Fresno County Municipal Code Ch. 17.76 Dedications of Land and Fees for Interim School Facilities

This chapter is adopted pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 4.7 (commencing with Section 65970 of Division 1 of Title 7 of the Government Code) and is intended to implement the interim school facilities dedication and fees legislation in the unincorporated area of the county and to provide authority whereby the county, affected school districts and applicants for land development approvals may undertake such reasonable steps as are necessary to alleviate the overcrowding of school facilities.

(Ord. 608, § 1, 1979)

A. "Conditions of overcrowding" means that 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 school district.

B. "Decision-making body" means the board of supervisors, planning commission, or the director of resources and development, as the case may be, who has the final authority to approve the permit or entitlement.

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

D. "Interim facilities" means temporary classrooms, including their utilities, furnishings, and toilet facilities not constructed with permanent foundations.

E. "Reasonable methods for mitigating conditions of overcrowding" include, but are not limited to, agreements between a subdivider or other developer of residential developments and the affected school district whereby temporary-use buildings will be leased to or for the benefit of the school district or temporary-use buildings owned by the school district will be used.

F. "Residential development" means a project containing or to contain residential dwellings, including mobile homes, of one or more residential dwelling units. Residential development includes, but is not limited to the approval or issuance of:

1. A tentative final or a tentative parcel map or a time extension on such map;

2. A conditional use permit;

3. A site plan review;

4. A building permit.

(Ord. 0-81-002, § 43; Ord. 608, § 1, 1979)

A residential development shall be exempt from the requirements of this chapter when it consists only of any of the following:

A. Any modification, expansion, enlargement or remodeling of an existing legally established dwelling unit where no additional dwelling units are created.

B. A condominium project converting an existing apartment building into a condominium where no new dwelling units are created.

C. Any rebuilding of a legally established dwelling unit destroyed or damaged by fire, flood, explosion, act of God or other accident or catastrophe.

(Ord. 608, § 1, 1979)

If the governing body of a school district which has jurisdiction within the unincorporated territory of Fresno County makes a finding that:

A. Conditions of overcrowding exist in one or more attendance areas that include unincorporated territory within the district which will impair the normal functioning of education programs, including the reasons for the existence of such conditions; and

B. That all reasonable methods, within established school district policies, of mitigating conditions of overcrowding have been evaluated and no feasible method, as determined by the school district, for reducing such conditions exist, the governing body of the school district shall send a notice of such findings to the board of supervisors.

(Ord. 608, § 1, 1979)

Any notice of findings sent by a school district to the board of supervisors shall specify:

A. The findings listed in Section 17.76.040;

B. The mitigation measures and methods considered by the school district which may include, but are not limited to:

1. Any agreements entered into by the affected school district which would alleviate conditions of overcrowding caused by new residential development;

2. The use of relocatable structures, student transportation, or school attendance boundary realignments;

3. The use of available bond or state loan revenues to the extent authorized by law.

(Ord. 608, § 1, 1979)

A. Upon receipt of a notice of findings sent by a school district, the clerk of the board of supervisors shall fix a time, date and place for a hearing thereon. The clerk shall publish notice of such hearing, as provided in Government Code Section 6066, prior to the date set for hearing in a newspaper of general circulation printed and published in the county.

B. At the conclusion of the hearing, the board may concur in such findings by resolution. If the board does so concur, the provisions of Section 17.76.070 shall be applicable to official actions, taken on residential development applications by a decision-making body.

(Ord. 608, § 1, 1979)

A. For the purpose of establishing a method of providing interim facilities where the board of supervisors has concurred that conditions of overcrowding exist within one or more attendance areas of a school district as determined pursuant to Section 17.76.060, the board of supervisors may require, as a condition to the approval by the decision-making body of a residential development within such district, the dedication of land, the payment of fees in lieu thereof, or a combination of both. If the board of supervisors makes a determination to require such fees or dedication of land within a school district, no decision-making body shall approve an application for a residential development within such school district unless provision is made for the payment of fees or dedication of land as provided for in this chapter.

B. In lieu of required fees, the builder of a residential development may, at his or her option and at his or her expense, provide interim facilities, owned or controlled by such builder, at the place designated by the school district, and at the conclusion of the fifth school year the builder shall, at the builder's expense, remove the interim facilities from such place, unless the builder and the school district have entered into an agreement providing otherwise.

(Ord. 608, § 1, 1979)

The board of supervisors may waive the application of this chapter if the board finds that there are specific overriding fiscal, economic, social or environmental factors which in the judgment of the board would benefit the county and thereby justify the approval of a residential development without requiring the payment of fees or dedication of land otherwise required by this chapter.

(Ord. 608, § 1, 1979)

The dedication of land may be required only in subdivisions containing more than fifty parcels.

(Ord. 608, § 1, 1979)

A. The standards for the amount of dedicated land or fees to be required shall be established by the board of supervisors by resolution where a determination has been made pursuant to Section 17.76.060 that conditions of overcrowding exist.

1. The location and amount of land to be dedicated or the amount of fees to be paid shall bear a reasonable relationship and shall 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. The fees, however, shall not exceed the amount necessary to pay five annual lease payments for the interim facilities.

2. The facilities to be constructed, purchased, leased, or rented from such fees or the land to be dedicated shall be consistent with the county general plan.

B. The governing board of the affected school district shall transmit recommended standards and facts supporting the recommendations to the board of supervisors at the earliest possible time. Failure to recommend the standards within a sixty-day period following a determination that conditions of overcrowding exist constitutes a waiver by the governing body of the school district of its authority to request fees pursuant to this chapter.

C. If the board of supervisors adopts such standards, it 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.

D. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection A of Section , unless the board of supervisors has adopted such standards, a decision-making body shall not require, as a condition of approval of a residential development, the payment of fees or dedication of land.

(Ord. 608, § 1, 1979)

Upon receipt of an application for a residential development within a school district where the board of supervisors has concurred in the school district findings of overcrowding pursuant to Section 17.76.060, the director of resources and development shall notify the affected school district thereof. With the exception of applications for building permits or site plan reviews, said notification shall be made no later than ten days prior to consideration of the application by a decision-making body.

(Ord. 0-81-002, § 44; Ord. 608, § 2, 1979)

A. Upon receipt of the notification required by Section 17.76.110, when the application is for a subdivision of more than fifty parcels, the governing body of the affected school district shall determine whether to recommend to the board of supervisors a dedication of land within the development, payment of a fee, or a combination of both. The school district shall then transmit its recommendation to the director of resources and development for submission to the board of supervisors. The decision-making body shall, at the time of its approval of a residential development application, impose such requirements as established by the board of supervisors.

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 body of the affected school district shall, upon receipt of the notification required by Section 17.76.110, so advise and transmit a copy thereof to the director of resources and development. The applicant shall be allowed a credit in the computation and imposition of the requirement of the payment of a fee or dedication of land to the extent that the agreement provides for the same.

(Ord. 0-81-002, § 44; Ord. 608, § 1, 1979)

Following the action by a decision-making body to require the dedication of land, or the payment of fees, or both, the director of resources and development shall notify each school district affected thereby. The governing body of the school district periodically shall 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. The schedule shall be submitted on at least a quarterly basis. In the event the governing body of the school district cannot meet the schedule, it shall submit modifications to the board of supervisors and the reasons for the modifications.

(Ord. 0-81-002, § 44; Ord. 608, § 1, 1979)

A. When land is to be dedicated, no building permit shall be issued within the residential development until an irrevocable offer of dedication of such land is made to the affected school district.

B. Dedicated land which subsequently is determined by the school district to be unsuitable for school purposes may be sold at the option of the school district. The funds derived therefrom must be used in accordance with this chapter.

(Ord. 608, § 1, 1979)

A. If the payment of a fee is required, such payment or the pro rata amount thereof shall be made to the director of resources and development at the time a building permit within the residential development is approved and issued.

B. When application is made for a new building permit following expiration of a previously issued building permit, the fee payment shall be required unless such fee already was collected for the property for which the application is made.

(Ord. 0-81-002, § 45; Ord. 608, § 1, 1979)

If the payment of a fee is required, and in lieu of the fee the applicant elects to provide interim facilities, owned or controlled by the applicant, for a period of five years at the place designated by the school district, no building permit shall be issued within the residential development until one of the following occurs:

A. The school district certifies to the director of resources and development that the applicant has provided suitable interim facilities at the place designated by the school district; or

B. The school district certifies to the director of resources and development that the applicant has furnished sufficient security to the school district to insure the furnishing and placement of suitable interim facilities.

(Ord. 0-81-002, § 45; Ord. 608, § 1, 1979)

Fees paid under this chapter shall be transferred within thirty days of payment to the school districts entitled thereto.

(Ord. 608, § 1, 1979)

Affected school districts shall pay to the county a reasonable service and handling charge for the collection of fees or for insuring the dedication of land or provision of interim facilities owned or controlled by the applicant. The charge shall not exceed the actual cost to the county as determined resolution of the board of supervisors. The county may deduct the charge from fees collected from applicants for residential developments within each affected school district.

(Ord. 608, § 1, 1979)

If a residential development approval is vacated or voided, and if the county or the affected school district still retains the land, fees and/or security collected therefor, and if the applicant so requests, the entity holding such assets shall cause them to be returned, less a reasonable service and handling charge, to the applicant.

(Ord. 608, § 1, 1979)

All land or fees, or both, collected pursuant to this chapter and transferred to a school district shall be used by the district only for the purpose of providing interim elementary, junior high or high school classroom and related facilities.

(Ord. 608, § 1, 1979)

Any school district receiving funds pursuant to this chapter shall maintain a separate account for any fees paid and shall file with the board of supervisors a report 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 1st of each year and shall be filed more frequently at the request of the board of supervisors.

(Ord. 608, § 1, 1979)

A. When it is determined by the board of supervisors that conditions of overcrowding no longer exist in an attendance area or school district, 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 subject to the provisions of Section 17.76.100.

B. If a school district which has notified the board of supervisors that conditions of overcrowding exist in one or more attendance areas of the district receives an apportionment pursuant to the Leroy F. Greene State School Building Lease-Purchase Law of 1976 (Chapter 22, commencing with Section 17700, of Part 10 of the Education Code) it shall immediately notify the board of supervisors. Upon receipt of such notice, decision-making bodies shall cease levying any fee or requiring the dedication of any land for that district 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.

(Ord. 608, § 1, 1979)