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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 sloped properties, the maximum height and measurement method for retaining walls, and what exemptions will apply to existing, previously graded lots. Residents and developers said clarity and fairness are the priorities: some speakers urged carve-outs for already developed or specific-plan areas, while others asked for stronger protections for ridgelines and viewsheds.
Council and public questions focused on several technical turning points. Staff said the draft retains a 6-foot maximum retaining-wall height within the hillside overlay but noted terracing can create much taller composite walls and that engineering constraints govern how high geogrid or soldier-pile systems can safely retain soil. Staff recommended measuring wall height from the top of the footing rather than the face to reduce ambiguity over time.
Council members debated whether living walls (vegetated retaining-wall systems) should be mandatory above a certain height. Mayor Warren said she would prefer a mandate for walls over 6 feet: "Anything over 6 foot... then I would want it to be conditioned for a living wall." Other councilmembers said a mandatory requirement for single 6-foot walls could be overly restrictive but supported making living walls mandatory if multiple terraced/geo-grid walls result in very tall visible structures.
Several residents and land-use representatives urged clearer mapping and better treatment of specific-plan areas such as Greer Ranch and Murrieta Hills. "We cannot ignore specific plans," said development representative Cassin Klein, arguing that carve-outs should be carefully handled or specific-plan chapters amended so ridge lines and hilltops are truly protected.
What comes next: staff told council they will return with more precise mapping layers, examples and draft thresholds for carve-outs and exemptions (for example, limited flat work or accessory structures under a 50-cubic-yard threshold), and materials that translate the technical proposals into objective design standards. Council and staff agreed to keep the project in workshop form while staff refines carve-out criteria, maps and objective standards for development review.
The council took no final regulatory action at the workshop; the meeting moved on to regular-agenda business and votes later in the evening.
