This Chapter establishes standards for subdivider dedications and reservations of land, and payment of fees, in conjunction with subdivision approval.

(§ 5, Ord. 1085, eff. January 6, 2006)

The dedications required by this Section shall occur with the approval of a Parcel Map or Final Map. The provisions of this Section do not apply to a condominium project or stock cooperative that is the subdivision of airspace in an existing apartment building which is more than five years old when no new dwelling units are added, in such case, only the payment of fees may be required.

A.

Dedication of right-of-way easements. A subdivider shall be required to dedicate such easements as are necessary for the development and for the orderly development of the area, including those identified in the General Plan and any applicable Specific Plan or master plans adopted by the City. Such easements shall include those for streets, access rights, drainage facilities, public utilities, bus turnouts, bicycle paths, sidewalks, enriched parkways, pedestrian trails, equestrian trails, and other public needs.

B.

Dedication of land in fee. A subdivider shall also be required to dedicate in fee land as may be necessary for regional drainage facilities, water tanks, pump stations, fire stations, schools, and other public needs.

C.

Termination. Easement dedications may be terminated pursuant to Map Act Sections 66477.2(c) and (d). Disposition of a fee dedication by a public entity shall require full compliance with the Map Act unless such disposition is for the clear purposes of either the disposing agency or of a receiving agency. Profit and/or the receipt of funds shall not constitute such purposes.

D.

Waiver of direct access rights. The City may require dedications or offers of dedication of direct access rights to any street from any abutting property shown on a Final Map or Parcel Map.

(§ 5, Ord. 1085, eff. January 6, 2006)

A.

Public uses. As a condition of approval of any subdivision, the Tentative Map of which is filed subsequent to the adoption of a Specific Plan or a General Plan Community Facilities Element, General Plan Recreation Element or a General Plan Public Building Element containing definite principles and standards regarding the determination of need for and location of public uses of land, the subdivider may be required to reserve areas of real property within the subdivision for parks, recreational facilities, fire stations, libraries, police stations, open space, or other public uses, in compliance with the provisions and subject to the powers and obligations identified in Map Act Section 66479 et seq. Nothing in this Section shall be construed to limit the authority of the City to levy fees in compliance with this Chapter or the Municipal Code.

B.

Non-public uses. Where needed for the benefit of a homeowners association or for private use where ownership has not yet been conveyed, a subdivider shall provide a reservation of such rights on behalf of the future owners.

(§ 5, Ord. 1085, eff. January 6, 2006)

As a condition of approval of a Final Map, the subdivider may be required to pay fees or other considerations in lieu thereof in compliance with this Section and Map Act Section 66484, to defray the actual or estimated costs of constructing bridges, and for constructing major thoroughfares, including intersections, which may be deemed necessary by the Circulation Element, any other element of the General Plan, or any applicable Specific Plan.

A.

In compliance with Map Act Section 66484, the boundaries of the area of benefit, the actual or estimated costs of construction, and a fair method of allocation of costs to area of benefit and fee apportionment shall be established at a noticed public hearing held by the Council.

B.

The payment of fees for major thoroughfares, including intersections, shall not be required unless the major thoroughfares are in addition to, or a reconstruction of, any existing major thoroughfare serving the area at the time of the adoption of the boundaries of the area of benefit.

C.

Written protests objecting to the establishment of any proposed area of benefit for any particular improvement under this Section and Map Act Section 66484 may be filed with the City Clerk by owners of real property within the proposed area of benefit at any time before the close of the required public hearing. If the written protests are filed by the owners of more than one-half of the area of the property to be benefitted by an improvement, and sufficient protests are not withdrawn so as to reduce the area represented to less than one-half of that to be benefitted, then the proposed proceedings shall be abandoned, and the Council shall not, for one year from the filing of that written protest, commence or carry on any proceeding for the same improvement or acquisition under the provisions of this Section and Map Act Section 66484.

1.

Nothing in this Subsection shall preclude the processing and recordation of maps in compliance with other provisions of this Article and the Subdivision Map Act if proceedings are abandoned.

2.

Any protest may be withdrawn by the property owner making the same in writing, at any time before the conclusion of the required public hearing.

3.

If any majority protest is directed against only a portion of the improvement, then all further proceedings under the provisions of this Article and Map Act Section 66484 to construct that portion of the improvement so protested against shall be barred for a period of one year; but the Council shall not be barred from commencing new proceedings not including any part of the improvement or acquisition so protested against. Nothing in this Subsection shall prohibit the Council, within a one year period, from commencing and carrying on new proceedings for the construction of a portion of the improvement so protested against if it finds, by the affirmative vote of four-fifths of its members, that the owners of more than one-half of the area of the property to be benefitted are in favor of going forward with the portion of the improvement or acquisition.

D.

Fees paid in compliance with this Section shall be deposited in a planned bridge facility or major thoroughfare fund. A fund shall be established for each planned bridge facility project or each planned thoroughfare project. If the benefit area is one in which more than one bridge is required to be constructed, or more than one thoroughfare or portions thereof, a fund may be established covering all of the bridge projects, or all of the thoroughfare projects, in the benefit area. Monies in the fund shall be expended solely for the construction or reimbursement for construction of the improvement serving the area to be benefitted and from which the fees comprising the fund were collected, or to reimburse the City for the cost of constructing the improvement.

E.

In addition to the powers and obligations specifically identified in this Section, the City and subdivider shall have all of the respective powers and obligations identified in Map Act Section 66484 as it may be amended from time to time.

(§ 5, Ord. 1085, eff. January 6, 2006)

As a condition of approval of any subdivision located within an adopted drainage or sanitary sewer area, the subdivider may be required to pay fees or considerations in lieu thereof for the purpose of defraying the actual or estimated costs of constructing planned drainage facilities for the removal of surface and stormwaters from local or neighborhood drainage areas and of constructing planned sanitary sewer facilities for local sanitary sewer areas in compliance with the provisions of, and subject to the conditions, powers, and obligations identified in Map Act Section 66483.

(§ 5, Ord. 1085, eff. January 6, 2006)

As a condition of approval of any map, the subdivider may be required to construct improvements or to pay fees or other consideration in lieu thereof to resolve or mitigate problems identified in environmental impact review documents in compliance with Map Act Chapter 4, Article 5, or to comply with the requirements of the General Plan, any applicable Specific Plan, and/or any other applicable ordinances or regulations.

(§ 5, Ord. 1085, eff. January 6, 2006)

A.

Purpose. Sanitary sewer facilities were completed under proceedings for Assessment District No. 83-1 (Kadota Fig Area). The assessment levied under Assessment District No. 83-1 are based upon the benefit each parcel received from the improvements at the time of the confirmation of the assessments. Those improvements provide identical benefits to new parcels which will be created through future land divisions. The Council established a program to provide for the reimbursement of moneys of the Simi Valley Sanitation Division to pay the obligations of the owners of future parcels through the collection of fees at the time of the filing of new Parcel or Final Maps.

B.

Fee area established. A fee area has been established in compliance with the authority provided in Map Act Section 66483 to provide for the payment of fees for the reimbursement of costs of sanitary sewer facilities in the Kadota Fig Area in conjunction with and coterminous with Assessment District No. 83.1 (Kadota Fig Area).

C.

Collection of fees. Fees shall be collected by the Department of Public Works at the time fees for subdividing the properties affected are paid and shall be apportioned by the City Engineer on the basis of benefits conferred on all parcels created after April 13, 1983, and in the same manner and amount as assessments are apportioned for Assessment District No. 83-1 (Kadota Fig Area).

D.

Deposit of fees/adjustments. The City Treasurer shall deposit fees collected pursuant to this Article into the account of the Simi Valley Sanitation Division. The fees shall be annually adjusted by the Simi Valley Sanitation Division in proportion to the change in the Engineering News Record Index.

E.

Special fund: Surpluses. Any surpluses remaining shall be refunded to the current property owners of property for which a fee was previously collected, the balance of the moneys in the same proportion which each individual fee collected bears to the total of all individual fees collected from the sewer fee area.

(§ 5, Ord. 1085, eff. January 6, 2006)

A.

Applicability. A subdivision requiring Tentative Map approval in compliance with this Article, and that proposes one or more lots that are less than one acre, shall provide solar access easements in compliance with this Section, and as follows:

1.

The review authority may require the preparation and dedication of solar access easements as a condition of Tentative Map approval for any subdivision application proposing one or more lots under one acre, where:

a.

Proposed building configuration is specified at the time of Tentative Map submittal, and upon finding that neither lot size, lot configuration or applicable zoning is sufficient to reasonably protect solar access to a proposed south wall, south roof or any proposed location for a solar energy system; or

b.

Proposed building configuration is not specified at the Tentative Map submittal, and upon finding that neither lot size, lot configuration or applicable zoning is sufficient to reasonably protect solar access to the southernmost boundary of the buildable portion of the lot.

2.

Solar access easements shall not be required where the lot that would be benefited is one acre or larger, or where solar access is not available due to either existing vegetation, topography or surrounding development, or where other deed restrictions are sufficient to protect solar access.

3.

The requirements of this Section are not applicable to a condominium project that subdivides airspace in an existing building, where no new structure is proposed.

4.

The establishment of a solar access easement is not intended to result in reducing development densities or reducing the percentage of a lot which may be occupied by a structure, or cause the unnecessary destruction of existing trees.

B.

Easement design criteria.

1.

In a proposed subdivision where a building configuration has been developed at the Tentative Map stage, solar access easements created in compliance with this Section shall be designed, to the extent feasible, to protect solar access to proposed south roof and south wall areas and any proposed site for a solar energy system.

2.

In a proposed subdivision where a building configuration has not been developed at the Tentative Map stage, solar access easements shall be designed, to the extent feasible, to protect solar access to the southernmost boundary of the buildable portion of a lot.

3.

In establishing the dimensions of a solar access easement, consideration shall be given to contour, configuration of the parcel to be divided, existing vegetation and the use of adjacent parcels.

C.

Easement content. Each solar access easement required in compliance with this Section shall provide:

1.

A description of the solar access easement in terms of specific areas on benefited property to which solar access is to be protected, and a statement specifying that no structure, vegetation or land use shall cast a shadow so as to impede the passage of direct sunlight to more than 10 percent of a protected area on a benefited property between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on December 21 or on any other date approved by the advisory agency. For purposes of this Section, the easement shall protect and it shall be sufficient to describe only the specific areas on benefited property that would limit the height of structures and vegetation to under 50 feet on the burdened property to protect solar access.

2.

A diagram of the burdened property indicating in a manner easily understood by nontechnical persons the approximate height restrictions up to and including 50 feet on the property necessary to protect solar access to specific areas on benefited property.

3.

A statement that the burdens and benefits of the solar access easement are transferable and run with the land to subsequent grantees.

4.

Because a solar access easement is not intended to unnecessarily burden properties, a statement specifying that, subsequent to the development of a benefited property, restrictions on structures, vegetation and land uses due to a recorded solar access easement on a burdened property not required to protect solar access to a south wall or south roof or the site of a solar energy system shall be void and unenforceable, provided that a revised solar access easement signed by all affected benefited and burdened parties and a revised diagram in compliance with this Section have been recorded with the County Recorder.

a.

The easement shall also contain a statement that upon refusal of an affected party to sign the modified solar access easement, any other affected party may bring an action in court to determine what modification, if any, should be made to the easement, and that the costs of suit may be awarded to the prevailing party. This provision is not intended to, and shall not increase the area burdened by any solar access easement on any property.

b.

Where the applicable zoning at the time the solar access easement is recorded would allow the construction of only one primary structure on the benefited property, the provisions of this Subsection (C)(4) shall apply subsequent to Final Building Inspection or the issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy for the principal structure, or any detached solar energy system constructed on the benefited property at the same time as the principal structure.

c.

Where the applicable zoning at the time the solar access easement is recorded would allow the construction of more than one principal structure on the benefited property, the provisions of this Subsection (C)(4) shall apply subsequent to approval of a complete development plan for the benefited property that indicates the future location of all principal structures and the site of any detached solar energy system.

D.

Termination of easement. A solar access easement may be revised or terminated in compliance with Subsection C, or by a modification in writing that is signed by all benefited and burdened property owners and recorded with the County Recorder. The right of modification in writing shall not apply to the initial grantor of the easement.

E.

Recordation. A solar access easement required by this Section shall be recorded with the Parcel Map or Final Map with the County Recorder.

F.

Appeal. A decision of the review authority in compliance with this Section may be appealed in compliance with Chapter 9-76 (Appeals).

(§ 5, Ord. 1085, eff. January 6, 2006)