Yucaipa council approves portions of comprehensive development-code update, punts sign rules for later review

The Yucaipa City Council on Aug. 11 adopted several discrete changes to the city's development code while rejecting other portions after public comment and Planning Commission input.

City staff presented the proposed ordinance as a package of mostly technical and state-law compliance updates affecting land-use procedures, small-lot subdivisions, multiple-family design standards, and other matters. Ben (staff member) told the council the package "boils down to essentially six different topics" including state-law compliance, housing element programs, public-safety components and internal procedural cleanups.

The council approved the following sections: 2 (conditional use and related amendments), 6 (tentative tract map procedure changes), 14 (zoning compliance/new-business process), 19'21 (marijuana-use clarifications and height/fair-share adjustments tied to the city's FR-3 safety district), and 23'4 (subdivision HOA thresholds and timing for county map checks), and 25 (adding FR-3 to the code). The council rejected or removed sections 3, 4, 5, 15—8 and 22 from the package.

The vote on the motion to carry specific sections was recorded by roll call: Councilmember Bieber: yes; Councilmember Miller: no; Councilmember Woolsey: yes; Mayor Pro Tem Venable: yes; Mayor Thorpe: yes. The tally was 4-1 in favor of adopting the selected portions.

During the public hearing, Tim Lynch of General Outdoor Advertising urged the council to preserve limits on freeway-facing digital billboards, saying the prior council had intended to cap such signs and warning that more digital structures would harm small, local operators. Lynch said the company he represents had donated advertising to local businesses and warned the city against permitting additional digital freeway signs.

Planning Commission members had recommended approval of the overall package but explicitly flagged sign-related provisions (sections 15—8) for further council consideration. Council members said they wanted to avoid inconsistent rules (for example, different standards for signs on city-controlled property versus private property that overhangs public right-of-way) and directed staff to return with clarified language if the council later reconsiders sign rules.

Key changes retained in the adopted sections include: expanding ministerial review thresholds in places to align with state law (some references shifting from 4 to 10 units), authorizing small-lot subdivisions as an alternative to condominium-only approaches, adding objective design standards for multifamily projects (open-space and trash/enclosure standards), and clarifying that certain approvals and fair-share height adjustments will be administered by the community development director.

Councilmembers and staff said the partial approval preserves the city's ability to move forward with compliance updates while reserving more contentious sign and other policy items for separate review. The Planning Division will return any revised sign provisions to council after further review and, where appropriate, closed-session consultation to address outstanding legal and right-of-way questions.

The public hearing closed at 7:46 p.m.; the final vote on the selected sections was taken by roll call later in the evening.