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ITEM: |
PUBLIC
HEARINGS |
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14. |
Consider First Reading of Ordinance 121 – EXTEND TIME
LIMIT ON RETENTION OF WATER USE CREDITS FOR REDEVELOPMENT PROJECTS A.
Consider
Initial Study and Proposed Negative Declaration for Ordinance No. 121 B.
Consider
Approval of First Reading of Ordinance No. 121 |
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Meeting Date: |
July 18, 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: |
N/A |
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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: Pending |
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SUMMARY: Ordinance No. 121 (attached as Exhibit 14-A)
responds to the Board’s December 2004 direction to extend the time for which a
credit can be reused on redevelopment project sites. This subject was discussed at the January 11,
2005 Water Demand Committee meeting. The
Water Demand Committee recommended extending Water Use Credits on Redevelopment
Project sites for two five-year increments.
Ordinance No. 121 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.
Attached (Exhibit 14-B)
is the Notice
of Intent to Adopt a Negative Declaration and the Proposed Negative Declaration
that were filed with the
RECOMMENDATION: The Board should consider if it will: 1) Adopt a proposed Negative Declaration related to adoption of Ordinance 121; and 2) approve first reading of Ordinance 121. 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.
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 the Redevelopment Agency in obtaining developers and completing the
project.
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
14-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
14-B Notice
of Intent to Adopt A Negative Declaration and Proposed
Negative Declaration
14-C Letter from
Michael Stamp dated July 8, 2005
U:\staff\word\boardpacket\2005\2005boardpackets\20050718\PubHrgs\14\item14.doc