEREOF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL, DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: DIVISION 1. FINDINGS WHEREAS, the City Council has broad discretion pursuant to Article III, Sections 16 and 59 of the City Charter; California Constitution Article XI, Section 5; and the general law of the state, including but not limited to the California Planning and Zoning Law (Gov. Code §§65000 et seq.), to legislate for public purposes and for the general welfare, including but not limited to matters of public health and safety; and WHEREAS, the City currently regulates the permitted uses of real property within the City pursuant to the provisions of its zoning ordinance, codified in San Rafael Municipal Code Title 14; and WHEREAS, in 2016 the State of California legislature adopted changes to Government Code Sections 65852 et seq., related to Accessory Dwelling Units, which preempted the field of Accessory Dwelling Unit regulation and made the City’s existing regulations for accessory dwelling units null and void; and WHEREAS, in 2019 and 2020, the State of California legislature adopted additional changes and clarifications to Government Code Sections 65852 et seq. related to Accessory Dwelling Units (“ADUs”) and Junior Accessory Dwelling Units (“JADUs”) and imposed further restrictions limiting the City’s authority over such things as accessory dwelling unit and junior accessory dwelling unit location standards, development standards, parking requirements, and review procedures; and WHEREAS, Government Code Section 65852.2(a)(1)(A) allows local jurisdictions to designate areas where ADUs and JADUs may be permitted, based on the impact of ADUs and JADUs on traffic flow and public safety; and WHEREAS, the City is currently studying the existing and potential impacts of ADUs and JADUs within the City, and working on drafting an updated zoning ordinance related to ADUs and JADUs; and WHEREAS, the City’s Community Development Department is working with the City’s Fire Department to evaluate the potential need to prohibit or impose additional requirements on ADUs and JADUs on certain hillside streets that, due to narrow travel 2 lanes (<14'), maneuvering difficulty, and/or lack of turnarounds, may result in impacts on traffic flow and public safety; and WHEREAS, according to the San Rafael Fire Chief, potential lack of access is an issue on certain hillside streets with narrow travel lanes; the risks are particularly high because (1) these hillside residential lots tend to be surrounded by dry, flammable brush, and (2) there is an existing inability for certain fire safety vehicles to access, maneuver and turn around, the results of which mean that fire suppression capabilities are drastically slowed or impeded during fire events; and WHEREAS, according to the San Rafael Fire Chief, additional development, density and population in and around the above-described hillside streets may increase the risk of fire danger due to the potential to add additional improperly parked vehicles on or near roadways that would further impede public safety vehicle access; and WHEREAS, in connection with the draft ADU/JADU regulations that City staff are studying and working on, City Staff prepared a Draft Proposed Prohibited Streets List setting forth those City streets that are described above (i.e. that are hillside streets with narrow travel lanes (<14'), maneuvering difficulty, and/or lack of turnaround); and WHEREAS, City Staff is further reviewing the proposed regulations concerning ADUs and JADUs on those streets included in the Proposed Prohibited Streets List to gather information and ensure the proposed regulations conform with state law; and WHEREAS, the City is aware of at least four ADU applications that may conflict with potential regulations that would prohibit or impose additional requirements on ADUs/JADUs on streets included in the Proposed Prohibited Streets List and thus may result in impacts on traffic flow and public safety; and WHEREAS, the City anticipates receiving additional ADU and/or JADU applications that may conflict with potential regulations that would prohibit or impose additional requirements on ADUs/JADUs on streets included in the Proposed Prohibited Streets List and thus may result in impacts on traffic flow and public safety; and WHEREAS, currently the City has no means to prohibit or regulate ADUs or JADUs on the Proposed Prohibited Streets List, because the City has adopted no regulations or ordinance to this effect; and WHEREAS, pursuant to Government Code section 65858, in order to protect the public health, safety or welfare, the City Council may, by at least a four-fifths (4/5) vote, adopt an interim urgency ordinance to prohibit uses that may be in conflict with a contemplated general plan or zoning proposal that the City is studying or intends to study within a reasonable time; and WHEREAS, the City Council determines that the permitting and construction of ADUs and/or JADUs on streets included in the Proposed Prohibited Streets List must be 3 further reviewed, studied and possibly prohibited to protect the public against potentially grave fire risks and negative health, safety and welfare impacts associated with an increase in development and population in certain hillside areas of the City; and WHEREAS, the City Council determines that as of the date of the adoption of this Interim Urgency Ordinance, the City needs to further review and study whether the permitting and construction of ADUs and JADUs on the Proposed Prohibited Streets List may result in impacts on traffic flow and access by public safety vehicles and would reasonably threaten to cause adverse impacts to surrounding neighbors, including impacts on or related to available emergency response, parking and traffic flow; and WHEREAS, construction of ADUs/JADUs on streets included in the Proposed Prohibited Streets List within the City creates an additional current and immediate threat to the public safety, health, and welfare, in that such operations reasonably threaten to undermine the overall goals and purposes of the City’s zoning ordinance and the City’s General plan including General Plan Program LU-2.12D which encourages ADUs/JADUs except where access difficulties for fire and emergency vehicles pose risks to public health and safety; and WHEREAS, for the reasons stated above, the San Rafael City Council wishes to adopt a temporary moratorium on construction of ADUs/JADUs on the streets included in the Proposed Prohibited Streets List within the City. The temporary moratorium will allow the City to (1) review and analyze the City’s ability to impose limitations based on parking related concerns; (2) consider potential restrictions that may range from complete prohibition of ADUs/JADUs on these streets to prohibitions only where adequate parking standards are not met; and (3) research, draft, and adopt appropriate parking regulations governing ADUs/JADUs within the City; and WHEREAS, the City Council further finds that this moratorium is a matter of local and City-wide importance and is not directed towards any particular person or entity that seeks to permit and construct an ADU or JADU; and WHEREAS, this ordinance is necessary as an urgency measure to preserve the public peace, health or safety; and WHEREAS, the City Council exercises its independent judgment and finds that this ordinance is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to the CEQA Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3, sections: 15060(c)(2) (the activity will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment); 15060(c)(3) (the activity is not a project as defined in Section 15378); and 15061(b)(3), because the activity is covered by the general rule that CEQA applies only to projects which have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. The proposed ordinance maintains the status quo and prevents changes in the environment pending the completion of the contemplated municipal code review. Because there is no possibility that this ordinance may have a significant adverse effect on the environment, the adoption of this ordinance is exempt 4 from CEQA; NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: DIVISION 2. -- DECLARATION OF MORATORIUM. 1. In accordance with Government Code section 65858, and pursuant to the findings stated above, the City Council hereby declares: A. There exists a current and immediate threat to the public health, safety, and welfare requiring this interim urgency ordinance; B. This ordinance is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety; and C. That it is hereby imposing a temporary moratorium for the immediate preservation of the public health, safety and welfare as set forth below: 2. During the term of this interim urgency ordinance (“moratorium”), no permit for a proposed ADU and JADU located on property accessed from the streets included in the Proposed Prohibited Streets List (which List is set forth in subsection 5(C) of this ordinance) shall be issued. 3. City staff is directed forthwith to (a) review and analyze the state legislation regarding the state’s reservation to local jurisdictions of the authority to prohibit ADUs and JADUs in certain locations; (b) consult with the California Department of Housing and Community Development regarding such reservation of authority; and (c) continue to study and analyze issues related to ADUs and JADUs being permitted and constructed on properties accessed from the streets included within the Proposed Prohibited Streets List, including but not limited to analyzing and studying the potential impacts of such ADUs and JADUs on the public health safety and welfare of the community, the fire risks of such ADUs and JADUs being located within streets on the Prohibited Streets List, and the extent of regulatory controls, if any, to impose on such ADUs and JADUs. 4. Staff is directed to provide a written report to the City Council at least ten days prior to the expiration of this ordinance, describing the study conducted of the conditions that led to the adoption of this ordinance and the measures taken to alleviate any such conditions, in accordance with state law. 5. For purposes of this temporary moratorium, the following terms shall have the following meanings: 5 A. “Accessory Dwelling Unit” means an attached or a detached residential dwelling unit that provides complete independent living facilities for one or more persons and is located on a lot with a proposed or existing primary residence. It shall include permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking, and sanitation on the same parcel as the single-family or multifamily dwelling is or will be situated. An accessory dwelling unit also includes the following: (A) An efficiency unit, (B) A manufactured home, as defined in Section 18007 of the Health and Safety Code. B. “Junior Accessory Dwelling Unit” means an accessory dwelling unit that is no more than 500 square feet in size and contained entirely within the walls of a proposed or existing single-family residential space. C. “Proposed Prohibited Streets List” shall mean the following streets: San Rafael Hill/Lincoln Prospect Drive Coleman Drive Fair Drive Graceland Drive Vineyard Tampa Drive La Vista Way Chula Vista Drive Montecito/Happy Valley Eucalyptus Lane Marinita Avenue Jewell Street (between Marinita Ave and Mission Ave) Dominican/Black Canyon Terradillo Ave Roger Drive Lillian Lane Hacienda Court Hearfield Lane Sun Valley Bayo Vista Way West End/Gerstle Park Dunand Ave Sentinel Court Marquard Avenue Fremont Road Upper Fremont Road Trost Road West Street Viox Way Miramar Avenue Miraflores Ave Reservoir Road (above Ross Street) Gerstle Court Wood Street Clayton Ave (west of Welch Street) Bret Harte/Picnic Valley Southern Heights Boulevard Perry Walk McCoy Road Bungalow Avenue Glen Ave (above Robert Ave) Courtright Road Pearce Road Martens Blvd Bret Harte Road (below 270 to above 470) Baldwin Court 6 DIVISION 3. EXPIRATION Pursuant to the pertinent provisions of Government Code section 65858, this interim urgency ordinance shall expire and shall be of no further force and effect forty- five (45) days from and after the date of its adoption; provided however, that after notice and public hearing, the City Council may, upon an affirmative vote of at least four-fifths of its members, extend this interim ordinance as provided in section 65858, for an additional period of time, not to exceed a total extension period of twenty-two (22) months and fifteen (15) days. DIVISION 4. SEVERABILITY If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this ordinance is, for any reason, held to be invalid, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would have adopted the ordinance and each section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses, or phrases are declared invalid. DIVISION 5. EFFECTIVE DATE OF ORDINANCE. This ordinance is an urgency ordinance enacted under Government Code section 65858. This urgency ordinance is effective immediately after approval by a four- fifths vote of the City Council for a period of 45 days, at which time it will automatically expire unless extended by the City Council as permitted under the Government Code. The City Clerk is directed to publish forthwith a copy of this Ordinance, together with the names of those Councilmembers voting for or against same, in a newspaper of general circulation published and circulated in the City of San Rafael, County of Marin, State of California. Kate Colin, Mayor ATTEST: Lindsay Lara, City Clerk 7 I, LINDSAY LARA, City Clerk of the City of San Rafael, certify that the foregoing Ordinance was passed by the City Council of the City of San Rafael, California, by a vote of at least four-fifths (4/5) of the members thereof, at a regular meeting held on Monday, the 18th day of October 2021, by the following vote, to wit: AYES: Councilmembers: Bushey, Hill, Kertz & Mayor Kate NOES: Councilmembers: None ABSENT: Councilmembers: Llorens Gulati LINDSAY LARA, City Clerk