445 Roberts Rd, Pacifica, CA 94044

Hillside Preservation District

It shall be the purpose of the Hillside Preservation District to promote the following City objectives which shall be considered as guidelines: To maximize choice in types of environment available in the City and particularly to encourage variety in the development pattern of the hillsides; The concentration of dwellings and other structures by clustering and/or high rise should be encouraged to help save larger areas of open space and preserve the natural terrain; To use to the fullest current understanding of good civic design, landscape architecture, architecture, and civil engineering to preserve, enhance, and promote the existing and future appearance and resources of hillside areas; To provide density and land use incentives to aid in ensuring the best possible development of the City's natural features, open space, and other landmarks; To encourage the planning, design, and development of building sites in such a fashion as to provide the maximum in safety and human enjoyment while adapting development to, and taking advantage of, the best use of the natural terrain; To preserve and enhance the beauty of the landscape by encouraging the maximum retention of natural topographic features, such as drainage swales, streams, slopes, ridge lines, rock-out-croppings, vistas, natural plant formations, and trees; To prohibit, insofar as is feasible and reasonable, the padding or terracing of building sites in the hillside areas; To provide safe means of ingress and egress for vehicular and pedestrian traffic to and within hillside areas while at the same time minimizing the scarring effects of hillside street construction; Utility wires and television lines shall be installed underground; Outstanding natural physical features, such as the highest crest of a hill, natural rock outcroppings, major tree belts, and the like, should be preserved; Roads should follow natural topography wherever possible to minimize cutting and grading; Imaginative and innovative building techniques should be encouraged to create buildings suited to natural hillside surroundings; and Detailed and effective arrangements shall be formulated for the preservation, maintenance, and control of open space and recreational lands resulting from planned unit development.