All projects within the City of Fullerton, proposing improvements within a public right of way or on City property require the issuance of an encroachment agreement prior to the construction of such improvements. The Public Works Department Engineering Division is available to assist you in determining whether or not an encroachment agreement will be required with your project; the following information may answer some questions you might have.

Preliminary Review

The first step in determining whether or not an encroachment agreement with the City will be required as part of your project, is to bring a set of conceptual drawings to the Public Works Department Engineering Division for a preliminary review. At that time department staff can tell you whether or not any of the proposed improvements will encroach into City right of way or onto City property, which would dictate the necessity of an encroachment agreement.

Applications and Final Review

Once staff has determined that an encroachment agreement will be required as part of your project, you will be provided with an Application for Encroachment; the application, appropriate fees along with a sketch detailing the improvements to be constructed within City right of way, must be submitted to the Public Works Department Engineering Division's Real Property Agent (RPA), for further staff review. The RPA will submit your application and sketch to other City departments for review and comment. If additional requirements or conditions are established during staff review the RPA will relay this information to the applicant; once the requirements/conditions have been met and if there is no opposition to the proposed construction, an encroachment agreement will be prepared and two (2) copies forwarded to the applicant for execution by the appropriate party(ies).In the event the improvements are being made by someone other than the owner of the property, the encroachment agreement must be signed by the property owner as well as the person(s) or entity responsible for the improvements being constructed.

Legal Description

Depending on the type of improvements to be constructed within the City's right of way or on City property, the Director of Public Works may require you to have a licensed Civil Engineer or Land Surveyor prepare a legal description and sketch of the proposed improvements. Two (2) copies of the legal description and sketch are to be submitted to the RPA.

Final Approval and Recordation

Once the RPA receives the executed encroachment agreements from the applicant the agreements are then forwarded to the City Attorney and Public Works Director for review and approval. At such time a fully executed agreement will be forwarded to the applicant and the issuance of any further required permits can be made and construction of the improvements can proceed.

Depending on the nature of the improvements being constructed and their impacts to the public right of way or City property, the Director of Public Works may require the recordation of the encroachment agreement.

Note: The review and approval process is approximately 2-4 weeks from the date of application submission.

Encroachment Agreement