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Council receives site-plan package for Outrider Road property; variance for 72% disturbed area cleared for file
Summary
City staff presented a site plan, conditional use permit and variance for a property on Outrider Road. The council received and filed the Planning Division report after a brief discussion; no appeal or vote on the underlying approvals was taken by the council at this meeting.
The Rolling Hills Estates City Council on an item labeled zoning case 24-149 received and filed a staff presentation outlining a proposed detached garage/workshop and an attached accessory dwelling unit on a property on Outrider Road.
Reina Schaedzel, contract senior planner with Willdan, told the council the application before them included one variance, one conditional use permit and a site-plan review. “The applications before you are tonight are for site plan review 1 to construct a new 825 square foot garage slash workshop,” Schaedzel said, and she described the accessory dwelling unit (ADU) shown on the plans as “for reference only per state law. The city has no discretion over the ADU.”
The presentation said the subject parcel is zoned RAS-1 (one-acre lot standard), contains two building pads and an existing 3,900-square-foot house with a 500-square-foot garage. The proposed mixed-use accessory structure would total 825 square feet — about 547 square feet of garage and a 243-square-foot workshop/potting area — and, per the staff packet, would be physically separated so “there can be no access between the garage and the workshop per code.”
Staff told the council the variance request was for disturbance over the 40% threshold; the site is already at roughly 53% disturbed and the project would add about 19% more, bringing total disturbed area to about 72%. The staff report said the project otherwise meets development standards cited in the report (20% maximum structural coverage; maximum flat work and combined lot coverages cited in the packet) and that the project was found exempt from CEQA under Class 3 (new construction of small structures) per 15303.
Council member questions were brief and limited to clarifications about whether an ADU could be built without the garage approval; staff confirmed the ADU could still be constructed if council chose not to approve the garage. There were no public speakers who opposed or urged denial; no substantive changes to the staff recommendation were raised at the council dais.
After public comment was closed, a motion to receive and file the staff report was made and seconded; council voted in favor and the item was recorded as received and filed. The council did not take a final action on the planning approvals themselves at this meeting (the packet notes the project was approved earlier by the Planning Commission on Aug. 19). Staff advised the applicant and public that the items presented had previously been reviewed by the Planning Commission and the council’s role in this agenda slot was to receive the update.
City staff identified the CEQA exemption used (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 14, §15303, Class 3) and emphasized that the ADU shown is subject to state ADU law and therefore outside local discretion.
A planning contact from Willdan remained available for follow-up questions after the meeting.
Ending: The council’s receipt of the file closes the city-council-level update for zoning case 24-149; any subsequent permit conditions, building permits or appeals will follow the planning department’s normal processing timelines.
