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Murrieta council reboots hillside rules, debates living-wall mandate and map carve-outs
Summary
City staff presented a draft hillside ordinance update and a new GIS-based overlay map intended to remove decades of inconsistent rules. Council and residents pressed staff on retaining-wall limits, whether living walls should be mandatory for high or terraced walls, and how specific-plan areas will be carved out.
Murrieta city staff on June 17 presented a draft overhaul of the city's hillside development rules intended to resolve conflicting standards dating to the 1990s and to codify a searchable hillside overlay map.
The presentation by staff emphasized the need to clear up ambiguities that have complicated project review. "The goal of this ordinance is to clean up these issues," said staff during the presentation, pointing to inconsistent measurement rules, missing mapping, and competing code sections. Staff proposed replacing the average-slope calculation with a map-based screening tool, clarifying definitions and reports required with applications, and centralizing retaining-wall criteria.
Why it matters: the changes affect where and how developers can grade…
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