Administrative Application

An Administrative Permit is the City’s application for development permits that only require approval of the Community Development Director. Decisions of the Director can be appealed to the Planning Commission and if necessary, the City Council. Such entitlements include, but are not limited to home occupation permits, second unit dwelling permits and minor site plan review permits.

Administrative Approval Application Descriptions:

 

Administrative Approval

The purpose of requiring administrative approval of certain uses is to determine whether or not a use can be considered a “Permitted use” or as a “Conditional Use” because of the peculiar circumstances and conditions of the proposal. Uses which can be treated as a permitted use under the zoning ordinance and acted upon without environmental review under CEQA may be approved by the Community Development Director, rather than the Planning Commission or City Council. This is the City’s basic administrative permit.

Minor Revision to Approved Site Plan Review

Once a site plan review application has been approved by the Planning Commission, only minor modifications to the approved site plan can be made. The minor revision to approved site plan review application is utilized by staff to review such modifications to an approved site plan and ensure that no additional or revised conditions of approval are necessary in approving any changes to the plan. If staff determines that additional or revised conditions of approval are necessary, a new site plan review application will be required.

Minor Site Plan Review

The purpose of the minor site plan review process is to enable the Community Development Director to review development proposals that do not include major improvements or renovation and can be considered exempt under the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). If a development proposal cannot be considered for an exemption under CEQA, it must be approved through the full site plan review process. It differs from the minor revision to approved site plan review application (as described above), in that a minor site plan review provides the initial review of a project in which conditions of approval are issued. A revision to an approved site plan has conditions of approval previously issued by the Planning Commission.

Minor Variance

In certain situations where a full variance is not necessary, a minor variance may be utilized. The Community Development Director may approve such requests if the request is not subject to the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and deals only with small changes in development requirements, such as with minor setback and side yard requirements. Minor variances are only approved when an applicant can show that there are special circumstances that prevent the applicant from enjoying the same land use privilege as surrounding property owners.

Time Extension

This application is to extend the life of a particular development permit. The amount of time that may be extended is a one time extension of one year from the expiration date.