City Council
MEETING DATE: 9/11/2018
TITLE:
Title
Resolution of Intention to Vacate certain streets, alleys, public highway and utility easements: Vacation No. 2018-02
End
FROM:
John Corella, City Engineer
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Staff recommends the City Council adopt a Resolution declaring its intention to vacate all or portions of Street Lots “II” (Grove Street), and Lot “KK” (”A” Street) and alley Lot “J”, as shown on the map of Cathedral City, filed in Book 13, at Pages 24 through 26, inclusive, of Maps, Records of Riverside County; an alley within Lot 164 of said cathedral City as shown on map in Book 11, at Page 11 of Records of Survey, Riverside County records, and any public street, public utility and public service easement uses on portions of Lots 151 and 165 of said Cathedral City, together with various utility and public service easements reserved from previous vacation proceedings on portions of said Lots “II” and “KK” and on a portion of the alley in Lot 164, all located within the East half of Section 33, Township 4 South, Range 5 East, San Bernardino Meridian, and Southerly of East Palm Canyon Drive, between Van Fleet Avenue and West Buddy Rogers Avenue.
Body
BACKGROUND:
The former Redevelopment Agency of the City of Cathedral City acquired a number of properties in the area located southerly of East Palm Canyon Drive, west of Van Fleet Avenue, near the former Community Center and library. These parcels were acquired and cleared in order to remove blight and to consolidate land for future multiple unit housing and mixed-use development. The biggest obstacle to redevelopment of this key area had been the small size of the parcels, multiple ownership of individual parcels, fragmentation of the developable land mass caused by street and alley configurations and the need for infrastructure improvements.
In 2012, when the State eliminated all redevelopment agencies, the City as the Successor Agency to the former Redevelopment Agency was required to develop a Long-Range Property Management Plan (“LRPMP”). The LRPMP was developed in a way where “blocks” of parcels were packaged as a planned sale and included plans for mitigation of development obstacles.
The City Urban Revitalization Corporation (CURC) has since acquired a number of the lots in this area, and with the Housing Successor Agency, is working to maximize the development potential of these properties by requesting the City to consider the vacation of several other streets, alleys and easements in the same general area. These streets, alleys and easements are described in Exhibit “A” and shown on the sketch marked Exhibit “B”, which are in the proposed Resolution of Intention.
DISCUSSION:
The Vacation procedure begins with the adoption of the attached Resolution of Intention, which schedules a Public Hearing date, and directs the publication, posting and noticing of the Public Hearing, all in accordance with the State Streets and Highways Code.
Engineering Staff has already sent out letters to the various utility companies to solicit their comments or objections to the requested Vacation. All the streets, alleys and easements to be Vacated have existing utility facilities, such as power lines and poles, telephone lines and facilities, cable TV wires, water mains, fire hydrants, water service lines, sewer mains and sewer laterals.
Any final Vacation Resolution will contain conditions requiring the removal, relocation and/or undergrounding of these utilities before the final Vacation Resolutions can be recorded to make the Vacations effective.
A noticed Public Hearing will be held to hear testimony on the proposed Vacation. At that time, a full Engineer’s Report will be presented, along with any Special Conditions of Approval and other findings that need to be made.
At the Public Hearing, an environmental finding will be made, and a report as to the Vacation’s conformance with the General Plan will be presented, if needed. Any comments or objections received from the utility companies or the public will be included in the Engineer’s Report. Any interested person can participate in the Public Hearing.
The attached Resolution of Intention sets the Public Hearing for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 10, 2018, in the City Council Chambers.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no direct financial impact as a result of the passage of this Resolution.
ATTACHMENTS:
VAC 2018-02 Reso Of Intention
Exh. A VAC 2018-02 REV AUG 2018
Vicinity Map Vacation No. 2018-02