A. Covenant May be Required. When necessary to achieve the land use goals of the city, the city may require a property owner(s) holding property in common ownership to execute and record a covenant of easement in favor of the city and providing for parking access. ingress, egress, emergency access. drainage, light and air access, landscaping, utilities, or for open space. The covenant may be imposed as a condition of approval by the director, commission, or council, in compliance with state law (Government Code Section 65870).
B. Form of Covenant. The covenant of easement shall describe the real property to be subject to the easement and the real property to be benefitted by the easement. The covenant shall also identify the approval or permit/entitlement granted which relied on or required the covenant. The form of the covenant shall be approved by the city attorney. The plat and legal description shall be prepared by a California registered civil engineer or land surveyor.
C. Effect of Covenant. The covenant shall be effective when recorded and shall act as an easement in compliance with state law (Chapter 3 [commencing with Section 801] of Title 2 of Part 2 of Division 2 of the Civil Code), except that it shall not merge into any other interest in the real property. Section 1104 of the Civil Code shall be applicable to the conveyance of the affected real property.
D. Release of Covenant. The covenant may be released by the city, at the request of any person, including the city or an affected property owner and after a public hearing, on a determination that the restriction on the property is no longer necessary to achieve the land use goals of the city. The release may be effected by the review authority which originally imposed the requirement for the covenant. A notice of the release of the covenant shall be recorded by the city with the county recorder's office.
E. Fees. The city may impose fees to recover the city's reasonable cost of processing a request for a release. Fees for the processing shall be specified in the council's fee resolution.
(Ord. 182 § 2 (part). 1997)