HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Statement 1973/03/20 Item 13AGENDA ITEM NO. [ 13 ]
CHULA VISTA CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF: March 20, 1973
ITEM TITLE: Resolution - Urging the County Board of Supervisors to place
a one-year moratorium on the consolidation of any fire districts
with any other districts
INITIATED BY:
BACKGROUND
City Manager
By this resolution, the City is .requesting the County Board of
Supervisors to place a one-year moratorium on any action on
consolidation of any Fire District with any other district,
until such time as the product of the study on consolidation
has been reviewed and implemented by all affected parties.
A report on consolidation of special districts is attached
as Exhibit No. 1.
ATTACHED: Resolution ~ ] Ordinance [ ] Agreement [ ] Plat [ ]
See EXHIBITS ~ ] No. 1, 2
Financial Statement:
N.A.
Commission-Board Recommendation:
N.A.
Department Head Recommendation:
N.A.
City Manager Recommendation:
Approval.
UL~~O~
March 14, 1973
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
FROM: John R. Thomson, City Manager`..`'~n~~
SUBJECT; Joint Fire Protection Agreement Between Bonita-Sunnyside
Fire Protection District and the City of Chula Vista
Joint Fire Protection Agreement
In 1963, the Chula Vista City Council entered into a joint fire
protection agreement with the Bonita-Sunnyside Fire Protection
District. The purpose of this agreement was to supply adequate fire
protection service to those City-annexed areas located in the Bonita
portion of the Sweetwater Valley and adjacent to the Bonita-Sunnyside
Fire Protection District.
Specifically, this agreement allowed the Bonita-Sunnyside Fire District
to service the City-annexed lands in the Bonita area on an initial
response basis, rather than on a secondary support basis. Without such
an agreement, the Bonita Fire Station, (the District's station located
within a mile of the affected territory), could not respond first to
a fire in this area because of certain mutual aid agreements. To
compensate the Bonita-Sunnyside Fire District for this service, the
City of Chula Vista reimburses the District an amount equalling the
taxes the District would have received if those lands had not been
annexed. This amount totalled about $13,000 in Fiscal Year 1972-73,
and will cost approximately $16,000 during Fiscal Year 1973-74.
With this joint fire agreement, the City secures adequate fire protection
service for those areas beyond its two-mile response unit, a recommended
national standard for adequate fire protection service. But without this
type of agreement, the City would either have to build another station
in the Bonita area, since the nearest City station at present is over
three miles away, or else furnish inadequate fire service to those
Chula Vista citizens in the Bonita area, since it-would be beyond the
recommended two-mile response unit for adequate fire protection.
This 1963 Joint Fire Protection Agreement was subsequently renewed in
1969 and again in 1971, but with one important addition. In both of
these later agreements there was included a 50$ clause which stated
that once the City annexed 50~ of the territory within the Bonita-
Sunnyside Fire District, the City would take over the entire Fire
Protection Service for the entire Bonita-Sunnyside Fire District area
on a contracted basis. The 1971 Joint Fire Agreement also included
a provision stating that if the 1971 Sweetwater Valley Annexation
takes place, the City will not only take over all fire responsibility
for the Bonita-Sunnyside Fire District, but it would also absorb all
of the District's employees and legal obligations, In other words,
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the Bonita-Sunnyside Fire District, which is located within the Sweet-
water Valley, would cease to exist and would be absorbed by the City
of Chula Vista if 100% of the area is annexed. This annexation and
termination clause never came to pass because the voters in the
Sweetwater Valley turned down the City's annexation attempt in 1971.
However, the 50°s clause is still in effect and only waiting for a
50o annexation of the Bonita-Sunnyside Fire District area by the City
of Chula Vista to become active.
Proposed Reorganization of the Bonita-Bunn side Fire District and the
Otay Water District
According to the terms and conditions to the reorganization affecting
the Bonita-Sunnyside Fire Protection District and the Otay Municipal
Water District, the Fire District will dissolve and be incorporated
into the Otay Water District as a special improvement district by
July 15, 1973. Of particular interest to the City of Chula Vista
is Section C, which states:
The Otay Municipal Water District shall become the successor
to the Bonita-Sunnyside Fire Protection District for the
purpose of succeeding to all of the rights, duties and
obligations of the extinguished district with respect to
enforcement, performance, or payment of any outstanding
bonds, including revenue bonds, or other contracts and
obligations of said extinguished district.
This section is generally interpreted by City Attorney Don Lindberg
to mean that the existing Joint Fire Agreement with Bonita-Sunnyside
Fire District will probably have to be honored by the Otay Punicipal
Water District, with the possible exception of the 50a clause.
According to Mr. Lindberg, this Joint Fire Agreement is just that --
an agreement and not a binding legal contract; either party can
terminate this agreement with 180 days (six months) written notice
to the other party. This interpretation by our City Attorney has
subsequently been supported by Mr. Skip Schmidt, Executive Officer of
LAFCO. However, it would still probably be in the best interest of
the City to have included in the terms and conditions a specific
obligation that the Otay Water District must honor and enforce the
existing Joint Fire Agreement.
According to Fire Chief William Smithey, it would be in the best
interest of the City at this time to continue its Joint Fire Agreement
with Bonita-Sunnyside (or Otay Water District) until the time the
City can furnish adequate fire protection to those annexed lands in
the Bonita area on an initial two-mile response basis.
The major opposition for this proposed reorganization has come from
the Spring Valley Fire District which fears that the Otay Water
District will not restrict itself to supplying fire protection service
to only the geographic boundaries of the present Bonita-Sunnyside
Fire District area, as spelled out in the terms and conditions for
reorganization. Instead, it is feared that it will eventually use
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its latent powers to encroach upon the sphere of influence of Spring
Valley in supplying fire service outside the Bonita-Sunnyside Fire
District area. Chief Berger of Spring Valley also believes this
question of unresolved spheres of influence and the latent fire
service powers of the proposed Otay Municipal Water District will
not only have a great effect on Spring Valley, but all areas adjacent
to this newly enlarged Otay Water District where spheres of influence
are still unresolved (such as the City of Chula Vista and the area
known as the Sweetwater Valley).
County-Wide Fire Stud
On June 23, 1970, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors established
the San Diego Fire Protection Study Committee in order to provide an
objective and comprehensive look at fire protection problems in
San Diego County in the wake of the devastating Laguna Fire. This
Citizens Fire Study Committee was supported by a technical advisory
group of fire chiefs, including Chief Smithey, and a San Diego State
College study team headed up by Professor Larry Thompson. On March 21,
1973, this Citizens Committee, with input from the fire chiefs and from
San Diego State, will present their findings and recommendations to
the County Board of Supervisors .
The overall recommendation of the fire study is for consolidation of
fire protection agencies. More specifically, the fire study calls
for voluntary cooperation and ultimate consolidation for the five
South Bay Area fire agencies for increased efficiency and potential
savings. It is suggested that the fire agencies of Chula Vista, National
City, lower Sweetwater, Bonita-Sweetwater, and Montgomery have a
natural geographic capability that should be utilized to encourage
and develop mutual fire-related efforts such as mutual dispatching,
training, purchasing, and master planning of station locations, in
the hope that this will lead eventually to fire consolidation in
the South Bay Area.
Finally, the fire study, in its second specific recommendation calls
for a moratorium on any new fire district formations when it says:
" ..that LAFCO not approve the formation of any new fire districts
nor activate the latent fire protection powers of agencies that are
not currently providing fire protection." This is seen as an
attempt by the Fire Study Committee to hold the line on any further
proliferation of fire service in the hope of encouraging the existing
fire districts to seek voluntary cooperation and eventual consolidation
for greater effectiveness. Moreover, this recommendation also warns
against the use of latent fire protection powers of agencies that are
not currently providing fire protection service, such as the proposed
reorganization of the Otay Water District. At present, the Otay
Fire Protection Service is only scheduled for the Bonita-Sunnyside area,
but with the distinct possibility that this area could increase in the
future.
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Recommendations
Based on the preceding recommendations of the Fire Study Committee,
and the unfinished Sphere of Influence Study being conducted by the
County with input from the City, it is the staff's recommendation that
the City Council go on record, prior to the Board of Supervisor's
March 21, 1973, Meeting to consider the Fire Study and the Supervisor's
Meeting in April to consider the calling of an election for the reorgan-
ization of the Bonita-Sunnyside Fire District and the Otay Water District,
stating its concern and objection to the proposed reorganization on the
grounds that it will severely jeopardize future fire consolidation in
the South Bay Area. Also, to call for a one year moratorium on the
election for reorganization of Bonita-Sunnyside and Otay Water District
until the Fire Study recommendations can be properly analyzed by the
affected fire agencies, and to wait for the completion of the County's
Sphere of Influence Study with its possible strong ramifications for
Chula Vista, in regard to the possible future annexation of the
Sweetwater Valley.
JRT:GJS:rl