Pt. San Pedro Road Coalition

China Camp Closure

China Camp is one of the state parks slated for closure by July 2012 due to budget constraints. Such a closure could have significant negative impact on our area even beyond the loss of recreation. This may include deterioration of facilities, homeless emcampments (and the resultant fire dangers), debris caused by usage in spite of closure, etc. Local citizens are working with several groups and political entities to find a way to keep the park open and operational. Your support is urgently requested in this effort. Please read more.....

Notice of Capital Improvement Portion of Assessment
Landscaping [Medians} Assessment District

Many questions have been coming in about the “Notice for the Capital Improvement Portion of the Landscape Assessment District” letter that was mailed by the Department of Public Works, City of San Rafael.  The following information should answer many of your questions:

1.  How is the cost of the medians calculated?

There are two parts of the medians cost: Capital Improvement (a one-time, up-front cost for repair and enhancement of the medians) and Ongoing Maintenance (annual cost to maintain the medians). Capital Improvement is calculated to be $1.7M and would be financed by the City issuing 30-year bonds. Ongoing Maintenance is estimated to be $30/year per residential property (adjustable annually for inflation and other cost factors).

2.  How much will I be paying for the medians?

Single residences (owners of commercial property or other special properties will have a different amount) will pay about $76 per year, and it will be added to their property tax bill.  Until July 22, 2011, there is an option (Option A in the City’s letter) to make a one-time payment of $448.48 instead of $46 annually for the Capital Improvement portion. If a property owner chooses this one-time option, the amount added to the property tax bill would be only the annual Ongoing Maintenance portion.

3.  How should I determine whether it makes sense for me to pay the lump sum now?

This is a question that you might want to take up with your financial advisor.  Basically, you are comparing a one-time payment of $448.48 (Option A) against an annual payment of $46 for the life of the 30-year bonds (Option B) which would add up to $1,380 over that 30-year period (principal + interest). It would be a similar decision you might make when contemplating a loan or a mortgage.

4.   Since the notices only just arrived (they were postmarked July 13) regarding the pre-payment option with a deadline of July 22, can the City extend the time to pay it?

No.  The prepayment deadline was set at July 22 because the City needs to finalize the list of assessments in order to submit it to the County Assessor’s office by its deadline of July 28 in order to place the assessments on the property tax rolls for 2011-12. However, you do have the option of paying this amount using a credit card by phone (see Question 5).

5.  Can I pay the one-time amount by credit card?

Yes, the Public Works Department just made such arrangements at our request. Please have your credit card ready with the following information: Property owner name, address, phone number, parcel number, and the amount you received on your notice to prepay for the Capital Improvement (again, for residential property that amount is $448.48 but may vary for commercial or other properties). Please call the Public Works Department at 415-485-3355

6.  If one does not chose to pay up front now, does one have the option to prepay at some later date?  

There will be the ability to pay off the remaining Capital Improvement portion of your assessment after the bonds are sold.  However, the prepayment amount will be higher because the prepayment will need to include a premium to cover the proportionate cost of redeeming bonds, plus administrative costs related to the prepayment.

7.   What will be the maintenance cost (which the letter says will be "in perpetuity"), and can it go up?  

The Ongoing Maintenance costs are set for the first year at $30 and are calculated each succeeding year based on the previous year’s costs as well as expectations of cost changes in the next year (labor, materials, etc.). As a result, this portion of the annual assessment can change, including going higher. Any increase to the assessment amount is limited by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or 3%, whichever is higher. That does not mean the assessment will increase by that amount each year, only that any increase is limited by those factors.

8.  What happens if a property owner refuse to pay the fee that is added to their property tax bill? 

The assessments will be charged as a line item on your property tax bill, so it will not be possible to refuse to pay the assessment without causing a delinquency on your property taxes with the expected consequences.

9.  If others refuse to pay and we prepay, will we later learn we were foolish?

No.  If one owner is delinquent in paying his or her assessments/property taxes, it will not affect or cause an increased assessment on any other owners.

10.   Who regulates and determines the changes to the assessment each year? 

An annual, independent engineer’s report provides the basis for the City to alter the assessments by the greater of CPI or 3%, but no more.

11.  What will the interest rate on the bond be?

The interest rate will be determined when the bond underwriter goes to market with the bond offering.  That will occur several months from now.  While we currently estimate the interest rate will be in the realm of 7% per annum, that is just an estimate, and the final rate will be determined by the condition of the municipal bond market at the time the bonds are offered.

12.  How was the annual amount of $46 per Equivalent Benefit Unit (EBU) for the Capital Improvement portion of this project determined?

The Average Annual Debt Service payment for the Capital Improvement portion of this project (estimated at $1.75M to be bonded over 30 years) is $140,618. There are 3,053.15 EBUs in this assessment (a single residence is 1 EBU). $140,618 divided by 3,053.15 = $46/EBU. This is a somewhat simplified explanation that is furter detailed in the Engineer's Report on pages 23-24.

13.  If I elect to not prepay the bonded Capital Improvement portion and sell my house before it is paid off, does it get included in the property taxes for the new owners? 

Yes.  The assessment is not your personal obligation, but rather an obligation of your property that runs with the property to all future owners.  The new owner would carry the remaining assessment.

14.  What if I have more questions?

If you have any additional questions, please contact Nader Mansourian, Director, Department of Public Works (415-485-335) for clarification.

Ascona Place Development - Design Review Board (DRB) Status Report

The following is a status from Caron Parker, S.R. Associate Planner:

The applicant submitted a planning application which, after considerable staff review, was been "deemed complete" and ready to present to the Design Review Board (DRB) and the community for review and comments. After two meetings at the DRB, the applicant has been given direction by the DRB to look into (among other things) reducing the project to 8 lots and also look into re-designing the proposed slope. (See the full DRB minutes with the DRB consensus items starting on Page 10). The applicant is considering these consensus items in deciding future project design.

In the meantime, staff is mid-way complete with the Initial Study for the required CEQA review. Once the CEQA document is complete, staff will schedule a Planning Commission hearing in order to present the Commissioner's with the DRB recommendations and get the Commission input on project site design. [NOTE: Including many of the issues in the Coalition's Position May 1, 2011 below]

The project will have to go back to the DRB for review of the actual home design, but right now, staff wants to focus on site planning. The S.R. Planning Department does not have a tentative date set for the Planning Commission meeting, but it is most likely to be sometime in late June or in July.

Ascona Place Development - Coalition Position

It is the Coalition’s belief that insufficient work was completed and approved regarding site design/planning prior to conducting more detailed development planning for Design Review Board and Planning Commission review, especially related to the San Rafael Planning Commission’s Hillside Guidelines. There are serious concerns regarding:

1. Excessive slope below the proposed roadway (1.5:1).
2. Determination of buildable footprints that includes the natural state area, thereby resulting in inappropriately large FAR calculations.
3. Number and density of residences (9 closely clustered houses).
4. Allocation, ownership and control of the natural state area above the residences.
5. Inappropriate hillside and lot tree planting plans.

For these reasons, the Coalition urges the DRB to return the current plans to the developer and ask for a more detailed site plan that adheres to the Hillside Guidelines and within which individual site footprints and building plans would be developed.

Any comments or concerns should be directed to Caron Parker, Associate Planner, City of San Rafael, 415-485-3094, Caron.Parker@cityofsanrafael.org

1850 San Pedro Road Right-of-Way - Coalition Position

It is the Coalition’s position, in general, that any public lands and public right-of-ways in our area are held in trust for the generaThe followinl public good and should not be ceded, either by abandonment or license, to private use unless such action is clearly and substantially for the public benefit.

In this case, the owner of 1850 Pt. San Pedro Road (at the end of Pt. San Pedro Road just prior to entering China Camp State Park) has asked for San Rafael to abandon approximately half of the public right-of-way between his property line and the street for his private use. The Coalition is opposed to such an action. As an alternative, the owner has stated he would agree to a license to utilize this same portion of the right-of-way in order to build a fence and install planting for the stated purpose of privacy and security.

There is no evidence to substantiate the owner’s position that such privacy and security is enhanced by the placement of a fence within the right-of-way as opposed to being on the property line. In addition, there are buried utilities as well as a telephone pole in that portion of the right-of-way, this space is used frequently by motorists, garbage trucks, fire trucks and other vehicles as a safe turnaround, and it has been used as a rallying point for public events such as bicycle races. Further, it is the declared position of BCDC that this land is a view corridor for motorists on Pt. San Pedro Road and must be preserved. The necessity to encroach into the right-of-way does not seem to have been established. The staff report to the DRB points out that the wall/fence can be built within the property. It is therefore the position of the Coalition that:

1. Any diminution of the public right-of-way, if granted, should be done under a license, not as an abandonment.
2. Any diminution of the public right-of-way that is granted should be based on the minimum area to be licensed, not on the minimum area that should be retained as a right-of-way by the City. 
3. Any agreement should be conditional on meeting a set of requirements, including those imposed by BCDC as well as those to which the owner verbally agreed at the March 24, 2011 meeting with the Department of Public Works as relates to the additional view corridor restrictions. That includes extending the BCDC fence height and composition restrictions to the southwestern end of the property and the distribution of the up-to-40% view blockage by vegetation higher than 3 feet across the entire frontage to avoid clustering.

At this time, no action has been taken on the matter by the S.R. Public Works Department. Any concerns or comments should be directed to Nader Mansourian, Public Works Director, at Nader.Mansourian@cityofsanrafael.org

A neighbor, Stu Brown, discovered a document via an Internet search that provides a history of the Pt. San Pedro Road corridor, specifically about the Peacock Gap area. Read the full article....

The Coalition would like to put together a more complete history of our neighborhoods and provided it on this website. If anyone has more information to add, please contact the webmaster.

The Pubic Works Department of the County of Marin is spreading the word about a new and free Household Hazardous Waste Recycling Program for residents called "Bulb and Battery Take-Back Program", or simply 'The
BnB'.

The goal is to simply reduce and eliminate the amount of illegally disposed of hazardous waste from household products like florescent bulbs, tubes and batteries. To facilitate this; 10 local businesses have volunteered to serve as convenient collection points for residents to drop off their spent tubes, bulbs and batteries. Take the spent items with you while you're shopping and deposit them at the collection location's BnB bin for free. That's it! The Civic Center Library is collecting household batteries as well.

More information on this program is in a printable PDF attached to this email or go to our program website (click HERE ).

Additional information on Household Hazardous Waste disposal at other location is available at our program website (click Here).