BILL ANALYSIS
SB 263
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Date of Hearing: June 17, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Anna Marie Caballero, Chair
SB 263 (Strickland) - As Introduced: February 24, 2009
SENATE VOTE : 36-0
SUBJECT : Local government: community services districts.
SUMMARY : Includes the Santa Rita Hills Community Services
District as a community services district (CSD) authorized to
limit access to roads it owns to the landowners and residents of
that district.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes the establishment of CSDs to provide various
services to the geographic area within each CSD.
2)Authorizes six CSDs that own roads that are not formally
dedicated to or kept open for use by the public for the
purpose of vehicular traffic to limit access to those roads to
the landowners and residents of that CSD.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS :
1)In six other situations, the Legislature has permitted a CSD
to restrict public access to district roads. The CSDs that
use this special power serve private, residential communities.
All of these communities are located in unincorporated areas
with limited public services. The communities formed CSDs so
that they could get the services and facilities they want.
The roads within these districts provide residents and
homeowners access to their property.
2)According to the December 6, 2007, executive officer's report
for the Santa Barbara Local Agency Formation Commission, the
Santa Rita Hills CSD serves a private community that is zoned
as agricultural land. The subdivision includes 35 parcels
that primarily support grazing land and farming. There are
only three to four single family homes in the entire
subdivision, and many parcels are vacant. Currently, there is
SB 263
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no easy way to access the individual parcels within the
subdivision, with some landowners saying they have been unable
to use their parcel because of a lack of road access.
3)The author states there is no practical reason for the public
to use this road. Allowing the public access would increase
the costs of maintaining the road and would increase security
risks for the subdivision that the CSD encompasses.
Therefore, the author states, the Santa Rita Hills CSD simply
wants the same authority to restrict road access that
legislators granted to similar CSDs.
4)A CSD, however, is a public agency and roads owned or
maintained by CSDs are public roads. Yet some CSDs prevent
the public from using public roads. No other public agency
can restrict access to its roads regardless of where the roads
lead. By lengthening the list of CSDs that can limit access
to their roads, this bill continues a precedent of allowing
public dollars to fund private roads. The Committee may wish
to consider whether public agencies should use public funds to
exclude the public from a CSD's roads.
5)Furthermore, Santa Rita Hills CSD does not have title to the
land upon which this new, paved, private road will sit.
Rather, the Santa Rita Hills CSD possesses an easement across
the properties of every parcel in the CSD. Two of the other
six CSDs that currently maintain private roads also do not own
title to the land upon which the roads sit. The Committee may
wish to consider whether it is good policy to continue to
limit public access to roads that are on land that the public
agency does not have title to.
6)Prior legislation : SB 614 (Local Government Committee),
Chapter 529, Statutes of 1995, added Bear Valley and Saddle
Creek CSDs to the list of CSDs permitted to limit access to
district roads. Those two CSDs were the last ones to be added
to the list.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Santa Barbara Local Agency Formation Commission
Individual letter
SB 263
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Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer R. Klein / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958