ITEM 8-E
City Council Meeting 5-12-92 Santa Monica, California
STAFF REPORT
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: City Attorney
SUBJECT: Ordinance Relating to Permitted Encroachment into
Required Unexcavated Portions of Required Front
and Side Yard Setbacks and Declaring the Presence
of an Emergency
The City Council directed the City Attorney to prepare an
ordinance relating to the unexcavated areas of front yards of
residential developments. In response to this direction, the
accompanying ordinance has been prepared and is presented to the
City Council for its consideration.
Under the provisions of the Municipal Code, only 50% of
required front yard set back must be landscaped. The Code does
not require that 50% must be unexcavated. In connection with the
hearing a condominium project, the City Council indicated that
50% of the required front yard setback must remain unexcavated
along the entire length of the front property line. This
ordinance would confirm this policy.
The accompanying ordinance does the following:
1. Municipal Code Section 9040.17 requires unexcavated
side yards in only the R2, R3, RVC, OP-2, OP-3, OP-4, and BCD
Districts. This ordinance would require unexcavated front and
side yards in all residential districts, the RVC District, the
BCD District, and certain commercial and industrial districts
currently regulated. This ordinance requires that the front 50%
of a required front yard remain unexcavated in all regulated
Districts. In lots narrower than 50 feet in width, this
ordinance would continue to allow excavation to the side property
line; however, 50% of the surface area of the side yards would be
required to be landscaped as currently required by the Code.
This provision remains subject to the provisions of Section
9044.8, which regulates parking access through the front and side
yards for residential districts.
2. The ordinance adds the OP-Duplex District to the
minimum landscaping requirements.
3. The ordinance amends the design standard for
subterranean parking structures to prohibit them in a required
unexcavated portion of a required front yard.
4. The ordinance modifies the design standards for
semi-subterranean parking structures. In lots wider than 50
feet, such a structure may not extend into either the required
unexcavated portion of a required front or side yard. This
provision is an addition to the current Code. In lots narrower
than 50 feet, a semi- subterranean structure may extend into the
required side yard, but not the required front yard.
RECOMMENDATION
It is respectfully recommended that the accompanying
ordinance be introduced and adopted.
PREPARED BY: Robert M. Myers, City Attorney
Cesar A. Bertaud, Deputy City Attorney
ORDINANCE NUMBER ____
(City Council Series)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF SANTA MONICA RELATING TO PERMITTED
ENCROACHMENT INTO REQUIRED UNEXCAVATED PORTIONS OF
REQUIRED FRONT AND SIDE YARD SETBACKS
AND DECLARING THE PRESENCE OF AN EMERGENCY
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES ORDAIN AS
FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Findings and Purpose. The City Council finds
and declares:
(a) The landscaping standards contained in the City of
Santa Monica Comprehensive Land Use and Zoning Ordinance are
intended to preserve and protect the public health, safety and
welfare through the maintenance of adequate drainage and
groundwater percolation capability, as well as to enhance the
aesthetic appearance of development in all areas of the City by
providing standards for quality, quantity, and functional aspects
of landscaping and landscape screening consistent with
Architectural Review Board Guidelines, and the goals, objectives,
and policies of the General Plan.
(b) In the recent past, the pace and density of
development in the City has accelerated, and developers have
increasingly excavated parcels and encumbered the soil with
subterranean and semi-subterranean structures which impede
adequate drainage and percolation and detrimentally impact the
long term success of landscaping required by the Zoning
Ordinance.
(c) Only unexcavated and unencumbered soil can adequately
provide for the water drainage and percolation and landscaping
required to preserve and protect the public health, safety and
welfare.
(d) There exists an immediate threat to the public
health, safety and welfare, through development which does not
provide for adequate water drainage and percolation and
successful landscaping, and approval of additional subdivisions,
use permits, variances, building permits, or any other applicable
entitlement for use which is required in order to comply with a
zoning ordinance without providing with same, would result in a
threat to public health, safety, and welfare.
(e) An emergency measure to provide for unexcavated and
unencumbered areas in required front and side yard setbacks is
necessary to preserve and protect the public health, safety and
welfare, because of the increasing number of developments that
are being proposed which do not contain adequate unexcavated and
unencumbered soil.
SECTION 2. Unexcavated Area in Front and Side Yards.
(a) Subject to the parking access provisions of Section
9044.8, on any lot in the R2, R3, R4, RVC, OP-2, OP-4 a
residential and or BCD District, or any commercial or industrial
lot which directly abuts a residentially zoned lot not used for
commercial parking purposes, having a width of 50 feet or
greater, there shall be provided and maintained an unexcavated
area along the entire length of the front property line equal in
area to at least 50 per cent of the front yard setback and equal
to four (4) feet in width along the entire length of at least one
of the side property lines. and fFor lots in excess of 70 feet in
width, the unexcavated area of the side yards shall be provided
and maintained along the entire length of both side property
lines. Subterranean, semi-subterranean parking structures,
basements, and other subterranean facilities may not project into
any portion of the required unexcavated areas. At least fifty
(50) per cent % of the surface areas of the unexcavated areas of
the side yard setbacks shall be landscaped pursuant to the
provisions of Subchapter 5B.
(b) Subject to the parking access provisions of Section
9044.8, on any lot in an OP-District a residential District that
has a width of less than fifty (50) feet, and which is developed
with at least three (3) units, there shall be provided and
maintained an unexcavated area along the entire length of the
front property line equal in area to at least 50 per cent of the
front yard setback. Subterranean, semi-subterranean parking
structures, basements, and other subterranean facilities may not
project into any portion of the required unexcavated area. The
front yard setback shall be landscaped pursuant to the provisions
of Subchapter 5B. No side yard setback for subterranean or
semi-subterranean parking structures or basements is required.;
Hhowever, at least fifty 50 percent per cent (50%) of the surface
area of the excavated area shall be landscaped with appropriate
groundcover and plant materials in containers.
SECTION 3. Required Landscape Area for Building Sites.
(a) In all residential dDistricts, including in R1 and R2R
Districts, but excluding the OP-1, OP-Duplex, OP-2, OP-3, and
OP-4 Districts, a minimum of 50% of the required front yard
setback shall be landscaped. In the OP-1, OP-Duplex, OP-2,
OP-3, and OP-4 Districts, all areas not covered by sidewalks,
driveways, porches, garages, or buildings, shall be treated as
landscaped area, as defined in this Chapter.
SECTION 4. Subterranean Parking Structures. All
subterranean parking structures shall be constructed and
maintained as follows:
(a) all openings for ingress and egress facing the front
parcel line shall be situated at or behind the front building
line of the main building. There shall be no more than two (2)
openings facing the front parcel line for each main building.
(b) A subterranean parking structure may be constructed
and maintained in any required yard area except in the required
unexcavated areas of a the front and side yards.
(c) Exits from any subterranean parking structure shall
provide sight distance which comply with standards established by
the Parking and Traffic Engineer.
SECTION 5. Semi-Subterranean Parking Structures. A
parking structure shall be considered to be semi-subterranean if
the structure is partially underground and if the finished floor
of the first level of the building or structure above the parking
structure does not exceed three (3) feet above the average
natural or existing grade of the lot, except for openings for
ingress and egress. A semi-subterranean parking structure shall
not be counted as a floor or story for calculating building
height. All semi-subterranean parking structures shall be
constructed and maintained as follows:
(a) All openings for ingress and egress facing the front
lot line shall be situated at or behind the front building line
of the main building, except for the OP-1, OP-Duplex, OP-2, OP-3,
and OP-4 Districts where front yard setback standards apply.
There shall be no more than two (2) openings facing the front lot
line for each main building.
(b) On lots having a width greater than 50 feet, a
semi-subterranean parking structure may be constructed and
maintained in any required yard area except in a required
unexcavated area of a front or side yard.
(b) (c) On lots less than 50 feet in width, the a
semi-subterranean parking structure may extend to both side
property lines, but may not extend into a required unexcavated
area of a required front yard.
(c) (d) Exits from any semi-subterranean parking
structure shall provide sight distance which comply with
standards established by the Parking and Traffic Engineer.
SECTION 6. Applicability. The Planning Commission and
City Staff are hereby directed to disapprove all applications
deemed complete after June 4, 1991 for approval of tentative
tract maps, tentative parcel maps, administrative approvals,
development review permits, conditional use permits, or any other
City permits for the erection, construction, moving, and
excavation and grading for any building in the affected
Districts.
SECTION 7. This ordinance is declared to be an urgency
ordinance adopted to the provisions of Section 9120.6 of the
Santa Monica Municipal Code and Section 615 of the Santa Monica
City Charter. It is necessary for preserving the public peace,
health and safety, and the urgency for its adoption is set forth
in the findings above.
SECTION 8. This ordinance shall be of no further force and
effect 45 days from its effective date, unless, pursuant to
Section 9120.6 (d) the City Council, 10 days prior to its
expiration issues a written report describing the measures taken
to alleviate the condition leading to the adoption of the
ordinance, and pursuant to Subchapter 10K, Section 9131, and
public hearing, the City Council by majority vote extends the
ordinance for up to 46 months and 15 days.
SECTION 9. Any provision of the Santa Monica Municipal
Code or appendices thereto inconsistent with the provisions of
this Ordinance, to the extent of such inconsistencies and no
further, are hereby repealed or modified to that extent necessary
to affect the provisions of this Ordinance.
SECTION 10. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause,
or phrase of this Ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid
or unconstitutional by a decision of any court of any competent
jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the
remaining portions of this Ordinance. The City Council hereby
declares that it would have passed this Ordinance, and each and
every section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase not
declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether
any portion of the Ordinance would be subsequently declared
invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION 11. The Mayor shall sign and the City Clerk shall
attest to the passage of this Ordinance. The City Clerk shall
cause the same to be published once in the official newspaper
within 15 days after its adoption. This Ordinance shall become
effective immediately upon its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
__________________________________
ROBERT M. MYERS
City Attorney