La Habra Heights City Zoning Code

The purpose of this Chapter is to establish procedures governing General Plan amendments, Specific Plan amendments, Zoning Map or Zoning Ordinance text amendments, Conditional Use Permits, variances, and Standards Modifications.

This Chapter applies to all existing and proposed land uses, structures, and lots in the City of La Habra Heights.

This Section is established to permit the amendment of the City of La Habra Heights General Plan.

This Section is established to permit the amendment of Specific Plans.

Because physical, economic, and other conditions in the City may change over time, provisions are hereby made to allow for amendments to the Zoning Map or Zoning Ordinance Text in accord with the procedures outlined in this section. All such changes to the Zoning Map and Zoning Ordinance Text shall be adopted in the manner in which other City ordinances are adopted.

Certain land uses, due to the use, intensity, or size, may require special review to determine if the use is compatible with surrounding uses or whether the use can be made compatible through the imposition of certain conditions of approval. The Conditional Use Permit is provided for this purpose.

The Variance procedure is provided to grant relief from Zoning provisions when, because of special circumstances applicable to a property (such as size, shape, topography, location, or surroundings), the strict application of this Article deprives such property of privileges enjoyed by other similar properties in the vicinity and/or under the identical Zone classification.

The purpose of a Standards Modification is to provide flexibility necessary to enable individual property owners to achieve the objectives of the General Plan and the Zoning Ordinance by providing for adjustments to development standards in those circumstances where such request constitutes a reasonable use or development of an individual property that will be compatible with adjoining uses and development. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a requested standards modification for a multifamily development within the MFR Zone shall be approved unless a finding is made that the housing development project as proposed would have a specific, adverse impact upon the public health or safety, and there is no feasible method to satisfactorily mitigate or avoid the specific, adverse impact without rendering the development financially infeasible. “Specific, adverse impact” means a significant, quantifiable, direct, and unavoidable impact, based on objective, identified written public health or safety standards, policies, or conditions as they existed on the date the application was deemed complete.

The City, its employees, agents and officials shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be fully protected from any loss, injury, damage, claim, lawsuit, expense, attorneys’ fees, litigation expenses, court costs or any other costs arising out of or in any way related to any and all land use or development application approvals, including General Plan Amendments, Specific Plan Amendments, Zoning Map or Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment, Conditional Use Permits, Variances and Standards Modifications. Accordingly, the City shall impose as a condition of approval of any land use or development application that the applicant and owner or owners of the real property obtaining such approval shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, defend, indemnify and hold harmless the City, its employees, agents and officials, from and against any liability, claims, suits, actions, arbitration proceedings, regulatory proceedings, losses, expenses or costs of any kind, whether actual, alleged or threatened, including, but not limited to, actual attorneys’ fees, litigation expenses and court costs of any kind without restriction or limitation, incurred as a consequence of, arising out of or in any way attributable to, such approval, or the activities conducted pursuant thereto. The real property owner(s) shall pay such obligations as they are incurred by the City, its employees, agents and officials, and in the event of any claim or lawsuit, shall submit a deposit in such amount as the City reasonably determines necessary in its discretion to protect the City from exposure to fees, costs or liability with respect to such claim or lawsuit.

The authority required for approval of any Zoning Action is provided in Table 7-13.

The purpose of a minor exception is to provide the flexibility necessary to enable individual property owners to achieve the objective of the General Plan and Zoning Ordinance by allowing the Community Development Director to grant minor deviations to the development standards for additions and modifications to existing single-family residences in those circumstances where such request constitutes a reasonable use or development of an individual property that will be compatible with surrounding uses and developments.