La Habra Heights City Zoning Code

Filing. Any owner or lessee of real property may request and apply through the Community Development Director to enter into a development agreement provided the following are met:

Processing. The Community Development Director is empowered to receive, review, process and prepare, together with recommendations for commission and council consideration, all applications for development agreements. The Community Development Director shall determine whether an application for a development agreement is complete.

Fees. Processing fees shall be collected for any application for a development agreement made in compliance with the provisions of this Chapter.

Planning Commission Review. Upon determining that the application for a development agreement is complete, the Community Development Director shall set the application, together with staff recommendations, for a public hearing before the Planning Commission in compliance with Chapter 8.4. Following the conclusion of the public hearing, the Planning Commission shall make a written recommendation to the City Council.

City Council Consideration. Upon receipt of the Planning Commission’s recommendation, the City Clerk shall set the application, proposed ordinance adopting the agreement, and written report for public hearing before the City Council in compliance with Chapter 8.4. Following conclusion of the public hearing, the City Council shall approve, conditionally approve or disapprove the application.

City Council Action. Should the City Council approve or conditionally approve the application and grant first reading to the proposed ordinance, it shall as a part of its action to direct the preparation of a development agreement embodying the terms and conditions of the application as approved or conditionally approved. Upon final reading the City Council shall adopt an ordinance authorizing the City Manager to execute the development agreement. The City Council’s approval of a development agreement by ordinance is a legislative act subject to referendum.

Ordinance Content. The ordinance approving the development agreement shall contain findings that the development agreement is consistent with this Chapter, the General Plan, and any applicable specific plans.

Mandatory Contents. All development agreements shall contain the following provisions:

Permissive Contents. A development agreement may include the following at the option of the City Council:

Construction and Interpretation. In defining the provisions of any development agreement executed in compliance with this Chapter, each provision shall be consistent with the language of this Chapter, State law (Article 2.5 of the California Government Code, cited above), and the agreement itself. Should any discrepancies between the meaning of these documents arise, reference shall be made to the following documents, and in the following order:

Effective Date. The City Manager shall execute development agreements on or after the effective date of the ordinance approving the development agreement, as directed to do so by the City Council.

Recordation. A development agreement shall be recorded in the office of the Los Angeles County recorder no later than ten (10) days after it is executed.

Review Required. Every development agreement approved and executed in compliance with this section shall be subject to periodic City review during the full term of the agreement, at least once every twelve (12) months. Appropriate fees to cover the City’s costs to conduct the periodic reviews shall be collected from the applicant in compliance with Section 8.2.30(E).

Purpose of Review. The purpose of the periodic review shall be to determine whether the applicant or its successor-in-interest has complied in good faith with the terms of the development agreement. The burden of proof shall be on the applicant or its successor to demonstrate compliance to the full satisfaction of, and in a manner prescribed by, the City.

Action Based on Noncompliance. If, as a result of periodic review, the City Council finds and determines, on the basis of substantial evidence, that the applicant or its successor-in-interest has not complied in good faith with the terms or conditions of the agreement, the Council may order, after a noticed public hearing, that the agreement be terminated or modified.

Applicable Regulations. Unless otherwise provided by the development agreement itself, the rules, regulations and official policies governing permitted uses of the land, density and design, improvement and construction standards and specifications, applicable to development of the property subject to a development agreement, are the rules, regulations and official policies in force at the time of execution of the agreement.

Additional Requirements. A development agreement does not prevent the City, in subsequent actions, from applying new rules, regulations and policies that do not conflict with those applicable to the property, nor does a development agreement prevent the City from conditionally approving or disapproving any subsequent development project application on the basis of existing or new rules, regulations and policies.

Changes to Approved Development. Other than a termination or modification of a development agreement under Section 7.20.60(C), any cancellation or amendment to a development agreement must be approved by mutual agreement of the parties to the agreement. The procedure for amending or canceling a development agreement shall be the same as the procedure for approval of the agreement, including notice of public hearings on the matter in the manner provided by Section 7.20.30. The Community Development Director is authorized to correct typographical errors, references to statutes, code provisions, exhibits, page and section numbers, to correct maps, and to make any similar nonsubstantive changes to the agreement without processing an amendment. If any development agreement is amended during its term, any change in the overall intensity of development or revisions to approved land uses shall be consistent with the provisions of the General Plan. In any case where State law requires a finding of consistency with the General Plan in order to approve an amendment to a development agreement, the provisions of the amendment shall be made consistent with the General Plan.

Extension of Agreement. If the term of a development agreement is extended, any development that occurs after the original expiration date shall be consistent with the provisions of the General Plan as of the adoption date of the amended development agreement.