BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1995
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 2, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
K.H. "Katcho" Achadjian, Chair
AB 1995 (Levine) - As Introduced: February 20, 2014
SUBJECT : Community service districts: covenants, conditions,
and restrictions: enforcement.
SUMMARY : Authorizes the Bel Marin Keys Community Services
District to enforce covenants, conditions, and restrictions.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Adds Bel Marin Keys Community Services District (District) to
the list of existing Community Services Districts (CSDs) which
enforced CC&Rs prior to January 1, 2006, and are authorized to
continue to enforce covenants, conditions, and restrictions
(CC&Rs).
2)Finds and declares that a special statute is necessary because
of the unique circumstances applicable only to the District.
EXISTING LAW establishes the Community Services District Law
that authorizes Cameron Park, El Dorado Hills, Mountain House,
Rancho Murieta, Salton, Stallion Spring, and the Tenaja Meadows
Community Services Districts which enforced CC&Rs prior to
January 1, 2006, to continue to enforce CC&Rs.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the bill . This bill authorizes the District to
continue to enforce CC&Rs by adding the District to the list
of existing CSDs which enforced CC&Rs prior to January 1,
2006, and are authorized to continue to enforce CC&Rs. This
bill is author-sponsored.
2)Previous legislation . SB 135 (Kehoe), Chapter 249, Statutes
of 2005, authorized eight CSDs to continue enforcing private
CC&Rs and repealed the practice for all other CSDs as part of
the rewrite of the Community Services District Law. The
Senate Local Government Committee produced a detailed report
(Community, Needs, Community Services: A Legislative History
of SB 135 (Kehoe) and the "Community Services District Law,"
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March 2006) following the passage of SB 135 detailing the
19-member working group that reviewed the statute and
recommended revisions. The report details that the working
group recommended allowing the eight CSDs that enforced CC&Rs
at that time to continue enforcing them. The report explained
that conversely, a CSD that was authorized to enforce CC&Rs
under the 1955 Law, but did not use that power, could not
enforce CC&Rs under the new CSD Law put in place by SB 135,
including the District and a number of other CSDs.
3)Bel Marin Keys Community Services District . The District was
established in 1961 and covers 633 square miles in the
unincorporated community of Bel Marin Keys (Marin County).
The District provides a number of services including south
levee repairs, flushing of lagoons, shoreline reinforcements,
repairing and maintaining boat ramps, Tital Moat improvement,
maintaining Dredge material disposal site, maintaining and
repairing the community center building, streetlighting,
navigational lock maintenance, waterways maintenance, roadway
and median and park landscape maintenance, architectural
control and open space.
According to the District's website, "All residences in the
District are subject to CC&Rs. Planned for improvements or
additions to homes must first be submitted to the District for
its review. The Board determines conformance of the plans
with the CC&Rs prior to their submission by the homeowner to
the County for a permit."
4)CC&Rs . CC&Rs are private deed restrictions which impose
mutual contractual duties on private owners. Although CC&Rs
have the same purpose and often the same effect as zoning
ordinances, they are private contracts not government
regulations.
The District states, "The District's CC&Rs allow for the
creation of the Architectural Control Committee (ACC) which
serves as a first level of review for development projects in
the District. It is tasked with reviewing plans and
considering compliance with the more refined district
standards found in the CC&Rs. Without the ACC, the County
will only consider its own development standards, which
conflict with the more localized standards in certain
circumstances (e.g., setback distances, which are uniquely
applied in the community in order to protect the view corridor
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along the waterways)."
5)Author's statement . According to the author, "This bill would
simply restore the District's ability to enforce CC&Rs and
help preserve the character of the unique community.
Unfortunately, when the bill [SB 135] was being heard in the
Legislature, the District was not able to appropriately
communicate how critical this authority was for the
community."
According to the District, from 2005 until 2013, they
continued to operate with the same understanding that the
first step in the project review process at the ACC was still
required. The District is not aware of any instance when an
action was brought against an applicant for the enforcement of
CC&Rs. However, it wasn't until around June 2013, when a new
planner joined the District, that the ACC's pre-approval plan
was called into question. That is what caused the District to
discover the amendment in SB 135 (Kehoe), and to seek
assistance from the Legislature in order to regain their
authority to enforce CC&Rs.
6)Arguments in support . Supporters argue that this bill
provides the District with the local control to allow
enforcement and avoid the erosion of the community's character
through CC&R violations. Supporters also argue that without
the District's enforcement authority, the residents of the
District will lose the centralized and professional services
and be left with no choice but to resort to civil disputes
when alleged CC&R violations occur.
7)Arguments in opposition . None on file.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
AB 1995
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Bel Marin Keys Community Services District
Supervisor Judy Arnold, 5th District, County of Marin
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Misa Yokoi-Shelton / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958