Chapter 17.62 — REIMBURSEMENTS FOR CONSTRUCTION

The council hereby finds and declares as follows:

A.

The construction of new streets and water, sewer, and storm drains often benefits other properties. Benefits may occur through the provision of supplemental capacity (oversize lines) or installations across or opposite unserved property that would be required to make such improvements upon development or service connection.

B.

The state of California, in Government Code Sections 66485 through 66489, requires that the city either pay for or enter into an agreement to reimburse the installing party, including an amount attributable to interest for such installations. To pay the costs as required by the reimbursement agreement, the city may collect funds from the other properties which benefit from such installations.

C.

The city has adopted a development impact mitigation fee ordinance (Municipal Code Chapter 15.64), which provides for reimbursement and collection of funds from benefitting parcels under only a portion of the circumstances described in subsection A.

D.

The purpose of Chapter 15.64 is to identify the improvements which are reimbursable under the development impact mitigation fee program and to provide a uniform reimbursement procedure for the cost of improvements which are to be reimbursed from other properties. For purposes of this article, "applicant" means the owner of the property for which the improvements are being installed or are required to be installed per the municipal code.

(Ord. No. 1883, § 2, 9-4-2013)

Editor's note— Ord. No. 1883, § 2, adopted September 4, 2013, repealed the former § 17.62.010, and enacted a new § 17.62.010 as set out herein. The former § 17.62.010 pertained to similar subject matter and derived from Ord. No. 1869, adopted February 20, 2013.

A.

The cost of the following improvements shall be reimbursed from the appropriate benefitting parcels. The terms of the reimbursement shall comply with Chapter 15.64.

Oversize water mains and major crossings required per Chapter 13.08;

Oversize sewers and storm drains required per Chapter 13.12;

Excess width street construction and right-of-way required per Chapter 15.44 and 17.50.030;

B.

The cost of other improvements which benefit other property or would be required of that property upon development shall be reimbursed in compliance with this article.

(Ord. No. 1883, § 2, 9-4-2013)

Editor's note— Ord. No. 1883, § 2, adopted September 4, 2013, repealed the former § 17.62.020, and enacted a new § 17.62.020 as set out herein. The former § 17.62.020 pertained to similar subject matter and derived from Ord. No. 1869, adopted February 20, 2013.

Whenever the city constructs improvements meeting the requirements of this article, the city shall be eligible for reimbursement in a like manner as other applicants.

(Ord. No. 1869, § 2, 2-20-2013)

A.

Whenever an applicant constructs improvements eligible for reimbursement under this article, the applicant shall file a request with the public works director. The request shall include:

A description of the improvements and the additional properties receiving the benefit, including drawings showing the items for reimbursements;

Engineering calculations and data as described in the city's public improvement design standards;

An itemized record of cost for the improvements; and

Application fees as determined by the city's fee resolution.

B.

All applications for reimbursement shall be filed no later than one year after the acceptance of the improvements by the city. The city will make no effort to delay project approval or otherwise condition payment of reimbursements from other properties benefitting from the improvements prior to completion of a reimbursement agreement.

(Ord. No. 1869, § 2, 2-20-2013)

A.

Within sixty days of receipt of a completed application, the public works director shall prepare a reimbursement agreement containing the following provisions:

The amount of reimbursable costs shall include construction costs less any applicable credits plus ten percent for administrative and engineering costs. Applicable public works fees shall also be added. Costs of financing, bonds or other applicant costs shall not be included.

The total reimbursable cost shall be apportioned to the benefiting properties as appropriate. Costs of transitions, utility stubs or other minor work shall not be apportioned to adjacent property.

The reimbursable amount shall be recalculated annually to include an amount attributable to interest, using the Engineering News Record 20 Cities Construction Cost Index as of the end of the year. The reimbursable amount for subsequent years shall be the prior year reimbursable amount less any reimbursements made during the year, all multiplied by the percentage change in the Index over the year.

The agreement shall provide that the city will collect the appropriate charge from the properties identified in the agreement and reimburse the applicant or the applicant's heirs, successors or assigns, for a period of fifteen years from the date of the agreement only. Reimbursement agreements to recover funds advanced by city for projects shall expire after fifteen years; reimbursement charges will not be collected after that time.

Prior to approval of the reimbursement agreement, the council shall conduct a public hearing. The hearing shall be conducted within ninety days of receipt of the completed application. The applicant and property owner of each parcel identified in the reimbursement agreement shall be notified of the hearing by registered mail at least ten calendar days prior to the hearing.

B.

The reimbursement agreement shall be numbered and filed by the public works director.

(Ord. No. 1869, § 2, 2-20-2013)

A.

For any property on which the council has approved a public improvement reimbursement agreement, the appropriate charge shall be collected by the city upon development. Development shall mean any of the following:

Service connection to the utility covered by the reimbursement agreement;

Filing of a final map;

Filing of a parcel map unless the city requirement for installation of public improvements is waived or deferred; or

Issuance of a building permit.

B.

In the event the activity described in subsection A only occurs on a portion of the area covered by the reimbursement agreement, the reimbursement charge shall be apportioned by the public works director and the appropriate charge made upon the developing portion.

(Ord. No. 1869, § 2, 2-20-2013)

A.

Upon collection of reimbursement charges, the public works director shall prepare a letter of entitlement stating the amount of the charge collected, reference the agreement number and administrative charge to be retained by the city. The letter shall be forwarded to the finance director for actual reimbursement.

B.

The administrative fee for collecting the charge and mailing the reimbursement shall be determined by the council.

C.

The finance director shall mail the reimbursement amount to the last address of the applicant on file with the finance director.

D.

Any reimbursement amount returned or unclaimed after two years from the date of mailing shall be deposited in the appropriate development impact mitigation fee fund.

(Ord. No. 1869, § 2, 2-20-2013)