Saratoga Municipal Code Art. 10-30 Official Plan Lines

The purpose of this Article is to facilitate implementation of the circulation element in the General and specific plans of the City by designating the location of proposed rights-of-way and limiting the construction of buildings and other improvements thereon.

For the purposes of this Article, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this Section, unless the context or the provision clearly requires otherwise:

(a) Official plan line means the boundaries and limits of a planned right-of-way, including the future right-of-way of an existing street as it is proposed to be widened or extended, and including all lands necessary for the building, widening or maintenance of any road, street, highway or any other type of public way, which planned right-of-way is based on the General Plan or any specific plan of the City.

(b) Right-of-way means all or any part of the entire width of a road, street or highway easement, whether or not such entire area is actually used for road, street or highway purposes.

No building, structure or other improvement shall hereafter be erected, constructed, enlarged or placed within any official plan line established under the provisions of this Article or amendments hereto, except that this provision shall not apply to garden and agricultural crop planting. All departments, officials and employees of the City vested with the duty or authority to issue permits, licenses or approval of the subdivision of land shall conform to the provisions of this Article and shall not issue any such permit, license or approval for uses, buildings, structures or subdivisions where the same would be in conflict with an official plan line adopted pursuant to the provisions of this Article, and any such permit, license or approval, if issued in conflict with the provisions of this Article, shall be null and void.

(a) The Planning Commission and the City Council may hold hearings to adopt official plan lines for unincorporated areas outside of the City boundaries which, in the judgment of the Planning Commission or City Council, bear relation to its planning.

(b) Whenever hearings are to be held on official plan lines covering County land outside the City boundaries, a notice of such hearing will be transmitted to the County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors. If no comments are received within forty days after transmittal, such proposal shall be deemed to be acceptable with the County Planning Commission or Board of Supervisors.

(c) Whenever an official plan line is being considered which directly affects an adjacent contiguous city, the secretary of the Planning Commission shall transmit a copy of the proposed map to the appropriate adjacent city planning commission for its comments. If no comments are received within forty days after transmittal, such proposal shall be deemed acceptable with such adjacent city planning commission.

(d) Official plan lines adopted for land outside the City boundaries do not become effective until such land is duly annexed to the City.

(a) Official plan lines shall be clearly delineated on maps which, together with all data and information indicated thereon, may be adopted by resolution of the City Council. Such maps shall be designated "Official Plan Lines of (here shall be inserted the name of the street or highway) between (here shall be inserted the names of the streets or other appropriate places which identify the ends of the particular official plan lines)." Each map shall have a certificate, which may either be placed directly on the map or attached to it, substantially in the following form:

I hereby certify that this map (or, the map attached hereto), consisting of _____ sheets, was adopted by Resolution No._____, of the City Council of the City of Saratoga on ________.

(b) The City Clerk shall cause a certified copy of each map adopted pursuant to this Article, together with all data and information indicated thereon, to be filed in the office of the County Recorder for the information and inspection by the public.

(c) Any failure of the City Clerk to cause such map to be recorded or any failure of any such map to have the certificate hereinabove set forth placed thereon or attached thereto shall in no way affect the validity of a plan line otherwise properly adopted either by ordinance or resolution in accord with the other provisions of this Article.

(a) The Planning Commission shall have the power to grant variances from the prohibitions of Section 10-30.030 when all of the following circumstances are found to exist:

(1) There are special conditions or exceptional characteristics in the nature of the property affected by the application, including size, shape, topography, location or surroundings such that a literal enforcement of this Article in the particular case would result in practical difficulties or unnecessary hardships.

(2) The variance is necessary for the preservation and enjoyment of substantial property rights and will not constitute a grant of special privilege inconsistent with the limitations imposed by this Article on other properties in the vicinity of the affected property.

(3) A granting of the variance will not be contrary to the purposes and objectives of the General Plan or any applicable specific plan of the City and will not be detrimental to the public health, safety or welfare and will not be materially injurious to properties or improvements in the vicinity.

(b) The provisions of Article 15-70 in Chapter 15 of this Code pertaining to applications for variances, public hearings, notices, procedures, appeal to the City Council, expiration and revocation of variances shall be applicable to all variances under this Article.

(c) The Planning Commission shall hear the matter and either grant, conditionally grant, or deny the requested variance. A variance may be revocable, may be granted for a limited time period and may be granted subject to such conditions as the Commission may prescribe. A variance shall become effective upon the expiration of ten days following the date on which the variance was granted unless an appeal has been taken to the City Council prior thereto. All variances under this Article are not matters of right but are matters of grace only.