18.23.040 Restricted Areas.
Due to the City’s unique local climatic, geologic and topographic conditions, accessory dwelling units are not permitted in certain hillside residential areas that are determined to have inadequate roadways to provide adequate ingress and egress for emergency access and evacuation in the event of a fire or other emergency. It is the determination of the City that additional dwelling units in these areas would present negative impact on traffic flow and public safety.
A. New accessory dwelling units are not permitted in very high fire hazard severity zones, per Larkspur Municipal Code Section 14.10.010, where the primary access to the property is on roadways that are subject to constrained ingress/egress for emergency vehicles and resident evacuation. In determining which areas are subject to constrained ingress/egress, the City identified areas that are served by a single emergency access route (no alternate routes) meeting one or more of the following criteria:
1. Streets with limited width, where permitted on-street parking is strictly limited to designated locations with white outlined parking space rectangles.
2. Streets with insufficient roadway width. A minimum twenty-foot roadway width is required for emergency access.
3. One-lane roadways allowing two-way traffic.
4. Remote areas not served by improved or paved roads.
B. The restrictions of subsection (A) of this section shall apply to all properties that have vehicular access from:
1. Madrone Avenue, west of Olive Avenue, including but not limited to those properties located on Echo Place, Glen Way, Hatzic Court, Jones Way, Nightingale Road, Oak Road, Penny Lane, Polhemus Way, Redwood Avenue, Ridgeway Lane, Scott Lane, Valley Way, Wilson Way.
2. Millard Avenue, 49 to 63 Olive Avenue, and Scott Way.
3. 31 Piedmont Road west to 260 Piedmont Road, including Coleman Avenue and Piedmont Court.
4. Owlswood Drive, Marina Vista Avenue, and Sunrise Lane.
5. Any property that is accessed solely by an unimproved or unpaved road.
C. An owner may apply for a waiver from the restrictions on accessory dwelling units established by this section. The waiver shall be considered for approval or denial by the Zoning Administrator, who shall make such determination after consultation with the Fire Department. In deciding whether or not to grant the requested waiver, the Zoning Administrator shall consider only factors related to ingress/egress for emergency vehicles and resident evacuation. These factors may include, but are not limited to, whether there are multiple routes of ingress or egress to the property as well as the distance from the property to the closest road with unconstrained ingress and egress. (Ord. 1045 § 2, 2020; Ord. 1044 § 3, 2020; Ord. 1038 § 1 (part), 2019)