HomeMy WebLinkAbout4/1/2025 Item 7e, Tway, Amini, and McClish - Staff Agenda CorrespondenceCity of San Luis Obispo, Council Memorandum
City of San Luis Obispo
Council Agenda Correspondence
DATE: April 1, 2025
TO: Mayor and Council
FROM: Timmi Tway, Community Development Director
Prepared by: David Amini, Housing Coordinator
Teresa McClish, Principal Planner
VIA: Whitney McDonald, City Manager
SUBJECT: ITEM 7E - SECOND READING AND ADOPTION OF ORDINANCE NO.
1743 (2025 SERIES) AMENDING TITLE 16 (SUBDIVISION
REGULATIONS) AND TITLE 17 (ZONING REGULATIONS) OF THE
MUNICIPAL CODE
Staff received the following questions, regarding how the newly released Fire Maps for
the state of California (including San Luis Obispo) may impact future lot splits, specifically
regarding whether they would be allowed under the proposed Ordinance and state law.
The questions are below with staff’s response shown in italics:
1) How do the new fire maps we just received impact the removal of the
exclusion for minor urban lot splits in high or very high fire hazard severity
zones, if at all?
The minor modification below removed incorrect language describing exclusions
under state law for high fire hazard severity zones. State law requires the City to
only exclude sites that are in very high fire hazard severity zones (VHSFZ), and
this is accomplished by the language implemented in the ordinance referencing
this portion of state law. If state law becomes more restrictive, such as
incorporating moderate and high fire hazard severity zones into the list of
exclusions, the state law reference under the ordinance will stay current. The
increase in parcels in the VHFSZ under the new maps means that a significant
number of properties will be excluded from the provisions of the lot split ordinance.
2) Further, with the new maps, did the areas of our city where minor lot splits
are NOT allowed increase, even if they were allowed before the new maps?
There are many residential areas of the City, which under the 2011 FHSZ maps
were not in a fire hazard severity zone at all, that are now in the VHFSZ under the
current maps. Fire Chief Tuggle provided preliminary numbers at the last Planning
Commission meeting stating that over 2,850 parcels are now in the VHFSZ, up
from 24 under the 2011 maps. Additionally, 1,600+ parcels are in the high severity
Item 7e - Second Reading and Adoption of Ordinance No. 1743 (2025 Series) Page 2
zone, and another 1,400+ parcels in the moderate severity zone. The City GIS
team has created a map showing the comparison between the previous and
current proposed FHSZ maps here:
https://www.slocity.org/government/department-directory/fire-
department/prepare-slo/fire-hazards
With this immense increase in the number of parcels in some kind of fire hazard
severity zone, there are many parcels where minor and major urban lot splits are
no longer allowable under state law. Planning staff are aware of the new maps,
and this is one of the criteria that will be evaluated when receiving applications for
minor and major urban lot splits.