To: Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): Permit Sonoma
Staff Name and Phone Number: Cecily Condon 565-1958
Vote Requirement: 4/5th
Supervisorial District(s): All
Title:
Title
3:00 P.M. - Urgency Ordinance Adding Chapter 40D, Glass Incident Disaster Recovery, to Sonoma County Code.
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Recommended Action:
Recommended action
Hold public hearing. After close of public hearing, find the proposed ordinance exempt from CEQA under Public Resource Code §§ 21080(b)(3)-(4) and CEQA Guidelines §§ 15269(a),(c), and approve the proposed ordinance. (4/5th Vote Required)
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Executive Summary:
Damage assessment of the Glass Incident is ongoing. The fire burned over 67,000 acres in Sonoma and Napa counties, and destroyed an estimated 611 structures in unincorporated Sonoma County and the City of Santa Rosa, including approximately 336 residential structures. An additional estimated 136 structures were damaged, including about 85 residential structures. The ordinance before the Board would add a new Chapter 40D to the Sonoma County Code, titled Glass Incident Disaster Recovery, to address immediate and interim housing needs for fire-displaced persons and to streamline reconstruction.
Chapter 40D is based on Chapter 40C, which your Board adopted in response to the 2020 LNU Complex Incident. Chapter 40D applies inland countywide. Some provisions of Chapter 40D apply specifically to lots within the Glass Incident perimeter as designated by CALFIRE.
Discussion:
Staff recommends adoption of the attached urgency ordinance adding proposed Chapter 40D to the County Code. As drafted, all provisions of Chapter 40D would expire on December 31, 2022, unless extended or modified by the Board of Supervisors. Chapter 40D is proposed to facilitate recovery and to address immediate and interim needs for housing resulting from the Glass Incident, a fast-moving wildfire that commenced on the 27th day of September, 2020. The draft ordinance includes the following measures to meet the immediate and interim housing needs of those displaced by the Glass Incident:
• Permitting use of recreational vehicles (defined to include motor homes, travel trailers, truck campers, camping trailers, and similar vehicles that meet enumerated criteria) as temporary emergency housing in residential zoning districts outside the coastal zone, subject to specified standards. Use of an RV on a lot in the burn area would not be permitted until the lot is cleared for reconstruction.
• Allowing year-round occupancy of RVs, tent camps and campgrounds in K zoning districts, subject to specified standards and with a zoning permit.
Allowing groupings of RVs and manufactured homes as temporary emergency housing in Public Facilities, M1, M2, and MP zoning districts outside the coastal zone, subject to temporary use permit.
• Suspending occupancy limits on seasonal and extended seasonal farmworker housing so that such housing may be occupied year-round.
• Allowing existing guest houses, pool houses, and other habitable residential accessory structures, as well as marketing accommodations, farmstays, bed and breakfast inns, resorts, retreats, camps and similar uses, to be used as temporary housing.
• Allowing temporary housing use and rental of existing dwellings and RVs on agricultural lots, subject to specified limitations.
• Prohibiting establishment of new vacation rentals within the burn area.
• Waiving permitting fees for accessory dwelling units constructed along with a reconstructed primary dwelling within the burn area.
• Specifying requirements for reconstructing legal nonconforming structures.
• Streamlining design review for reconstruction of fire-damaged structures in scenic landscape units.
Prior Board Actions:
On September 28, 2020 the Sonoma County Director of Emergency Services declared a local emergency.
On September 15, 2020, the Board adopted Resolution No. 2020-0894 for an Urgency Ordinance Adding Chapter 40C to the Sonoma County Code.
Fiscal Summary
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
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Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
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Attachments:
Att 1: Draft ordinance adding Chapter 40D, Glass Incident Disaster Recovery, to the Sonoma County Code.
Att 2: Exhibit A to Att 1: Chapter 40D, Glass Incident Disaster Recovery
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
N/A