Camarillo Municipal Code Ch. 18.70 Subdivision Fees

A. Fees shall be required for the purpose of defraying the actual or estimated costs of constructing planned drainage facilities for the removal of surface and stormwaters from local or neighborhood drainage areas and of constructing planned sanitary sewer facilities for local sanitary sewer areas.

B. These facilities shall be as identified in the adopted master plans and amendments thereto for storm drains and sewer facilities and amendments thereto which contain an estimate of the total costs of constructing the local drainage or sanitary sewer facilities required by the plan, and a map of such area showing its boundaries and the location of such facilities.

C. The fees are to be based upon findings by the city council, and the Ventura County Flood Control District and/or Camarillo sanitary district where appropriate, that:

1. Subdivision and development of property within the local drainage area or sanitary sewer area will require construction of the facilities described in the drainage or sewer plan; and

2. That the fees are fairly apportioned within the area on the basis of benefits conferred on property proposed for subdivision.

D. The fee as to any property proposed for subdivision within the city shall be apportioned uniformly on a per-acre basis.

E. Consideration in lieu of the payment of fees may be accepted. The term "fee," as used in this section, shall include consideration in lieu of fees.

F. The drainage or sanitary sewer facilities planned shall be in addition to existing facilities serving the area at the time of the adoption of such a plan for the city.

G. Such fees shall be paid to the local agencies which provide drainage or sanitary sewer facilities, and shall be deposited by such agencies into a planned local drainage facilities fund and a planned local sanitary sewer fund, respectively. Separate funds shall be established for each local drainage and sanitary sewer area. Moneys in such funds shall be expended solely for the construction or reimbursement for construction of local drainage or sanitary sewer facilities within the area from which the fees comprising the fund were collected, or to reimburse the local agency for the cost of engineering and administrative services to form the district and design and construct the facilities.

H. The agency which provides the facilities described above may advance money from its general fund to pay the costs of constructing such facilities within a local drainage area, or local sanitary sewer area, and reimburse its general fund for such advances from the planned local drainage fund for the local drainage or from the planned local sanitary sewer fund for the local sanitary sewer area in which the drainage or sanitary sewer facilities were constructed.

I. The agency receiving fees pursuant to this section may incur an indebtedness for the construction of drainage or sanitary sewer facilities within a local drainage or sanitary sewer area; provided that the sole security for repayment of such indebtedness shall be moneys in the planned local drainage or sanitary sewer facilities fund.

J. After completion of the facilities and the payment of all claims from any planned local drainage facilities fund, the city council shall determine by resolution the amount of the surplus, if any, remaining in any of those funds. Any surplus shall be used, in those amounts as the city council may determine, for one or more of the following purposes:

1. For transfer to the general fund of the city, provided that the amount of the transfer shall not exceed five percent of the total amount expended from the particular fund, and provided that the funds transferred are used to support the operation and maintenance of those facilities for which the fees were collected;

2. For the construction of additional or modified facilities within the particular drainage or sanitary sewer area; or

3. As a refund in the manlier provided in subsection (K).

K. Any surplus remaining shall be refunded as follows:

1. There shall be refunded to the current owners of the property for which a fee was previously collected, the balance of such moneys in the same proportion which each individual fee collected bears to the total of all individual fees collected from the particular drainage or sewer area;

2. Where property for which a fee was previously collected has subsequently been subdivided into more than one lot, each current owner of a lot shall share in the refund payable to the owners of the property for which a fee was previously collected in the same proportion which the area of each individual lot bears to the total area of the property for which a fee was previously collected; and

3. There shall be transferred to the general fund of the city any remaining portion of the surplus which has not been paid to or claimed by the persons entitled thereto within two years from the date either of the completion of the improvements, or the adoption by the city council of a resolution declaring a surplus, whichever is later to occur.

(Ord. 570 § 3 (part), 1984.)

A. Cost of Bridges or Major Thoroughfares; Conditions. Pursuant to Sections 66484 and 66489 of the Government Code of California, the city may require the payment of a fee as a condition of approval of a final subdivision map, or as a condition of issuing a building permit for purposes of defraying the actual or estimated cost of constructing bridges over waterways, railways, freeways and canyons, or constructing major thoroughfares, upon compliance with the procedure and conditions set forth in this chapter.

B. General Plan. Such construction shall comply with the circulation element of the general plan of the city as approved by the city council and, in the case of bridges, to the transportation or flood control provisions thereof which identify railways, freeways, streams or canyons for which bridge crossings are required on said general plan or local roads and in the case of major thoroughfares, to the provisions of such circulation element which identify those major thoroughfares whose primary purpose is to carry through traffic and provide a network connecting to the state highway system; provided, such circulation element, transportation or flood control provisions have been adopted by the city thirty days prior to the filing of a map or application for a building permit.

C. Hearing. Payment of a fee shall not be required nor made a condition for approval of a subdivision map nor made a condition for the issuance of a building permit until the area benefited shall be determined by the city council. There shall be a public hearing held by the city council for each area benefited.

1. Notice of Hearing. The hearing shall be set before the city council and notice thereof shall be given pursuant to Government Code Section 65905 at least ten calendar days before the hearing date.

2. Contents of Notice. Such notice shall also contain preliminary information related to the boundaries of the area of benefit, estimated cost and method of fee apportionment. The area of benefit may include land or improvements in addition to the land or improvements which are the subject of any map or building permit application considered at such proceedings.

D. Establishment of Boundaries, Etc. At the conclusion of such public hearing, the city council by resolution shall establish the boundaries of the area of benefit, the costs, whether actual or estimated, and a fair method of allocation of costs to the area of benefit and fee apportionment. The city may impose a reasonable charge on property within the area which in the opinion of the city council is benefited by the construction of the bridge or major thoroughfare. The method of fee apportionment, in the case of major thoroughfares, shall not provide for higher fees on land which abuts the proposed improvement except where the abutting property is provided direct usable access to the major thoroughfare. A description of the boundaries of the area of benefit, the property or properties within said area which in the opinion of the city council are benefited by the construction of the improvement, the costs, whether actual or estimated, and the method of fee apportionment and imposition of charges on properties within the area, as established at the hearing, shall be incorporated in said resolution of the city council, a certified copy of which shall be recorded by the city council with the county recorder. Such apportioned fees shall be applicable to all property within the area of benefit and shall be payable as a condition of approval of a final map or as a condition of issuing a building permit for such property or portions thereof. Where the area of benefit includes lands not subject to the payment of fees pursuant to these sections, the city council shall make provision for payment of the share of improvement costs apportioned to such lands from other sources.

E. Payment of Fees Regarding Major Thoroughfares. Payment of fees with respect to major thoroughfares shall not be required unless the major thoroughfares are in addition to, or a reconstruction of, any existing major thoroughfares serving the area at the time of the adoption of the boundaries of the area of benefit.

F. Payment of Fees Regarding Bridge Facility. Payment of fees with respect to a bridge facility shall not be required unless the planned bridge facility is an original bridge serving the area or an addition to any existing bridge facility serving the area at the time of the adoption of the boundaries of the area of benefit. Such fees shall not be expended to reimburse the cost of existing bridge facility construction.

G. Major Protest.

1. Protests against the proposed improvement, the requirement of payment of fees, the apportionment of the fees or the determination of the boundaries of the area of benefit may be filed at any time prior to the hour set for hearing. If there is a written protest filed with the clerk of the city council by the owners of more than one-half of the area of the property to be benefited by the improvement and sufficient protests are not withdrawn so as to reduce the area represented to less than one-half of that to be benefited, then the proposed proceedings shall be abandoned, and the city council shall not, for one year from the filing of that written protest, commence or carry on any proceedings for the same improvement or acquisition under the provisions of these sections.

2. Nothing in this section shall preclude the processing and recordation of maps in accordance with other provisions of the law and ordinances relating to maps if the proceedings under these sections are abandoned.

3. Any protest may be withdrawn by the owner making the same, in writing, at any time prior to the conclusion of the aforesaid public hearing held pursuant to this title.

4. If any majority protest is directed against only a portion of the improvement, then all further proceedings under the provisions of these sections to construct that portion of the improvement so protested against shall be barred for a period of one year, but the city council shall not be barred from commencing new proceedings not including any part of the improvement or acquisition so protested against. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the city council, within such one-year period, from commencing and carrying on new proceedings or the construction of a portion of the improvements so protested against if it finds, by the affirmative vote of four-fifths of its members, that the owners of more than one-half of the area of the property to be benefited are in favor of going forward with such portion of the improvement or acquisition.

H. Fees.

1. Fees or charges paid pursuant to these sections shall be deposited in a planned bridge facility or major thoroughfare fund. A fund shall be established for each planned bridge facility project or each planned major thoroughfare project. If the benefit area is one in which more than one bridge is required to be constructed, a fund may be so established covering all of the bridge projects in the benefit area. Moneys in such fund shall be expended solely for the construction or reimbursement for construction of the improvement serving the area to be benefitted and from which the fees comprising the fund were collected, or to reimburse the city for the cost of constructing the improvement.

2. The fees or charges collected shall be paid to the city or the subdivider constructing the bridge or major thoroughfare, and the city, with respect to any property within its jurisdiction which in the opinion of the city council is benefitted by the construction of the bridge or major thoroughfare, may enter into a reimbursement agreement with the subdivider.

3. In lieu of the payment of fees, the city may accept other considerations which it deems equivalent.

4. The city may advance money from its general fund or road fund to pay the cost of constructing improvements and may reimburse the general fund or road fund for such advances from planned bridge facility funds or major thoroughfare funds established to finance the construction of such improvements.

I. Interest-bearing Indebtedness; Other Funds.

1. The city, when imposing fees pursuant to these sections, may incur an interest-bearing indebtedness for the construction of such bridge facilities or major thoroughfares; provided, that the sole security for repayment of such indebtedness shall be moneys deposited as aforesaid in planned bridge facility or major thoroughfare funds.

2. The term "construction," as used in this chapter, includes, without limitation, design, acquisition of right-of-way, administration of construction contracts and actual construction.

3. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to preclude the city from providing funds for the construction of bridge facilities or major thoroughfares in order to defray costs not allocated to the area of benefit.

(Ord. 570 § 3 (part), 1984.)