The San Juan Bautista City Council this week unanimously voted to accept the first reading of an ordinance implementing hillside development regulations. The ordinance will be on the agenda at the next council meeting for a final vote.
City Manager Roger Grimsley said the planning commission had been considering the ordinance for some time in recognition that various regulations in the municipal code regarding the development of subdivisions lacked regulations of hillside areas.
“We have a very small percentage that affect the hillside area,” Grimsley said, “however, we looked at the San Benito County’s hillside ordinance and tried to mirror those regulations and tailor it to ours so it’s consistent because the hills right behind us are under county jurisdiction and the hills facing us are under our jurisdiction. The whole purpose is to give us a little regulation to where we can develop or not and give us the tools to handle those things.”
Hillside developments, Grimsley noted, are primarily restricted by constraints of properties, such as landslide potential, soil properties, steep slopes and seismic anomalies.
“We try to identify those things before we allow development,” he said. “When an application (to build) comes forward we have a pre-application process where they sit down with us and we identify all of the problems and they can make the application and the planning commission will review it.”
The ordinance is well thought out, the city manager said, and it identified the key issues and that the city attorney had reviewed it.
Councilman Tony Boch asked Grimsley if the county did not allow construction on ridgelines. Grimsley said the county “discourages” construction rather than forbids it.
“In our ordinance, we’re saying that the peak of a roof has to be below the crown of a ridge,” Grimsley said.
Robert Lund (who relinquished his mayoral position earlier in the meeting to Rick Edge) and Boch asked about a few existing homes or structures that were above the ridgeline. Chris Martorana, who had just been voted in as vice mayor, said, as he understood the new ordinance, those structures would not be allowed if they were new construction projects.
Grimsley said homes could still be built along the hillsides, but the roofs could not be above the ridgeline, and landscaping requirements and mitigation measures would be applied so the property would “not be obtuse to the natural slope environment.”
There were no public comments during the public hearing Tuesday. Grimsley said this was a “first reading” of the ordinance. It will come up for a vote at the next council meeting.
Grimsley said the ordinance was in compliance with the general plan and design standards of the San Juan Bautista municipal code and that the regulation was necessary and desirable to the purpose and attempt of required development standards of hillside areas to retain and enhance the city’s rural atmosphere and protect the natural environment. Additionally, the ordinance protects the view along the scenic corridors of Highway 156 and other streets and roads, while encouraging development.
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