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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Statement 1988/05/03 Item 7COUNCIL AGENDA STATEMENT • Item 7 `~2 Meeting Date 5/3/88 ITEM TITLE Resolution,~j -~J - Adopting a City Council position paper on the proposed Bonita-Sunnyside Annexation SUBMITTED BY Assistant City Manager REVIEWED BY City Manager ~ ~~ ~ 4/5ths Vote: Yes No x In November 1988, the citizens of the Bonita-Sunnyside area will be voting on the issue of annexation to the City of Chula Vista. In order to assist the citizens of the Bonita-Sunnyside community in understanding what effects annexation would have on them, a position paper has been prepared similar to that developed in 1985 when the Montgomery community was considering annexing to the City. RECOMMENDATION: Adopt resolution. BOARDS/COMMISSIONS RECOMMENDATION: N.A. DISCUSSION: • The Local Agency Formation Commission has scheduled a public hearing for 9:00 a.m. on May 23, 1988, when that Commission will hear individuals who wish to speak and will consider the application for the Bonita reorganization and the report of the LAFCO Executive Officer. Some of the questions covered in the proposed position paper address specific concerns that were raised at the April 15, 1988 meeting of LAFCO's Cities/Special District Advisory Committees. LAFCO staff has expressed a desire to utilize some of the information contained in the City Council position paper in preparing their report that will be considered by the Commission on May 23. The City Council position paper covers a wide range of City policy issues and, more specifically, it represents an expression of the official position of the City Council on how those various City policies and specific services would be provided to the Bonita-Sunnyside community if the reorganization proposal is approved by the voters in November 1988. While all the issues and policy positions covered in the position paper are significant, some of the issues perhaps should be highlighted for particular City Council attention since the uniqueness of the proposed annexation area dictates the need to consider deviation from some of the traditional practices and policies of the City. Section A, covering zoning and development issues, sets forth policy positions relating to how land uses in the area would be handled upon annexation. Of particular significance are statements in Item 2 that the Specific Plan and zoning regulations will be tailored to help preserve and protect the rural character of the area. This section also commits the City to use the existing 15-member Sw eetwater Community Planning Group as an advisory body to the Planning Commission and City Council for land use issues affecting the area. This Committee, while • larger than the Montgomery Planning Committee, would serve in the same manner as that Committee has functioned for the past 2+ years. Eight persons will be elected in November 1988 to four-year terms on the Planning Group, in addition to seven members who at that point will have two years remaining in their terms. Page 2, Item 7 • Meeting Date 5/3/88 In other sections, the position paper generally commits the City to providing the same level of police protection, animal control, street and tree maintenance, recreation services, fire protection, sewer and storm drain maintenance as provided in the existing City. In some cases, this is a somewhat higher level of service than the Bonita-Sunnyside community is now provided. Policies related to the City assuming fire protection responsibility from the Bonita-Sunnyside Fire District are covered in Item 6. These include: continuing to maintain a minimum of a three-person company as the District has been providing; absorbing all the District's permanent staff; continuing to operate a fire station at or near the existing station site; spending the District's reserves derived from special benefit and mitigation fees charged by the District (currently over $600,000 in such reserves) on capital needs for equipment and/or fire station that will serve the Bonita-Sunnyside community; and keeping the new fire pumper (that the District has on order) in the Bonita-Sunnyside community. Item 14 addresses the question: "Will assessment districts be formed to install curbs, gutters and sidewalks?" In the proposed position paper, the City would be committing not to initiate the formation of any assessment districts for improving existing streets. Assessment districts in the Bonita-Sunnyside area could only be formed if 60~ or more of the abutting property ow ners petition the City to form • such a district. As the City Council is aware, the Council, by a four-fifths vote, normally may initiate or override a majority protest if, in Council's judgment, the improvements should be made. This policy statement would preclude the City from taking that extraordinary step. As was provided in the Montgomery annexation, Item 27 indicates that the City will add one qualified member, to be appointed from the Bonita/Sunnyside area, to each of the City's tw elve non-Charter established advisory boards and commissions. The number of members would revert to the previous number when the member appointed from the Bonita-Sunnyside area could be assimilated within the regular number of members. Finally, the position paper reflects the intention of the City Council to have the annexation become effective July 1, 1989. Upon that annexation date, the Bonita-Sunnyside Fire Protection District, the Spring Valley Sanitation District, a street lighting district and one small community service district will be dissolved. The area would remain for the foreseeable future within the County Library District, with the City contracting with the County Library District for continued branch library service to the area. FINANCIAL IMPACT: Adoption of the resolution approving the position paper will have fiscal implications only if the annexation vote is favorable. The report on the proposed Bonita-Sunnyside reorganization that was approved by the Council on March 15, 1988 described the estimated fiscal impact of the annexation. The proposed City Council • position paper reflects the assumptions made in the March 15 report and thus does not change the estimated fiscal impact provided in that report. all3bon/c ~~~;