BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 422
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Date of Hearing: June 17, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Brian Maienschein, Chair
SB
422 (Monning) - As Amended April 14, 2015
SENATE VOTE: 34-0
SUBJECT: Santa Clara Valley Open-Space Authority.
SUMMARY: Makes changes to the Santa Clara County Open Space
Authority (Authority) Act and authorizes the Authority to
acquire real and personal property outside its boundaries.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Authorizes the Authority to hold, use, enjoy, and lease or
dispose of real and personal property and rights in real and
personal property without the Authority's jurisdiction.
2)Prohibits the Authority from exercising the right of eminent
domain to take property without the Authority's jurisdiction.
3)Renames the Authority from the Santa Clara County Open Space
Authority to the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority.
4)Makes other technical and conforming changes.
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EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority Act,
and defines the formation, powers, board, and funding for the
Authority.
2)Allows the Authority to take by grant, appropriation,
purchase, gift, devise, condemnation, or lease, and may hold,
use, enjoy, and lease or dispose of real and personal property
of every kind, and rights in real and personal property,
within the Authority's jurisdiction, necessary to exercise its
powers.
3)Allows the Authority to accept and hold open-space easements
and purchase development credits.
4)Allows the Authority to exercise the right of eminent domain
to take property necessary or convenient to accomplish the
purposes of the Act, but prohibits the Authority from using
eminent domain to take lands in active ranching, agricultural
production, or in timberland protection zones that are not
threatened by imminent conversion to developed uses.
5)Prohibits the Authority from using eminent domain, unless the
real property is contiguous to property which is already owned
by a public agency for open-space use.
FISCAL EFFECT: None
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COMMENTS:
1)The Authority. SB 2027 (Mello), Chapter 822, Statutes of
1992, established the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority
Act (Act). The Act creates the Authority to preserve open
space and create greenbelts in order to counter the conversion
of lands into urban uses. The Act requires the Authority to
prioritize acquiring land closest and most accessible and
visible to the urban area. According to Santa Clara County
Local Agency Formation Commission's (Santa Clara LAFCO)
municipal service review adopted in 2013, the Authority owns
12,792 acres of land and has assisted in preserving an
additional 3,103 acres of conservation easements and
mitigation lands, including open space, parklands, wildlife
areas, recreation areas, and watershed areas.
The formation of the Authority was not subject to review by
Santa Clara LAFCO. The Act established the boundaries of the
Authority to include all of Santa Clara County, except the
land within the boundaries of Midpeninsula Regional Open Space
District's sphere of influence, and the City of Gilroy which
did not pass a resolution to be included in the Authority.
The Authority's boundary encompasses 1,067 square miles and
includes the cities of Milpitas, Santa Clara, Campbell, San
Jose and Morgan Hill.
The majority of the Authority's funding is derived from
benefit assessments. As an additional revenue stream, the
Authority also placed Measure Q, a parcel tax measure, on the
ballot in 2014, which was passed by the voters. Additionally,
the Authority has identified potential grant moneys as the
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funding that would allow them to acquire land outside its
boundaries, should the Legislature grant them that power. An
area of interest for the Authority is the Pajaro Watershed,
located primarily in San Benito County, as well as extended
into Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties. The Watershed is part
of the larger Soap Lake Floodplain project, an area outside
its boundaries, where the Authority can continue to be
involved in protecting the agricultural lands and natural
habitats in the larger regional area. Because these watershed
boundaries are geographic and do not follow political or
jurisdiction boundaries, the Authority has continued to
highlight the importance of regional collaboration in an
effort to protect open-space, wildlife habitat, and to
safeguard natural water resources.
2)Bill Summary. Current law allows the Authority to acquire
land inside its boundaries. This bill expands the powers of
the Authority (Authority) to acquire, hold, use, enjoy, and
lease or dispose of real and personal property, and rights in
real and personal property outside its boundaries.
Additionally, this bill prohibits the Authority from using
eminent domain to take property outside the Authority's
boundaries, and changes the name of the Santa Clara County
Open Space Authority to the Santa Clara Valley Open Space
Authority. This bill is sponsored by the Authority.
3)Author's Statement. According to the author, "By allowing the
Authority to update its name and acquire and manage lands
outside its district, efforts to conserve the region's natural
environment, support agriculture and connect people with
nature move forward."
4)Policy Consideration. Current law allows some special
districts that are engaged in open-space preservation to
acquire property interests both within and outside of those
districts' boundaries. For example, the enabling act
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governing regional park districts, regional parks and
open-space districts, and regional open-space districts allows
those districts to acquire
real and personal property "within or without the district" and
to annex contiguous territory through the LAFCO process.
Therefore, if an open-space district purchases territory
outside its boundaries, they are able to later submit an
application to LAFCO to annex that territory into their
district.
This bill would authorize the Authority to purchase land
outside its boundaries, but does not allow for a change to the
Authority's boundaries which is limited to Santa Clara County
in current law. Therefore, even if the Authority purchases
land contiguous to its current boundary but in another county,
the Authority will not be able to later annex that territory
into its boundaries. The Committee may wish to consider also
allowing the Authority to expand its boundaries into
neighboring counties, pursuant to the established LAFCO
annexation process.
5)Arguments in Support. Supporters argue that this bill will
conform the Authority's power to those of other open-space
districts, and enable the Authority to further its mission to
protect the region's wildlife habitat and water supplies, and
provide greater benefits to the residents of Santa Clara
County. Additionally, this bill would change the name of the
Authority, as the term "County" in the current name has led
potential partners and members of the public to believe the
Authority is a part of Santa Clara County government. As a
result of this misinterpretation, the Authority wants to
clarify its name to better reflect it as a standalone special
district operating in the Santa Clara Valley.
6)Arguments in Opposition. None on file.
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7)Committee Amendment. In response to the policy consideration
raised in comment 4), above, the Committee may wish to ask the
author to accept an amendment that would allow the Authority,
pursuant to the annexation process established in the
Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Act, to annex contiguous territory into
its boundaries. The committee amendment would be permissive
and allow the board of supervisors in the neighboring counties
(Santa Cruz, San Benito, and Monterey) to pass a resolution to
allow for potential inclusion into the Authority, pursuant to
the LAFCO process to annex territory into the Authority.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support Opposition
Santa Clara Open Space Authority [SPONSOR]None on file
East Bay Regional Park District
Guadalupe-Coyote Resource Conservation District
Land Trust of Santa Cruz County
Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District
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Peninsula Open Space Trust
Santa Clara Valley Water District
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
San Mateo County Department of Parks
The Nature Conservancy
Analysis Prepared by:Misa Lennox / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958