SIDEWALK REQUIREMENTS ON AMBY PLACE

RECOMMENDATION:

To consider that Amby Place be exempt from sidewalk requirements

BACKGROUND:

The City Council at their meeting of January 10, 1995 approved a recommendation that certain streets within the City be exempt from the sidewalk requirements ( Attachment 1). This item was introduced to City Council originally for the purpose of measuring setbacks from the sidewalk. Streets that don't require sidewalks naturally will require less area for setbacks. Right-of-way of 20 feet in width or less are considered alleys, and the 17-foot garage setback requirement does not apply. At that time with the guidelines provided to the Public Works department certain streets were recommended for the exemption from the sidewalk requirement; 1) Valley area due to uniqueness of the area, 2) All other streets which had difficulty with constructing sidewalks due to physical constraints. Please note that the ordinance only approved exemption from sidewalk requirements and not from construction of curb and gutter.

On November 5, 1997, six letters (Attachment 2) from seven property owners that abut on Amby Place requesting that Amby Place be exempted from the City requirement for sidewalks as a condition for approval of new construction.

ANALYSIS:

Amby Place was not included in the original recommended list since physically there is no constraint in providing a sidewalk at this location. Amby Place is a 40 foot wide street with 18 foot of pavement. There are other locations in the City which sidewalks have been required due to ADA requirements and to provide a safe pathway for pedestrians. Curb and Gutters are required to facilitate drainage and to establish a new pavement limit of 30 foot width. Amby Place, like the majority of the streets in Hermosa Beach uses surface flow to transmit rainwater to the storm drain system. The capacity or volume of water the street can accept before flooding into neighboring properties is a function of the width, grade, street section and height of curb of the roadway. Any deviation from the original recommendation of January 10, 1995, may make it difficult for the Public Works Department to enforce the current regulations or to justify denial of future similar requests. If City Council chooses, the ordinance could be amended to include Amby Place as exempt from sidewalk requirements but this would still require the residents of Amby Place to construct curb and gutter for drainage purposes.

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