For City Council Meeting [August 13, 2019]
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
APPROVAL: Rod Foster, City Administrator
FROM: Fred Galante, City Attorney
Title
Request City Council to Consider and Adopt Urgency Ordinance No. 1620, entitled, "AN URGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RIALTO ESTABLISHING A TEMPORARY MORATORIUM ON ANY CONSTRUCTION OR ALTERATIONS OF ACCESSORY DWELLING UNITS WITHIN THE CITY OF RIALTO," reading the ordinance by title only and waving further reading thereof.
(ACTION)
Body
BACKGROUND:
In December 2003, the City adopted an ordinance allowing the construction of accessory dwelling units (ADU's, aka granny flats, in-law units, and second units) in the Single-Family Residential zone (R-1A), subject to approval of a precise plan of design and various development standards.
In late 2016, the California legislature adopted Assembly Bill (AB) 2299 and Senate Bill (SB) 1069, requiring cities throughout California to comply with new laws relating to ADU's or risk their ordinances being deemed null and void. The bills required the City to ministerially approve ADU's that meet certain requirements, eliminated certain parking requirements, limited utility fees charged for the conversion of existing structures into ADU's, and modified the minimum size of ADU's.
As a result of the bills, the City adopted Ordinance No. 1590 in June 2017 (Attachment A), which amended Section 18.10.020(J) of the Rialto Municipal Code pertaining to ADU's so that it complies with the new state laws. Since then, the City has seen a substantial increase in new ADU's and garage conversions, resulting in threats to public health, safety, and welfare.
To address the concerns, City Staff recommends that the City Council consider adopting a moratorium on the development of ADU's ("Moratorium") in order to review and potentially revise some development standards with respect to ADU's. Pursuant to Government Code Section 65858, the City Council may ad...
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