BILL ANALYSIS
SB 211
Page 1
Date of Hearing: July 8, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Anna Marie Caballero, Chair
SB 211 (Simitian) - As Amended: July 1, 2009
SENATE VOTE : 31-4
SUBJECT : Park district formation: County of Santa Cruz.
SUMMARY : Authorizes the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors
to initiate the formation of a regional park and open-space
district (district) with boundaries that are coterminous with
Santa Cruz County, except for specified territory and prescribes
specific requirements for said district. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Authorizes the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors (County
Supervisors) to initiate the formation of the district with
boundaries that are coterminous with the County, except for
territory within the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space
District.
2)Authorizes the County Supervisors to hold a public hearing,
adopt a resolution, and call the election in lieu of the usual
petitions and local agency formation commission (LAFCO)
hearings and decisions.
3)Requires the County Supervisor's resolution to do all of the
following:
a) Name the proposed district and state the reasons for
forming it;
b) Describe the methods by which the district will be
financed;
c) Specify that the proposed district shall be governed by
a board of five directors (board);
d) Specify that the boundaries of the five wards or
subdistricts shall be drawn according to the boundaries of
supervisorial districts, except for territory within the
boundaries of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
on January 1, 2010;
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e) Specify that the proposed district shall not have, and
may not exercise, the power of eminent domain unless
requested by the owner of the land;
f) Call the formation election; and,
g) Include any other matters necessary to the formation of
the district.
4)Specifies that the formation of the district is not subject to
LAFCO formation proceedings.
5)Requires the district to establish a citizen advisory
committee (committee) to provide broad-based citizen input
into the operation of the district, and advice and
recommendations on certain policy and program questions and
issues, including expenditure plans and acquisition programs.
6)Requires the committee to render advice and make
recommendations to the board on those matters.
7)Specifies that the committee shall be composed of nine members
as follows:
a) One supervisor appointed by the board of supervisors of
the county, or his or her designee;
b) One city council member representing each city in the
county appointed by the city council of the city
represented, or his or her designee;
c) One member representing the district's agricultural
interests appointed by the board;
d) One member representing the district's environmental
community appointed by the board;
e) One member representing the district's real estate
interests appointed by the board; and,
f) One member representing the district's business
community appointed by the board.
8)States that prior to the appointment of the committee members
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representing the community's agricultural, environmental, real
estate, or business interests, the board shall solicit from
the community three or more nominations for each of those
positions.
9)Requires the board to respond, in writing, to approved
committee recommendations on matters relating to expenditure
plans and acquisition programs.
10)Requires the board, before acting upon a proposed action
relating to expenditure plans and acquisition programs, to
consider recommendations from the committee and respond in
writing to the committee recommendations.
11)Requires the board to adopt rules of procedure for the
committee and establish responsibilities for the committee and
its members.
12)Requires the committee to conduct its meetings in accordance
with the Ralph M. Brown Act.
13)Specifies that the members of the committee are subject to
the Political Reform Act of 1974.
14)States that a quorum shall consist of seven members of the
committee.
15)Specifies that an action shall not be taken without the
concurrence of at least a majority of the total committee
membership.
16)Specifies that acquisition by the district of property within
the 25-year urban growth area boundary established by Measure
U, known as the Orderly Growth and Agricultural Protection
Initiative, as approved by the voters in the November 5, 2002,
general election, is subject to approval by the City Council
of the City of Watsonville.
17)Adds findings and declarations regarding the community effort
in the creation of a 25-year urban growth area for the City of
Watsonville established under Measure U and the need to allow
the City of Watsonville to approve any land purchase in that
area.
EXISTING LAW :
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1)Authorizes the formation of an open-space district by a
petition requesting the creation and maintenance of an
open-space district, describing the exterior boundaries,
signed by at least 5,000 electors residing within the
territory proposed to be included in the open-space district,
and presented to the board of supervisors of the county
containing the largest area within the proposed district.
2)Authorizes proceedings for the formation of a regional park
district, regional park and open-space district, or regional
open-space district in specified counties of the state to be
initiated by resolution of the county board of supervisors
adopted after a noticed hearing, and specifies the contents of
the resolution, in lieu of the petition and related
proceedings required under the above provisions.
3)Allows regional park and open-space districts to sell bonds to
acquire property by purchase or eminent domain.
4)Authorizes regional park and open-space districts to use the
following types of funding mechanisms:
a) General obligation bonds paid for by higher property tax
rates that require a two-thirds voter approval;
b) Mello-Roos Act bonds paid for by special taxes (parcel
taxes) that require a two-thirds voter approval; and,
c) Assessment bonds paid for by benefit assessments that
require the property owners' approval with
weighted-ballots.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS :
1)In Santa Cruz County, four independent recreation and park
districts and a county-run county service area provide park
services in the unincorporated communities outside the
County's four cities. Although mostly in San Mateo and Santa
Clara counties, the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
also overlaps a small corner of Santa Cruz County. Open space
advocates in Santa Cruz County want to form a countywide
regional open-space district with a directly-elected board of
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directors. Looking to the statutory precedents created for
other counties, they want permission to expedite the proposed
district's formation.
2)The Legislature has delegated its inherent power to control
local boundaries to the 58 LAFCOs; directing the LAFCOs to
discourage urban sprawl, preserve open space and agricultural
lands, provide efficient government services, and encourage
orderly government
while considering local conditions and circumstances. The
Legislature has waived LAFCOs' control over some districts'
boundaries, particularly when they are coterminous with the
boundaries of a single county. SB 211 exempts the formation
of the proposed Santa Cruz regional open-space district from
LAFCO's review. However, the proposed district would not be
coterminous with the County's boundaries because the bill
slices off the 765 acres that are already within the
Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District's boundaries. The
Midpeninsula District also owns the 800-acre Loma Prieta Ranch
in Santa Cruz County, although that property is not yet within
the District's existing boundaries. These detailed boundary
questions may deserve the Santa Cruz LAFCO's careful review.
The Committee may wish to ask why there is a need to
circumvent the LAFCO process. The Committee may wish to
consider that if the district's formation is not going to go
through the full LAFCO process, perhaps the Legislature should
require the Santa Cruz LAFCO to hold at least one public
hearing on the issue prior to taking the formation proceedings
to the voters.
3)The regional park and open-space district law is the principal
act for agencies such as the East Bay Regional Parks District
and the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. Starting
in 1972, 10 special bills have allowed county supervisors to
start formation proceedings for regional open-space districts
without the sponsors having to gather more than 5,000
signatures on petitions: Los Angeles - SB 659 (Hill, 1991);
Marin - AB 2353 (Bagley, 1972); Napa - SB 1306
(Thompson,1992); Riverside - SB 486 (Bergeson, 1989);
Sacramento - SB 779 (Johnston, 1993); San Bernardino - AB 775
(Eaves, 1990); Santa Barbara -
AB 1613 (Lempert, 2000); Sonoma - AB 3630 (Filante, 1990); and,
Ventura - AB 1145 (Jackson, 2002). However, even after
getting authorization, five of these districts were never
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actually formed at the local level.
4)In May 1998, members of the Pajaro Valley community (which is
in South Santa Cruz County) came together to begin a visioning
process about the future of the valley. This broad-based
group of residents, business, agricultural, environmental, and
government agency representatives created the non-profit
group, Action Pajaro Valley, in 1999. The group developed a
constructive collaborative process for planning and creating a
positive future for all residents of the Pajaro Valley. One
result of this process is a growth management strategy, which
incorporates a unified set of land use policies for the Pajaro
Valley as a consolidated ecological region. These areas
include the City of Watsonville, Green Valley Area, and the
Town of Pajaro. These policies balance the Valley's economic
interests, environmental resources, and socioeconomic needs
for the next 20-30 years. In the November 2002 election, City
of Watsonville residents passed Measure U, also known as the
Orderly Growth and Agricultural Protection Initiative. This
ballot initiative established an Urban Growth Area for the
City of Watsonville intending to: preserve Pajaro Valley
farmland, create an urban growth boundary that the City of
Watsonville can grow into over the next 20-25 years, protect
the local environment, supply new jobs in the City of
Watsonville, and provide the opportunity for new housing
units. Consistent with the vision of Measure U and the
citizens of Pajaro Valley, SB 211 requires that if the
district proposes to purchase any open-space land within the
25-year growth boundary established by Measure U then the City
of Watsonville must approve this action.
5)In keeping with the spirit of a community wide planning
process, SB 211 establishes a citizen advisory committee
(committee) to provide broad-based citizen input into the
operation of the district, and advice and recommendations on
certain policy and program questions and
issues, including expenditure plans and acquisition programs.
This committee will be made up of a council member from each
city in the county, one supervisor from the board of
supervisors, and individuals representing the community's
agricultural, environmental, real estate, and business
interest.
In its opposed unless amended letter, the City of Watsonville
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writes "we are encouraged to see the language creating an
advisory committee and the protection of Measure U lands.
[However], the composition of the advisory committee continues
to be of concern to us. Representation for the Pajaro Valley
is critical, especially since so much of the agricultural
lands and much of the open space is located in this area. At
this time, given the proposed make up of the advisory
committee, the Pajaro Valley may be represented by only one
seat of the nine on the committee. The current language of SB
211 does not require that any of the four stakeholders be from
South County."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
Audubon CA
Bay Area Open Space Council
City of Santa Cruz
County of Santa Cruz
Ecology Action
Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks
John Laird, Assembly Member Emeritus, 27th District
Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District
Peninsula Open Space Trust
Save Our Shores
Save the Redwoods League
Sempervirens Fund
Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District
The Nature Conservancy
The Trust for Public Land
Watsonville Wetlands Watch
Opposition
CA Association of Local Agency Formation Commissions
City of Watsonville (unless amended)
Individual letter
Analysis Prepared by : Katie Kolitsos / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958