PICO RIVERA — City planning staff and outside consultants presented a comprehensive repeal-and-replace of Title 18 of the Pico Rivera Municipal Code at the Nov. 12 City Council meeting, laying out a five-division restructure intended to modernize land-use rules and comply with state housing mandates.

Janet Rodriguez, the project planner, told the council the update reorganizes the city's zoning regulations into five divisions, streamlines use tables, and incorporates objective design standards to address state laws such as Senate Bill 9 and updated accessory-dwelling-unit rules. "The zoning code is the primary tool that cities have to implement the vision and policies set forth by the city's general plan," Rodriguez said. She said the team reviewed 45 chapters of the existing code and that the last full update occurred in 1993.

The project includes a set of related actions: a full repeal-and-replace of Title 18, code amendments to Titles 5, 8, 9, 12, 15 and 17, zone reclassification No. 3-30 (renaming four zones and deleting one), and General Plan Amendment No. 63 to update the land-use element and the general plan's zoning-compatibility matrix. Staff also recommended adopting an addendum to the 2014 General Plan environmental-impact report. Stephanie Franco, the city project manager, summarized the package and the recommended motions before council.

Staff reported community outreach including roughly 87 in-person participants across major outreach events, about 154 combined survey responses, 14 study sessions, and a public draft posted from Dec. 16, 2024 through Feb. 18, 2025; the project webpage registered over 400 visits. The consultants also produced a design-and-development user guide to help residents and applicants navigate the new code.

Business representatives who submitted comment letters told the council their concerns were largely addressed. Travis Van Leighton of Rutan & Tucker, representing Prologis and Majestic, said his clients were "generally supportive" of the revisions incorporated into the staff recommendations. Juan Garza also spoke on behalf of a regional commercial-real-estate association (name in record: "NAAP/NAHOP SoCal") and expressed general support for clarity in definitions and protections for industrial employers.

Councilmembers asked technical questions — for example, Councilmember Lutz asked whether the update changed sidewalk or newsstand rules; staff said the current item only updates references to new chapters and does not itself change newsstand language. The city attorney and staff noted state and First Amendment constraints related to regulating newsracks.

After the presentation and public comments, a councilmember moved to close the public hearing. The motion was seconded and passed on a unanimous roll-call vote. The council then proceeded to other agenda items. The staff package included motions to introduce and waive first readings of the ordinance to repeal and replace Title 18 and to adopt related resolutions and the environmental addendum; the record before the council shows the recommendations as presented and the public hearing was formally closed.