Irvine Municipal Code Ch. 7 Maintenance District Assessments

This article shall be deemed to provide a supplemental, additional and alternative method for doing those things authorized hereby, and shall be regarded as supplemental and additional to those powers conferred by the Landscaping and Lighting Act of 1972, Streets and Highways Code § 22500 et seq. Except as expressly set forth herein, all other matters relating to landscaping and lighting assessment districts shall be governed by the Landscaping and Lighting Act of 1972, as set forth more specifically in the Streets and Highways Code, as amended, and as modified herein.

(Code 1976, § II.H-901; Ord. No. 87-10, § 1, 5-26-87)

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in Streets and Highways Code § 22525 or elsewhere in the Landscaping and Lighting Act of 1972 (Streets and Highways Code § 22500 et seq.), "improvement" shall include:

A. The installation of traffic signals.

B. Any acquisition of any improvements as defined herein or in Streets and Highways Code § 22525 which are necessary or appropriate in connection with any work or improvement by gift, purchase or eminent domain proceedings.

C. The maintenance or servicing, or both, of any of the foregoing.

(Code 1976, § II.H-902; Ord. No. 87-10, § 1, 5-26-87)

As used in Section 2-7-702, "acquisition" shall mean and include any acquisition necessary or appropriate to landscaping, traffic signals and street lighting facilities, including, but not limited to, land, rights-of-way, easements, ornamental standards, luminaires, poles, supports, tunnels, manholes, vaults, conduits, pipes, wires, conductors, guys, stubs, platforms, braces, transformers, insulators, contracts, switches, capacitors, meters, communication circuits, appliances, attachments and appurtenances by gift, purchase or eminent domain proceedings. The cost of such acquisitions shall be deemed to include all incidental expenses in connection with such acquisition.

(Code 1976, § II.H-903; Ord. No. 87-10, § 1, 5-26-87)

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in Streets and Highways Code § 22526 or elsewhere in the Landscaping and Lighting Act of 1972 (Streets and Highways Code § 22500 et seq.), "incidental expenses" include any other expenses incidental to the acquisition, construction, installation, or maintenance and servicing of the improvements.

(Code 1976, § II.H-904; Ord. No. 87-10, § 1, 5-26-87)

As used in section 2-7-702, traffic signals are electrically powered traffic-control devices which alternately direct traffic to stop and proceed at highway and street intersections.

(Code 1976, § II.H-905; Ord. No. 87-10, § 1, 5-26-87)

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Landscaping and Lighting Act of 1972 (Streets and Highways Code § 22500 et seq.), the estimates of the costs of the improvements for the fiscal year shall include estimates for the acquisition of any existing or proposed improvements, including all incidental expenses.

(Code 1976, § II.H-906; Ord. No. 87-10, § 1, 5-26-87)

This article shall be deemed to provide a supplemental, additional and alternative method for doing those things authorized hereby, and shall be regarded as supplemental and additional to those powers conferred by the Landscaping and Lighting Act of 1972, Streets and Highways Code § 22500 et seq. Except as expressly set forth herein, all other matters relating to landscaping and lighting assessment districts shall be governed by the Landscaping and Lighting Act of 1972, as set forth more specifically in the Streets and Highways Code, as amended, and as modified herein.

(Code 1976, § II.H-911; Ord. No. 88-9, § 1, 4-26-88)

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in Streets and Highways Code § 22525 or elsewhere in the Landscaping and Lighting Act of 1972, "improvement" shall include:

A. Public streets, parkways, boulevards and similar public ways, whether or not such improvements are appurtenant to any other improvement as defined in said Streets and Highways Code § 22525 or this chapter.

B. The maintenance, including sweeping, of any of the foregoing street improvements.

(Code 1976, § II.H-912; Ord. No. 88-9, § 2, 4-26-88)

This article shall be deemed to provide a supplemental, additional and alternative method for the maintenance of public improvements and shall be regarded as supplemental and additional to those powers conferred by general law and Sections 2-7-701 through 2-7-709, inclusive, of this Code. Pursuant to this article, the City may authorize, subject to the procedural requirements of this article and the Constitution of the State, maintenance assessments for the maintenance and operation of any of the public improvements of the City, including, but not limited to, public improvements as defined herein, and any public improvement which the City is or may be authorized by general law or this Code to construct, acquire, maintain and operate.

(Ord. No. 97-02, § 1(II.H-915), 2-25-97)

The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

Act means the "Right To Vote On Taxes Act" (Proposition 218) which was approved by the electorate on November 5, 1996, and which added Articles XIIIC and XIIID to the California Constitution.

Notice by mail means any notice required by the Act, which shall be accomplished through a mailing, postage prepaid, in the United States Postal Service and shall be deemed given when so deposited. Notice by mail may be included in any other mailing to the record owner that otherwise complies with the Act and this article, including, but not limited to, bills for the collection of an assessment or a property related fee or charge.

Public improvement means the following public improvements located on or in streets, parks, trails, places, public ways, or property, easements or rights-of-way, parkways, medians, greenbelts, open spaces and natural areas, and recreational areas or facilities, open or dedicated to public use, either singly or in combination, as follows:

A. The grading or regrading, the paving or repaving, rehabilitation, the graveling or regraveling, the oiling or reoiling (including slurry sealing) and cleaning and sweeping thereof; the painting and repainting of roadway traffic control markings and devices such as striping, pavement messages, control devices, repair, installation and maintenance of traffic signs and devices, warning signs, guide signs, and street name signs.

B. The construction, rehabilitation, maintenance or reconstruction of sidewalks, bike paths, crosswalks, steps, safety zones, platforms, seats, statuary, fountains, parks and parkways, recreation areas, including all structures, buildings, and other facilities necessary to make parks and parkways and recreation areas useful for the purposes for which intended, culverts, bridges, curbs, gutters, tunnels, subways, or viaducts.

C. Drains, tunnels, sewers, conduits, culverts, and channels for drainage purposes; with necessary outlets, cesspools, manholes, catch basins, flush tanks, septic tanks, disposal plants, connecting sewers, ditches, drains, conduits, channels, and appurtenances.

D. Poles, posts, wires, pipes, conduits, tunnels, lamps, and other suitable or necessary appliances for the purpose of lighting the streets, parks, trails, recreational areas and facilities, places, or public ways of the City or property or rights-of-way owned by the City, including traffic signals, including the cost of energy to operate the foregoing and the installation, acquisition, maintenance and servicing of interconnecting cables or other communication circuits or devices used to control and operate traffic signals.

E. Pipes, hydrants, and appliances for fire protection.

F. Breakwaters, levees, bulkheads, groins, and walls of rock or other material to protect the streets, places, public ways, and other property in the City, from overflow by water.

G. Wells, pumps, dams, reservoirs, storage tanks, channels, tunnels, conduits, pipes, hydrants, meters, or other appurtenances for supplying or distributing a domestic water supply.

H. Retaining walls, embankments, buildings, and any other structures or facilities necessary or suitable in connection with any of the work mentioned in this section.

I. The installation or planting of landscaping, trees, eucalyptus windrows, shrubs, ornamental vegetation, irrigation systems and related improvements in parks, parkways, medians, greenbelts and natural areas.

J. Compaction of land, change of grade or contours, construction of caissons, retaining walls, drains, and other structures suitable for the purpose of stabilizing land.

K. Public buildings and structures.

L. All other work which may be deemed necessary to improve, construct, maintain, or rehabilitate the whole or any portion of the foregoing public improvements owned by the City.

M. All other work auxiliary to any of the above, which may be required to carry out the above.

Record owner means the owner of a parcel whose name and address appears on the last equalized secured property tax assessment roll or in the case of any public entity, the State of California or the United States, the representative of such public entity at the address thereof known to the agency.

(Ord. No. 97-02, § 1(II.H-916), 2-25-97)

If the City Council proposes to levy or increase any maintenance assessments pursuant to this article, it shall adopt a resolution setting forth its intention to do so and designate an assessment engineer, who shall be a registered professional engineer licensed and registered pursuant to Business and Professions Code § 6700 et seq., and order the preparation by the assessment engineer of a detailed engineer's report which sets forth:

A. The specific public improvements to be maintained;

B. A listing of the parcels identified as receiving a special benefit from the maintenance and which are proposed to be assessed;

C. The total amount of the maintenance assessment proposed to be levied;

D. The amount of the maintenance assessment proposed to be levied against each individual parcel;

E. The reason for such maintenance assessment;

F. The basis or formula upon which the amount of the proposed assessment was calculated; and

G. A description by map or legal description of any zones of benefit in which the public improvements to be maintained or basis or formula of assessment is proposed to differ from that generally applicable to parcels within the City.

(Ord. No. 97-02, § 1(II.H-917), 2-25-97)

Prior to levying a proposed new maintenance assessment or to increase an existing maintenance assessment, the City Clerk shall give notice by mail to the record owner of each parcel proposed to be assessed. Each notice by mail shall include the total amount of the proposed assessment chargeable throughout the City, the amount chargeable to the record owner's particular parcel, the duration of the assessment payments, the reason for the assessment, the basis upon which the amount of the proposed assessment was calculated, a description of any zones of benefit as set forth in Section 2-7-713, and the date, time and location of a public hearing on the proposed new or increased maintenance assessment. Each notice by mail shall also include, in a conspicuous place thereon, a summary of the procedures applicable to the completion, return and tabulation of the protests required pursuant to Section 2-7-715, including a disclosure statement that the existence of a majority protest, as defined in Section 2-7-717, will result in the assessment not being imposed or increased. The City Clerk shall give notice by mail at least 45 days prior to the date of the public hearing upon the proposed assessment. The notice by mail of the public hearing and the conduct of the public hearing may be waived in writing by the record owners of the parcels to be assessed (including newly annexed parcels or parcels proposed to be annexed to the City) and, in such event, it shall not be necessary to send notice by mail or to conduct the public hearing with respect to the proposed assessment on such parcels.

(Ord. No. 97-02, § 1(II.H-918), 2-25-97)

Each notice by mail given pursuant to Section 2-7-714 shall contain a ballot which includes the City's address for receipt of the ballot and a place where the record owner may indicate his or her name, a reasonable identification of the parcel, and his or her support or opposition to the proposed assessment. Each ballot returned must be signed by the record owner and mailed, messengered or delivered in person to the City's address shown on the ballot. Regardless of the method of delivery, all ballots must be received at the City's address shown on the ballot prior to the conclusion of the public hearing in order to be included in the tabulation of the ballots pursuant to Section 2-7-716. A ballot which has been delivered to the Clerk may be withdrawn by the record owner during the public hearing and the indication of support or opposition to the proposed assessment may be changed by the record owner and then resubmitted prior to the conclusion of the public hearing. It shall not be necessary for the City Clerk to provide an envelope for return of the ballot, but the City Council may, in its discretion, direct the City Clerk to do so. All ballots submitted to the City constitute public records subject to inspection pursuant to the California Public Records Act (Government Code § 6250 et seq.).

(Ord. No. 97-02, § 1(II.H-919), 2-25-97)

At the time, date and place stated in the notice by mail, the City Council shall conduct a public hearing upon the proposed maintenance assessment. At the public hearing, the City Council shall consider all objections or protests, if any, to the proposed assessment. All interested persons shall be afforded the opportunity to be heard. The public hearing may be continued from time-to-time.

(Ord. No. 97-02, § 1(II.H-920), 2-25-97)

At the conclusion of the public hearing conducted pursuant to Section 2-7-716, the City Clerk shall tabulate the ballots submitted, and not withdrawn, in support or opposition to the proposed assessment. The City Clerk may use technological methods of tabulating the ballots, including, but not limited to, punch card or optically readable (bar-coded) ballots. The City Council shall not impose or increase a maintenance assessment if there is a majority protest. A majority protest exists if ballots submitted, and not withdrawn, in opposition to the proposed assessments exceed the ballots submitted, and not withdrawn, in its favor, weighing such ballots by the amount of the proposed assessments to be imposed upon the parcels for which ballots are received. If there is a majority protest against a new maintenance assessment, the City Council shall not impose the assessment. If there is a majority protest against an increased assessment, the City Council may continue the maintenance assessments at the previously approved rate, but shall not increase the assessment. If there is not a majority protest or the record owners have waived notice by mail and the public hearing and consented to the levy of the proposed assessments as to parcels owned by them (including any newly-annexed parcels or parcels proposed to be annexed to the City), the City Council may impose or increase the assessment in an amount not exceeding the maximum rate set forth in the notice by mail. The majority protest proceeding set forth in this section shall not constitute an election or voting for purposes of Article II of the California Constitution or the California Elections Code. Except as adopted by the City Council pursuant to Section 2-7-720, the provisions of the California Elections Code shall not apply to the proceedings described in this section.

(Ord. No. 97-02, § 1(II.H-921), 2-25-97)

The City Council may promulgate rules and regulations for the conduct of the public hearing and majority protest balloting as it deems necessary and appropriate, including rules and regulations governing whether a ballot may be submitted by a tenant who is directly liable for the payment of an assessment on a parcel. The City Council shall be under no duty to obtain or consider any evidence as to the validity of signatures on ballots, the ownership of a parcel, or the obligation of a tenant to pay an assessment. The City Council's determination as to the validity of ballots submitted shall be final and conclusive.

(Ord. No. 97-02, § 1(II.H-922), 2-25-97)

Any action or proceeding challenging the validity of a maintenance assessment shall be commenced no later than 30 days after it is confirmed and levied by the City Council. No action or proceeding challenging the validity of a maintenance assessment for which a notice by mail and a ballot was provided pursuant to Sections 2-7-714 and 2-7-715 and for which a public hearing was conducted pursuant to Section 2-7-716 shall be brought by any record owner or any other interested person, unless such record owner or interested person returned a ballot in support or opposition to the maintenance assessment prior to the conclusion of the public hearing and appeared at the public hearing and spoke in opposition to the maintenance assessment.

(Ord. No. 97-02, § 1(II.H-923), 2-25-97)

A. If the City Council proposes to levy a new or increased maintenance assessment it shall levy the assessment against parcels that are owned or used by any local public agency, the State of California, or the United States of America, unless the City Council finds upon clear and convincing evidence that such parcels, in fact, receive no special benefit from maintenance of the City's public improvements to be assessed. If the City Council determines that the public entity owning the parcel is not liable to pay the proposed assessment, the amount of the maintenance assessment shall be payable from the City's general fund, or such other fund as the City Council shall designate.

B. The City may enter into agreements with the public entities owning parcels for the collection and payment of maintenance assessments on such terms as are permitted by law. In the event that a maintenance assessment is not paid by the public entity, the City may recover the delinquent amounts as provided by law. The City Council may not, by reason of such nonpayment, increase the amount of the maintenance assessment against other parcels.

(Ord. No. 97-02, § 1(II.H-924), 2-25-97)

The requirements of this article shall apply to any maintenance assessments imposed or increased levied on or after the effective date of this article and not otherwise exempt under Section 5 of Article XIIID of the State Constitution. Provided that the City Council has complied with the notice, majority protest and hearing requirements of this article, this article shall not apply in subsequent fiscal years of collection of the maintenance assessment unless the assessment is proposed to be increased in excess of a maximum amount previously approved in proceedings taken pursuant to this article. For purposes of the approval of a multi-fiscal year maximum maintenance assessment, the engineer's report required by Section 2-7-713 may contain a schedule of assessments for specific fiscal years, a formula for the calculation of assessments beginning with the first fiscal year of collection, a maximum assessment amount which may be levied in each of the succeeding fiscal years or such other methodology as the assessment engineer may provide in the report. In fiscal years after compliance with this article, the City Council shall not be required to conduct further proceedings hereunder for the levy and collection of the maintenance assessment throughout the City's jurisdiction, including any newly annexed areas the record owners of which have waived the notice by mail and the public hearing and have consented to the imposition of the proposed assessment against their property, unless the schedule, formula, maximum assessment or other methodology is proposed to be altered to increase the amount of the maintenance assessment above the maximum amount previously approved in proceedings hereunder.

(Ord. No. 97-02, § 1(II.H-925), 2-25-97)

Unless determined otherwise by the City Council, maintenance assessments levied under this article shall be collected on the secured real property tax roll in the same manner as County property taxes are collected and all laws providing for the collection and enforcement of County taxes shall apply to the collection and enforcement of the maintenance assessments. After collection by the County Tax Collector, the net amount of the maintenance assessment, after deduction of any compensation due the County Tax Collector for collection, shall be paid to the City Treasurer and shall be expended solely for the maintenance and operation of the public improvements described in the engineer's report.

(Ord. No. 97-02, § 1(II.H-926), 2-25-97)

Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 2 of Chapter 2 of the Landscaping and Lighting Act of 1972, the City Council may by resolution order the dissolution of any of the existing landscaping and lighting maintenance districts of the City, if it makes the finding that it would be more efficient and economical to administer the maintenance and operation of such public improvements pursuant to this article. If the City Council dissolves such maintenance districts, any funds of such district shall be transferred to a special fund of the City and expended solely for the maintenance of such public improvements. In summary dissolutions ordered pursuant to this section, it shall not be necessary to comply with the provisions of Article 2 of Chapter 2 of the Landscaping and Lighting Act of 1972.

(Ord. No. 97-02, § 1(II.H-927), 2-25-97)