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ITEM: |
PUBLIC
HEARINGS |
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7. |
Consider SECOND Reading AND ADOPTION of Ordinance
121 – EXTEND TIME LIMIT ON RETENTION OF WATER USE CREDITS FOR REDEVELOPMENT
PROJECTS |
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Meeting Date: |
August 15, 2005 |
Budgeted: |
N/A |
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From: |
David A. Berger, General Manager |
Program/ Line Item No.: |
N/A |
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Prepared by: |
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Cost Estimate: |
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General Counsel
Approval: Yes |
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Committee
Recommendation: The Rules and
Regulations Committee reviewed this item on July 7, 2005 but no consensus was
reached on a recommendation. |
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CEQA Compliance: If approved, the Negative Declaration
approved by the Board on July 18, 2005 will be filed with the |
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SUMMARY: The Board is considering
the second reading and adoption of Ordinance No. 121. Ordinance No. 121 (Exhibit 7-A)
facilitates governmental planning and
operations for Redevelopment Project Sites pursuant to the Community
Redevelopment Law, found at California Health and Safety Code, section 33000,
et seq. The ordinance would allow the
ten (10) year limit to reuse water credits for such projects to be extended
twice, in five (5) year increments, to afford a maximum period of twenty (20)
years to use on-site water credits in connection with a Redevelopment Project,
as that term is defined by Health and Safety Code, section 33010. The ordinance also revises the definition of
a “site” as recommended by the Rules and Regulations Committee on April 5,
2005. First reading was approved
on July 18, 2005.
DISCUSSION: For second reading, Board members Markey and Lehman, who voted “no on the ordinance, asked staff to obtain information about pending and future redevelopment projects, including examples of pending projects. They also asked for information on why Redevelopment Agency Projects take longer to complete than other projects. A list of typical questions and answers about the redevelopment process, from the California Redevelopment Association website is attached as Exhibit 7-B.
District staff polled the
jurisdictions that have redevelopment agencies to obtain answers to Board
member Markey’s and Lehman’s questions:
The jurisdictions’ responses are attached as Exhibit 7-C. It should be noted that the Redevelopment
Agency Site discussed by the City of
RECOMMENDATION: The Board should
consider approving the second reading and adoption of Ordinance 121. If
adopted, a Notice of Determination and a Certificate of Fee Exemption—De
Minimus Impact Finding will be filed with the
BACKGROUND: At its December 14, 2004 meeting, the Board considered a request for a water credit transfer from a redevelopment site in Seaside. The Board’s action included a referral to the Water Demand Committee to discuss modifying District Rule 25.5 (Water Use Credits) to allow a Water Use Credit for redevelopment projects to remain valid longer than the current maximum of 120 months (10 years) as allowed by District Rule 25.5. Redevelopment projects often take many years to come to fruition, and an extended Water Use Credit for these projects would assist a Redevelopment Agency in obtaining developers and completing its projects. The Rules and Regulations Committee considered this item on July 7, 2005. Two members of the committee were present. They could not reach consensus on a recommendation.
District
Rule 25.5 currently allows reuse of a documented Water Use Credit for up to a
maximum of ten years when the credit is established prior to abandonment of
use. In the recent public hearing
regarding the water transfer in Seaside, the redevelopment site has been vacant
for ten years and the Water Use Credit was scheduled to expire before the
permits for the redevelopment project were issued. The City of Seaside has been actively
pursuing a developer for the site for the past decade and needed additional
time to secure a developer before the permits are issued. Transferring the credit from the site was one
of the only options to maintain the water credit for the project.
Over
400 cities and counties in the state have used the authority in California
Community Redevelopment Law (CRL) to establish a redevelopment agency to pursue
the elimination of blight in designated Redevelopment Project Areas. A project area is the specific geographic
location within which blight removal, revitalization of private properties, and
public infrastructure improvements are intended to take place. Under CRL a proposed Redevelopment Project
Area Plan must first go to public hearing, giving citizens a chance to learn
more about redevelopment and to express their views. Thereafter, the Redevelopment Agency and the
City Council may act to adopt the project area plan, take necessary actions to
implement it, and monitor and report on its results. Directly relevant to the subject of this
report, and recognizing the long-term nature of redevelopment activities, CRL
authorizes project area plans created prior to 1993 to be effective for up to 41
years from initial adoption (and 31 years for plans adopted after 1993).
A
redevelopment project area plan describes where and how specific redevelopment
activities and public infrastructure improvements are expected to be
undertaken, but it does not approve any specific project. The plan
authorizes the Redevelopment Agency to undertake certain actions to achieve its
goals, such as: to assemble and re-sell
land in order to attract private investment required to revitalize or replace
vacant commercial buildings in a project area; create affordable housing
opportunities; and to use tax increment financing to repay debt issued to fund
street repairs, replace utilities, add public parking facilities and other
public infrastructure improvements required to induce private sector
redevelopment investment in the project area.
Exhibits
7-A Draft
Ordinance No. 121 – An Ordinance of the Board of Directors of the Monterey
Peninsula Water Management District Modifying On-Site Water Credit Rules
Applicable to Redevelopment Projects
7-B Pending and Potential Redevelopment
Projects within the MPWMD
7-C Jurisdictions’ responses
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