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Residents urge flexibility and line-of-sight exemptions during Murrieta Hillside hearing
Summary
During the public hearing on Hillside Ordinance updates, residents urged higher cubic-yard thresholds and line-of-sight exemptions; staff said those ideas merit study but could reintroduce ambiguity the update aims to remove.
Two members of the public spoke during the re-opened public hearing on the Hillside Ordinance.
Dan Long told the commission he supports giving small homeowners more flexibility and endorsed raising cubic-yard thresholds for discretionary review. "I support that — 200 or 400 cubic yards would be a lot better," Long said, arguing a higher threshold would make modest projects more affordable and practical for property owners who are not large developers.
Later, Mr. Klein urged commissioners to return to the ordinance's original intent of protecting views visible from major corridors and proposed a line-of-sight exemption: if a parcel and its development cannot be seen from the I-215 or I-15 corridors, it should be exempted from hillside controls. "If you can demonstrate through a line-of-sight study that your parcel and your development cannot be seen from these thoroughfares, you're exempt," Klein said.
Staff responded that the proposed line-of-sight approach would require additional analysis and might reintroduce subjective judgments the current map-based overlay is intended to remove. Commissioners acknowledged both concerns and the need to balance homeowner relief with long-term hillside preservation.
