Del Mar Municipal Code Ch. 23.24 School Facilities

This Chapter shall be known as the "School Facilities Dedication and Fee Ordinance."

(Ord. No. 292, § 1)

This Chapter is adopted pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 4.7 (commencing with Section 65970) of Division 1 of Title 7 of the California Government Code. In the case of any conflict between the provisions of this Chapter, and those of Chapter 4.7, the latter shall prevail.

This Chapter is intended to implement the school facilities dedication and fees legislation in the City, and to provide authority whereby the City, affected school districts, and applicants for land development approvals may undertake such reasonable steps as the City Council determines to be necessary to alleviate overcrowding of school facilities.

The City Council may, from time to time, by resolution, issue regulations to establish procedures, interpretations, and policy directions for the administration of this Chapter.

The City Council finds and declares as follows:

A. Adequate school facilities should be available for children residing in new residential developments.

B. Public and private residential development may require the expansion of existing public schools or the construction of new school facilities.

C. In many areas of the City, the funds for the construction of new classroom facilities are not available when new development occurs, resulting in the overcrowding of existing schools.

D. New housing developments frequently cause conditions of overcrowding in existing school facilities which cannot be alleviated under existing law within a reasonable period of time.

E. That, for these reasons, new and improved methods of financing for interim school facilities necessitated by new development are needed in the City.

The General Plan of the City provides for the location of public schools. Those interim school facilities to be constructed from fees paid or those lands to be dedicated for school facilities as required by this Chapter shall be consistent with the General Plan of the City.

Whenever the following words are used in this Chapter, unless otherwise defined, they shall have the meaning ascribed to them in this Section:

A. Conditions of Overcrowding means the total enrollment of a school, including enrollment from proposed development, exceeds the capacity of such school as determined by the governing body of the district.

B. Decision-Making Body means the City Council, Planning Commission, City Engineer, Design Review Board, or Planning Director.

C. Dwelling Unit means a building or a portion thereof, designated for residential occupation by one person or a group of two or more persons living together as a domestic unit.

D. Reasonable Methods for Mitigating Conditions of Overcrowding shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

1. Agreements between a subdivider and the affected school district whereby temporary use buildings will be leased to the school district.

2. The use of temporary use buildings owned by the school district.

3. The use of temporary portable classrooms, student bussing, classroom double sessions, year-round use of school facilities, school boundary realignments, and elimination of low priority school facility uses.

4. The use of available annual tax rate bond revenues or State loan revenues, to the extent authorized by law.

5. The use of funds which could be available from the sale of surplus school district real property and funds available from any other source.

E. Residential Development means a project containing residential dwellings of one or more units or a subdivision of land for the purpose of constructing one or more residential dwelling units. "Residential development" includes, but is not limited to:

1. A Tentative or Final Subdivision Map or Parcel Map, or a time extension or amendment to such a map, except that a Tentative or Final Map or an extension or amendment thereof solely for the purpose of converting existing structures to the condominium form of ownership and where no new dwelling unit is proposed shall not be included.

2. A Conditional Use Permit for a new dwelling unit or units.

3. A Variance for a new dwelling unit or units.

4. A privately proposed Specific Plan or amendment thereto which would allow an increase in authorized residential density.

5. A privately proposed amendment to the City General Plan which would allow an increase in authorized residential density.

6. An ordinance rezoning property to a residential use or to a more intense residential use.

7. A Land Conservation Permit for a new dwelling unit or units.

8. A Certificate of Compliance which would allow a new dwelling unit or units.

9. A Design Review Permit for a new dwelling unit or units.

10. A Bluff, Slope and Canyon Review Permit for a new dwelling unit or units.

11. A View Review Permits for a new dwelling unit or units.

12. Any other discretionary permit for a new dwelling unit or units.

The City shall notify all potentially affected school districts of an application for any residential developments proposed for location within their boundaries.

If the governing body of the school district which operates an elementary or high school in the City makes a finding supported by clear and convincing evidence that:

A. Conditions of overcrowding exist in one or more attendance areas within the district which will impair the normal functioning of education programs including the reason for such conditions existing; and

B. That all reasonable methods of mitigating conditions of overcrowding have been evaluated and no feasible method for reducing such conditions exist, the governing body of the school district shall notify the City Council. The notice of findings sent to the City shall specify the mitigation measures considered by the school district. After the receipt of any notice of findings complying with this Section, the City Council shall determine whether it concurs in such school district findings. The City Council may schedule and hold a public hearing on the matter of its proposed concurrence prior to making its determination. If the City Council concurs in such findings, the provisions of Section 23.24.110 shall be applicable to actions taken on residential development by a decision-making body.

Any notice of findings sent by a school district to the City Council shall specify:

A. The findings listed in Section 23.24.090.

B. The mitigation measures and methods, including those listed in Subsection 23.24.070.D. considered by the school district and any determination made concerning them by the district.

C. The precise geographic boundaries of the overcrowded attendance area or areas.

D. Such other information as may be required by the City Council.

Within the attendance area where it has been determined pursuant to Section 23.24.090 that conditions of overcrowding exist, no decision-making body shall approve an application for a residential development within such area, unless such decision-making body makes one of the following findings:

A. That action will be taken pursuant to this Chapter to provide dedications of land and/or fees to mitigate conditions of overcrowding; or

B. That there are specific overriding fiscal, economic, social or environmental factors which in the judgement of the decision-making body would benefit the City, thereby justifying the approval of a residential development otherwise subject to the provisions of this Chapter. An agreement between the applicant for a residential development and the school district to mitigate conditions of overcrowding within that attendance area may be considered by a decision-making body as such an overriding factor.

For the purpose of establishing an interim method of providing classroom facilities where overcrowding conditions exist as determined pursuant to Section 23.24.090, the City shall require the dedication of land, the payment of fees in lieu thereof, or a combination of both, for all residential development resulting from an approved discretionary action taken by the City. Prior to imposition of the requirement for fees and/or dedications of land, a resolution shall be considered and approved by the City Council setting forth the following findings as may be applicable to all residential development occurring within the City:

A. The City General Plan provides for the location of public schools.

B. The land or fees, or both, transferred to a school district shall be used only for the purpose of providing interim elementary, junior high or high school classroom and related facilities.

C. The location and amount of land to be dedicated or the amount of fees to be paid, or both, shall bear a reasonable relationship and will be limited to the needs of the community for interim elementary, junior high or high school facilities and shall be reasonably related and limited to the need for schools caused by the development.

D. The facilities to be constructed, purchased, leased, or rented from such fees or the land to be dedicated or both is consistent with the City General Plan.

Only the payment of fees shall be required in subdivisions containing 50 lots or less.

The standards for the amount of dedicated land or fees to be required shall be determined by the City Council and set by resolution. The governing board of each school district where a determination has been pursuant to Section 23.24.090 that conditions of overcrowding exists, shall recommend standards for their attendance areas to the City Council. Such standards and the facts supporting them shall be transmitted to the City Council. If the City Council concurs in such recommended standards, they shall, until revised, be used by decision-making bodies in situations where dedications of land and/or fees are required as a condition to the approval of a residential development. Nothing herein shall prevent the City Council from using standards other than those recommended by the school district in the event the City Council is unable to concur in those transmitted by the district.

At the time of filing, an application for approval of a residential development in excess of 50 units located within an attendance area where the findings required by Section 23.24.090 have been made, the applicant shall, as part of such filing, indicate whether it prefers to dedicate land for school facilities, to pay a fee in lieu thereof, or do a combination of these. If the applicant prefers to dedicate land, it shall suggest the specific land.

Upon receipt of an application for a residential development within an attendance area where the findings required by Section 23.24.090 have been made, the Planning Director shall notify the affected school districts thereof. The notification shall be made no later than ten days prior to consideration of the application by a decision-making body. This notice requirement may be waived in writing by an affected school district. In the event the noticing requirement is not waived by the affected school district, reasonable fees may be set by the City Council to cover administrative costs incurred in providing such notice.

A. Upon receipt of the notification required by Section 23.24.160, the governing board of the affected school district shall recommend whether a dedication of land within the development, payment of a fee in lieu thereof, or a combination of both, should be required. Waiver of notification requirements by the affected district, as provided for in Section 23.24.160, shall be construed as requiring a fee in lieu of land dedication. Upon determination of land dedication or in-lieu fee, the school district shall then transmit the determination to the Planning Director for submission to the appropriate decision-making body for concurrence. If the decision-making body concurs in such recommendation, it may, at the time of its consideration of a residential development application, impose such requirements as conditions of granting a permit for residential development. In their respective actions regarding this determination, the school district and the decision-making body shall consider the following requirements:

1. Whether lands offered for dedication will be consistent with the City General Plan.

2. Whether the lands offered for dedication meet the criteria established at Education Code §§ 39000, et seq.

3. The topography, soils, soil stability, drainage, access, location, and general utility of land in the development available for dedication.

4. Whether the location and amount of lands proposed to be dedicated or the amount of fees to be paid, or both, will bear a reasonable relationship and will be limited to the needs of the community for interim elementary, junior high school, or senior high school facilities, and will be reasonably related and limited to the need for schools caused by the development.

5. If only a subdivision is proposed, whether it will contain 50 parcels or less.

Nothing herein shall prevent a decision-making body from imposing requirements other than those recommended by the school district in the event that a decision-making body is unable to concur in the district's recommendation hereunder.

B. If the school district has entered into an agreement with the applicant for the residential development to mitigate conditions of overcrowding within the attendance area covered by the application, the governing board shall, upon receipt of the notification required by Section 23.24.160, so advise the Planning Director and transmit a copy thereof for submission to the appropriate decision-making body for consideration as an overriding factor under Subsection 23.24.110.B.

Following the action by a decision-making body on an application for a permit for residential development to require the dedication of land or the payment of fees, or both, the Planning Director shall notify each school district affected thereby. The governing body of the school district shall then submit a schedule specifying how it will use the land or fees, or both, to solve the conditions of overcrowding. The schedule shall include the school sites to be used, the classroom facilities to be made available, and the times when such facilities will be available. In the event the governing body of the school district cannot meet the schedule, it shall submit modifications to the City Council and the reasons for the modifications.

If the payment of a fee is required for residential development approved by a decision-making body, such payment or the pro-rata amount thereof, shall be made at the time a building permit within the residential development is approved and issued.

Fees paid under this Chapter shall be paid in the manner provided and according to the procedures established by the City Council by resolution pursuant to Section 23.24.040.

All land or fees, or both, collected pursuant to this Chapter and transferred to a school district, shall be held in trust and shall be used only by the district for the purpose of providing interim elementary, junior high or high school classroom and related facilities in the attendance area from which the land or fees were collected.

If a residential development approval is vacated or voided, and if the affected school district has not made use of the land and/or fees collected therefor, and if the applicant so requests, the governing board of the school district shall order the land and/or fees returned to the applicant.

If two separate school districts operate schools in an attendance area where the City Council has concurred that overcrowding conditions exist for both school districts, the City Council will enter into an agreement with the governing body of each school district for the purpose of determining the distribution of revenues from the fees levied pursuant to this Chapter. In the event the school districts do not agree, the City shall retain all fees until an agreement is secured.

Any school district receiving funds pursuant to this Chapter shall maintain a separate account for any fees paid and shall file a report with the City Council on the balance in the account at the end of the previous fiscal year and the facilities leased, purchased, or constructed during the previous fiscal year. In addition, the report shall specify which attendance areas will continue to be overcrowded when the fall term begins and where conditions of overcrowding will no longer exist. Such report shall be filed by August 1 of each year and shall be filed more frequently at the request of the City Council.

When it is determined by the City Council that conditions of overcrowding no longer exist in an attendance area, decision-making bodies shall cease levying any fee or requiring the dedication of any land for that area pursuant to this Chapter. Action under this Section shall not affect the validity of conditions already imposed for levy of fees and dedications of land and such conditions shall remain binding.

This Chapter shall not apply to any project for which all discretionary applications for residential development have been filed and the appropriate application fee(s) paid prior to the effective date of this Chapter.

This Chapter shall become operative 30 days after its effective date.