City Council
MEETING DATE: 4/26/2017
TITLE:
Title
Vacation 2017-01: Public Hearing and Resolution to Vacate Certain Streets, Alleys, Public Highway Easements and Utility Easements Northwest of East Palm Canyon Drive and Date Palm Drive.
End
FROM:
John A. Corella, P.E. - City Engineer
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Staff recommends the City Council make the findings contained in the Resolution of Vacation for VAC 2017-01; and adopt the Resolution, conditionally vacating all or portions of Hillery Road (formerly First Street), Allen Avenue, public highway and public utility easements on portions of Lots 44, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, and 55 as shown on the map of Cathedral City, filed in Book 13, at Pages 24 through 26, inclusive, of Maps, Records of Riverside County, and to vacate public alleys in Lots 45 and 48 of said Cathedral City, as said alleys are shown on the map filed in Book 11, Page 11 of Records of Survey, Records of Riverside County, all located within the East half of Section 33, Township 4 South, Range 5 East, San Bernardino Meridian, at the northwest quadrant of East Palm Canyon Drive and Date Palm Drive; and approve the use of the sample Resolution attached as Exhibit “C” to the Vacation Resolution, as outlined herein, for the vacation of the above streets, alley and easements in portions or segments, as the conditions of their vacation are met.
Body
BACKGROUND:
The former Redevelopment Agency of the City of Cathedral City acquired a number of properties in the “Eastside” area, located north of Palm Canyon Drive and west of Date Palm. These parcels were acquired and cleared in order to remove blight and to consolidate land for future development. The biggest obstacle to redevelopment of this key area had been the small size and 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. In this case, the “Eastside” block, approved by the Department of Finance as “Block 2” in the LRPMP, included the need for vacation of certain streets and alleys to maximize future development potential as required by redevelopment dissolution legislation.
Consequently, in order to begin the process of vacation of the referenced streets, alleys and easements, the City Council, on August 26, 2015, adopted Resolution No. 2015-49, which conditionally vacated portions of Dawes Street, Allen Avenue, an alley and several street and public utility easements in the area south of Hillery Road (formerly First Street).
A second vacation process has been requested by the City Urban Revitalization Corporation (CURC), the owner of many of the vacant parcels in this area, to vacate additional public streets, alleys and easements between Hillery Road and Buddy Rogers Avenue.
The City Council initiated this process by its adoption of Resolution of Intention No. 2017-09, on March 22, 2017, which announced its intention to vacate a number of streets, alley and highway easements in Block 2 of the LRPMP. That Resolution set April 26, 2017, at 6:30 p.m., as the date and time for the required public hearing to consider this new vacation.
DISCUSSION:
ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS:
State law requires the preparation of a written report on the proposed vacation, covering various aspects of the vacation and making certain required findings:
Present or Prospective Public Use:
The streets and easements to be considered for vacation are located northerly of East Palm Canyon Drive and west of Date Palm. Most of the parcels in this area were acquired by the former Redevelopment Agency in an effort to consolidate the lots for development. The area, designated as Block 2 in the LRPMP, is still proposed for consolidation and development as larger “blocks”. The LRPMP contemplated the vacation of some streets and alleys in this area to further that purpose.
The surrounding land is predominantly vacant. The streets and alleys proposed for vacation are local streets and are not required for efficient traffic circulation in the area. They are narrow, mostly 40 foot wide rights of ways, with existing pavement widths of generally 24 feet wide or less. Since the abutting lots are mostly under uniform ownerships, and the goal for the area is for lot consolidation and development, the best use for these streets and alleys is their vacation and consolidation of the vacated rights of way with the adjoining vacant land.
Therefore a finding is made in the attached Resolution that the streets and alleys and highway easements described in the Resolution are not needed for any present or prospective public use. Pursuant to the State Streets and Highways Code, this is a mandatory finding to be made.
Non-Highway Transportation Facility:
The streets, alleys and highway and utility easements described in the Resolution are not shown on any bicycle or recreation trail route in the City's General Plan or in CVAG’s adopted Non-Motorized Transportation Element. Therefore, a finding is included in the attached Resolution that the streets and alleys to be vacated are not useable for any non-motorized transportation facility (bicycle trail) as defined in Sec. 887 of the State Streets and Highways Code. This is a mandatory finding to be made per Section 892 of the Streets and Highways Code.
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA):
The streets, alleys, and highway and public utility easements proposed to be vacated are narrow and carry very low traffic volumes. The surrounding land along these streets and alleys is predominantly vacant, and since this area is proposed for consolidation and development in larger blocks, these streets and easements are not needed and at this time provide little or no public benefit. Removal of the paving and closure of the streets and alleys will occur only after the vacation conditions are met, as outlined in the following sections, and when plans for commercial development of the consolidated lots and vacated streets are further along. At this time, the vacation is a “paper” action only.
Therefore, Staff believes this vacation action would fall under the CEQA “General Rule”, Sec. 15061(b)(3) of the CEQA Guidelines, which states that where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the vacation may have a significant effect on the environment, the action is not subject to CEQA.
Upon vacation and consolidation, any future development plan of the land and vacated streets will require its own environmental review.
Compliance with City Council Minute Order No. 867:
In 1988, the City Council adopted criteria for the consideration of alley vacation requests in the Downtown-Cove areas of the City. There are two un-paved alleys in this vacation request. Both run north-south between Buddy Rogers Avenue and Hillery Road, in the blocks between Date Palm Drive and Monty Hall Drive. This Minute Order (copy attached) was adopted when the Redevelopment Agency was in effect, so some of its questions may not pertain today.
1. Is the alley in or out of downtown or Highway 111 Corridor Redevelopment Study Area, any other Redevelopment Area or area covered by Specific Plan? Answer: The alley is in the downtown area, is within the former RDA Area 1 and is within the area covered by the Downtown Design Guidelines.
2. Does the subject alley have the likelihood of being in a future expansion of the Redevelopment Area? Answer: No, because the Redevelopment Agency is now defunct.
3. Does the alley provide access to the abutting properties? Answer: Yes.
4. Are there existing public facilities in the alley? Answer: Yes, there are utility facilities in the alley nearest to Date Palm. There are no facilities in the other alley to be vacated.
5. Is the alley needed for emergency access? Answer: No. Both alleys are 175 feet long and all abutting land is vacant.
6. Is the alley needed for police patrol, access and surveillance? Answer: No. Since all adjoining land is vacant, there is good vision and access.
7. Is the alley useable for non-motorized transportation facilities? Answer: No. This is covered above under the mandatory findings on non-motorized transportation facilities in the Resolution.
8. Will alley be closed, barricaded, fenced, walled, etc., and if so, how? Answer: Both alleys are un-paved. Once vacated, they with be consolidated with adjoining properties and developed as a larger development.
Based upon the above answers, Staff feels that the proposed alley vacations meet the intent of the criteria, primarily because the alleys will be consolidated with adjoining parcels and will be part of a larger commercial development.
Conformance with General Plan:
Every vacation is supposed to have a finding that it is in conformance with the adopted General Plan if the General Plan or any part thereof applies to what is being vacated. The streets to be vacated are local streets only, which are not shown or mapped in the Circulation Element of the General Plan. Similarly, the alley to be vacated is not shown in the Circulation Element. Therefore, since the General Plan or any part thereof does not apply to the streets, alleys and easements being vacated, then no finding of conformance is required. This statement is included in the Vacation Resolution.
Compliance with “Public Streets, Highways, and Service Easements Vacation Law”:
Pursuant to law, on April 11, 2017, Notices of the proposed public hearing and vacation and a copy of the Resolution of Intention were properly posted along the streets, alleys and easements to be vacated. A Notice of the Public Hearing was also properly published twice in the “Desert Sun”, on April 12, 2017 and on April 19, 2017. Copies of the Notice of Public hearing were also posted on the City web-site, and in the required public places.
In addition, private property owners and business owners along the north side of East Palm Canyon, between Monty Hall and Date Palm, were sent Notices of the proposed public hearing and vacation.
Utility Reservation:
All utility companies were sent notices and asked if they had any present or planned facilities in the area to be vacated. All such companies were given the minimum of 30 days for a response after receipt of the request for comments. It was found that Southern California Edison, Time Warner, Frontier (formerly Verizon) and Desert Water Agency all have overhead and/or underground facilities in and along the streets and alley and easements to be vacated.
Therefore, a condition requiring the reservation of public utility easements from the vacations, covering the areas where utilities are located, has been added to the Vacation Resolution. This reservation will not be required for any portion of the streets, alley or easements where there are no existing facilities, or where the utility facilities are removed, relocated, or otherwise cleared from the areas to be vacated.
Conditions of Vacation:
The streets, alley and easements to be vacated will all most likely be included in one or more commercial developments, which will incorporate the vacated streets and easements into the future developments. Any removal or relocation of existing utilities in the streets will not be at City expense. Therefore, a condition has been added to the vacation Resolution which directs the City Clerk NOT to record any final vacation resolution until such time as he receives a written certification from either the City Engineer and/or the City Manager, notifying the Clerk that one of the following conditions have been met:
(a) That suitable utility easements have been reserved by the City to protect existing utility facilities in any portion or segment of street, alley or easement to be vacated; or
(b) That suitable utility easements have been granted to the appropriate utility company by the abutting owner or other party who will take or has taken ownership of the vacated street, alley or easement upon its vacation; or
(c) That the utility facilities within the portion or segment of street, alley or easement being vacated have been removed, relocated or otherwise cleared, or that financial arrangements have been made with the utility company by a developer or abutting owner to guarantee their removal or clearance, such that the utility owner no longer requires the utility reservation.
Vacation in Portions or Segments:
It is likely that the area surrounding the streets and easements to be vacated may be developed in phases over time, or by more than one developer, and that not all the existing utility lines and facilities in the streets and easements will be removed or relocated at the same time.
To accommodate future phased or multiple developments, it is recommended that Council approve the vacation of the streets, alley and easements described in the Resolution in multiple portions or segments, as they meet the conditions of the vacation, by the approval and recordation of copies of the sample resolution attached as Exhibit “C”.
As portions or segments of the streets, alleys and easements become available for formal vacation, a copy of the Exhibit “C” Resolution would be filled out with a description of the portion of street or easement to be formally vacated. It would then be signed by the Mayor and City Staff, without the need for another Council meeting and then recorded. Numbering of the Exhibit “C” resolutions would be similar to the resolution number assigned to the Vacation Resolution passed after the present Public Hearing, if so approved.
Recordation of Resolution:
Upon recordation of any of the Exhibit “B” Resolutions, the vacation of whatever portion or segment of street, alley or easement is described in that Resolution becomes effective.
It should be noted that the proposed Resolution of Vacation is a conditional vacation of the streets and alleys described. This action will not actually vacate the streets and alleys. That will occur only after the conditions of the vacations are met, and then only after the recordation of a Resolution describing the street, alley or portion thereof being vacated.
Also it should be noted that future development plans may not actually require the vacation of all the portions of streets, alleys and easements described, in which case the streets, alleys and easements, or portions thereof, not vacated would remain as public facilities.
Final Recommendation:
Staff recommends that Council hear the Staff Report on this Vacation proposal, open the Public Hearing, listen to any testimony or comments from interested parties, and then after the close of the Public Hearing, make the findings contained in the Resolution, and adopt the attached Vacation Resolution, subject to the conditions contained therein.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no direct financial impact as a result of the passage of this Resolution. There will be a very minor savings to the City in maintenance and upkeep of the vacated streets, alley and easements once they are formally vacated.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Resolution of Vacation.
2. Exhibit A: legal description of segments of streets, alleys and easements to be vacated.
3. Exhibit B: sketch showing streets, alleys and easements proposed to be vacated.
4. Exhibit C, sample Resolution for subsequent recordations.
5. Minute Order No. 867: Downtown-Cove area alley vacation criteria