Chapter 13.16 — CONSTRUCTION OF SIDEWALKS, CURBS, GUTTERS AND DRIVEWAYS

The provisions of this chapter are minimum requirements, and wherever any ordinance or resolution or

determination of the city, its council, oNcers or agents, require additional improvements or improvements of a

higher degree or grade, such ordinance, resolution or determination shall control. (Ord. 711 NCS §1; prior code

§21.72.)

The Petaluma Municipal Code is current through Ordinance 2916 NCS, passed December 1, 2025.

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For the purpose of this chapter, the following words shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this

section:

A. "Person" means any person, individual, Lrm, partnership, association, corporation, company or organization

of any kind;

B. "Street" means any public street, highway or public way; any street, highway or way open to public use;

C. "Street line" means the line of any street, as herein deLned, as established by any oNcial map or plat, or by

any public agency, or by recorded deed or subdivision map or by the director of public works of the city.

(Ord. 711 NCS §1; prior code §21.73.)

The director of public works may, on his own initiative, and shall within sixty days of a written request by any

abutting property owner, establish a street line for such abutting property along any street in the city. Such street

line shall prevail for all purposes of this article. (Ord. 711 NCS § 1; prior code §21.74.)

Any person who constructs or causes to be constructed any building or dwelling in the city shall construct curbs,

gutters, sidewalks and driveways in accordance with the city speciLcations along all street frontage adjoining the

property upon which such building or dwelling is constructed, unless adequate curbs, gutters, sidewalks and

driveways already exist; provided, however, that in areas not subdivided or parceled into lots of one-half acre or

more, such curbs, gutters, sidewalks and driveways need not extend a greater distance than the side yards or the

side and rear yards in the case of corner lots where adequate curbs, gutters, sidewalks and driveways do not exist

on adjacent frontages.

Whether or not adequate curbs, gutters, sidewalks and driveways already exist shall be determined in each

instance by the director of public works of the city, and an endorsement to that eOect shall be made upon each

building permit at the time it is issued. (Ord. 711 NCS §1; prior code §21.75.)

connections.

The building oNcial shall deny Lnal approval and acceptance and shall refuse to allow Lnal public utility

connections to any such building or dwelling unless such curbs gutters, sidewalks and driveways exist, are

The Petaluma Municipal Code is current through Ordinance 2916 NCS, passed December 1, 2025.

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constructed or unless money or a bond to guarantee their construction is deposited with the city in a sum equal to

the estimated cost of construction of such improvements as determined by the director of public works of the city.

(Ord. 973 NCS §1; Ord. 711 NCS §1; prior code §21.76.)

Any bond or money deposit required by the provisions of this chapter shall not be required to be deposited for a

period of more than Lve years. The director of public works may return the bond and cancel the requirement of

bond or guarantee when he has determined that it is not to be reasonably expected the curbs, gutters, sidewalks

and driveways will be customary in the neighborhood within Lve years from the date of the application. No

deposit of a bond or money guarantee shall be required in instances where the director of public works

determines that it is not probable that curbs, gutters, sidewalks and driveways will become customary within Lve

years of the application, and in such cases, the director of public works shall endorse such lack of need of

guarantee upon the building permit to be issued. (Ord. 973 NCS §1; Ord. 711 NCS §1; prior code §21.76.)

The regulations prescribed in Sections 13.16.010 through 13.16.050 shall not apply to any building or dwelling

which was under construction prior to the eOective date of the ordinance codiLed in this chapter. (Ord. 711 NCS

§1; prior code §21.77.)

This chapter shall not require immediate installation of such curbs, gutters, sidewalks and driveways along the

frontage of a single-family residence in any residential zone where the director of public works of the city

determines and Lnds, upon application for exception in such form as he may reasonably require, that:

A. None of the streets upon which the subject lot or parcel abuts is a collector or major arterial street, either

existent or as proposed in any master or precise plan adopted or being prepared by the council or by the planning

commission of the city; and

B. No adjoining lot or parcel is improved with curbs, gutters, sidewalks and driveways; and

C. Substantially all of the build-up lots and parcels within Lve hundred feet of such lot or parcel, and abutting

upon the same street, do not have curbs, gutters, sidewalks and driveways upon such street; and

D. The character of the neighborhood is such that it is not reasonable to be contemplated that curbs, gutters,

sidewalks and driveways will become customary within Lve years from such application.

(Ord. 711 NCS § 1; prior code §21.78(1).)

The Petaluma Municipal Code is current through Ordinance 2916 NCS, passed December 1, 2025.

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public works.

This chapter shall not require immediate installation of such curbs, gutters, sidewalks and driveways along the

street line of a single-family residence in any zone where the director of public works determines and Lnds upon

application for exception in such form as he may reasonably require, that of the lots and parcels fronting upon the

same street within three hundred Lfty feet of the subject property, measured along the line of such street, more

than Lfty-Lve percent of the frontage is built upon and unimproved with curbs, gutter, sidewalks and driveways, or

whichever thereof the applicant seeks not to be required to install at the usual time.

Provided, that immediate installation of such curbs, gutters, sidewalks and driveways are required by this chapter

in all cases unless:

A. The director of public works shall determine that deferring installation of such improvement or

improvements will not be contrary to the public welfare, by reason of factors of traNc control, drainage control,

street design, street maintenance or like matters; and

B. An adequate bond, cash deposit or other security for the installation thereof has been posted with the city,

upon the terms and conditions speciLed in Sections 13.16.050 and 13.16.060 unless waived as hereinafter

provided.

(Ord. 711 NCS §1; prior code §21.78(2).)

This chapter shall not require installation of any particular improvement as to any particular property, or portion

thereof, nor the posting or maintenance of any particular guaranty of installation, where the city council

determines, after favorable recommendation by the director of public works, that such requirement would impose

an unusual hardship upon the property owner because of the nature of neighboring development, or for other

proper reasons would not carry out the policy of this chapter, but in such cases, the city council may require other

appropriate guarantees. (Ord. 711 NCS §1; prior code §21.78(3).)

The exercise of discretion by the director of public works shall be subject to review by the council of the city. A

person dissatisLed with the exercise of the discretion of the director of public works may appeal therefrom by

Lling a written notice to the city council within ten days after notice of the exercise of the discretion. Thereafter,

the council shall set such appeal for hearing before it and hear the appeal at the next regular council meeting. The

decision of the city council shall be Lnal and binding upon all parties. (Ord. 711 NCS §1; prior code §21.79.)

The Petaluma Municipal Code is current through Ordinance 2916 NCS, passed December 1, 2025.

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