City Council
MEETING DATE: 5/24/2017
TITLE:
Title
Vacation 2017-02: Public Hearing to Vacate a Public Utility Easement on Channel Drive between Grandview Avenue and Valley Vista Drive
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FROM:
John A. Corella, P.E. - City Engineer
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Staff recommends the City Council conduct a public hearing, make the findings contained in the Resolution of Vacation for VAC 2017-02, and adopt the Resolution vacating a portion of a public utility and public services easement, between Grandview and Valley Vista, reserved from the vacation of Channel Drive in 1979.
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BACKGROUND:
In 1979, the County of Riverside vacated Channel Drive, a 40-foot-wide street right of way between Grandview Avenue and Valley Vista Drive. Channel Drive was located west of Elna Way, against the east levee of the West Cathedral Channel.
When the County vacated the road uses on Channel Drive, it retained a 40-foot-wide public utility easement for any existing public utility or public service facilities. There apparently was at least one utility company, Southern California Edison Company, which had an overhead powerline within that easement. Edison shared its poles with Frontier California (Verizon) and the local cable TV carrier, Charter Communications (Spectrum).
In February 2006, one of the larger lots along the west side of Elna, south of Grandview, was subdivided by Parcel Map 33574. Parcel 2 of this parcel map is a large vacant parcel at the southwest corner of Elna Way and Grandview. The 40-foot-wide utility easement reservation took up a substantial portion of this lot and was a deterrent to its effective development.
Also in 2006, the owner of that parcel granted Southern California Edison (SCE) its own easement covering just the existing pole line. Since SCE and the other utility companies sharing the SCE poles now had an exclusive easement, the 40-foot-wide reserved utility easement appeared to be no longer needed. Therefore, the present owner...
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