RECOMMENDATION(S): (CONT'D)
FIND the project is California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Exempt per the General Rule of Applicability, pursuant to Article 5, Section 15061(b)(3) of the CEQA Guidelines; and
DIRECT the Director of the Department of Conservation and Development to file a Notice of Exemption with the County Clerk; and
AUTHORIZE the Public Works Director to arrange for payment of a $25 fee to the Department of Conservation and Development for processing the Notice of Exemption, a $50 fee to the County Clerk for filing the Notice of Exemption, a $50 fee to LAFCO for filing the Resolution of Application, a $1,500 fee to LAFCO for processing the Sphere of Influence Modification, a $2,765 fee to LAFCO for processing the Annexation, and a $4,550 fee to the State Board of Equalization for amending the CSA R-7A boundaries.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Costs for this annexation will be funded by (100%) County Service Area R-7A, as recommended by the Alamo Municipal Advisory Council.
BACKGROUND:
CSA R-7 was formed on July 9, 1974 as a dependent special district of the County in the unincorporated community of Alamo. Zone A of CSA R-7 was formed on April 24, 1984. The CSA R-7A ad-valorem property taxes fund park and recreation services including five parks and recreational programming within the CSA’s boundaries.
The purpose of this project is to expand the current CSA R-7A Boundary and Sphere of Influence (SOI) to include the Round Hill area in Alamo and five (5) smaller areas in Alamo which were identified as a SOI option in the Municipal Services Review (MSR) for Parks and Recreation & Cemetery Services generated by LAFCO, adopted on April 21, 2010. The Round Hill area and the five (5) smaller areas encompass approximately 674 parcels and are the remaining areas in the Alamo community that are not currently included in CSA R-7A. The CSA R-7A parks and recreation services are currently being used by the residents in these proposed annexation areas, but no property tax revenue is being generated from these properties to support the use of these services. A modification to the CSA R-7A boundary to include these areas would not require any additional property taxes to be paid by the property owners, however it would reallocate a greater portion of the future ad-valorem property taxes paid by the property owners in order to support their local park facilities.
The current boundary of CSA R-7A includes approximately 5,120 parcels and generates approximately $825,000 revenue in ad-valorem property tax revenue each year to support the operation and maintenance of the park facilities. The areas suggested above would add approximately 674 parcels to the current boundaries and reallocate approximately $60,000 in revenue starting in Fiscal Year 2013-14 to CSA R-7A.
This project is found to be Exempt from CEQA (see Attachment 1) due to the fact it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment.
In order to complete the annexation of territory into the CSA R-7A, the County must request that LAFCO initiate proceedings pursuant to the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000, commencing with Section 56000 of the California Government Code via the attached Resolution. In addition, the Public Works Director must sign the Attached Indemnification Agreement with LAFCO (Attachment 2).
The SOI and Boundary modification would be considered at two separate LAFCO Public Hearings. A third LAFCO Protest Hearing might be required if any registered voter or property owner within the annexation boundaries objects.
It is anticipated the LAFCO process will take 4-5 months and then the annexation boundaries must be submitted to the State Board of Equalization by December 1, 2012 to take effect for Fiscal Year 2013-14.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
Delays in approving the project, or the annexation into CSA R-7A, will result in a delay of property tax reallocation.
CHILDREN'S IMPACT STATEMENT:
Not applicable