San Juan Capistrano Municipal Code Art. 1 Construction Taxes

(a) Need for additional funds for municipal services. The Council finds that the continuing increase in the construction of new buildings in the City, together with the accompanying increase in the population of the City, has created an urgent need for additional funds to be used for the purpose of providing public safety, public works, and other municipal services.

(b) Need for additional funds for the preservation of agriculture and related valuable community resources. The Council finds and determines that the preservation of agriculture is integral to carrying out the goals and objectives of the General Plan in that the Land Use Element of the General Plan states that “the only way through which the community could maintain its agricultural and rural heritage would be to maintain a substantial portion of the valley in agriculture.” The Land Use Element of the General Plan further indicates that the designation of prime farmland for agricultural land use is necessary “to preserve the rural character of the community by maintaining active agricultural operations and to provide a continuing opportunity for promoting the agricultural heritage through active participation and association with agriculture.”

The Council does also reaffirm the designation of Agriculture Preservation within Priority Group I in the Open Space and Conservation Element of the General Plan inasmuch as the surge and demand for development, the resulting increase in construction, and the accompanying growth in population has, and will continue to have, the following impacts upon the City:

(1) That the City’s capability for providing municipal services, and the costs thereof, will materially increase;

(2) That the available open space will diminish;

(3) That the existence of agriculture, which is a valuable community resource, will be endangered; and

(4) That the City, as a “small self-contained village-like community with abundant open space,” which is a goal established in the General Plan, will be threatened.

(Ord. No. 204, § 1; Ord. No. 316, § 1)

The Council hereby declares that the taxes required to be paid pursuant to the provisions of this article are assessed pursuant to the taxing powers of the City and are solely for the purpose of producing revenue.

(Ord. No. 204, § 1; Ord. No. 316, § 1)

For the purposes of this article, unless otherwise apparent from the context, certain words and phrases used in this article are defined as follows:

"Commercial unit"

shall mean any space in a building or structure designed or intended to be occupied or used for business or commercial purposes, including sleeping rooms in hotels.

"Industrial unit"

shall mean any space in a building or structure designed or intended for manufacturing, processing, research, warehousing, or similar purposes.

"Mobile home park"

shall mean any area where one or more lots or spaces are rented or held out for rent to be occupied by a house trailer, mobile home, camper, or similar vehicle.

"Person"

shall mean every person constructing dwelling units or commercial or industrial sites by him or herself or through the services of an employee, agent, or independent contractor.

"Residential unit"

shall mean a group of two or more rooms, one of which is a kitchen, designed for occupancy by one family for living and sleeping purposes.

"Sales price"

shall mean the total consideration paid for the unit.

(Ord. No. 204, § 2; Ord. No. 316, § 2; Ord. No. 1042, § 8, 2017)

It being the intent of the Council to provide the City and its citizens with an atmosphere in keeping with the Mexican-Western heritage of the area, the following Schedule A shall be used for those persons submitting plans to the Architectural Board of Review and whose plans are approved by said Board as meeting the standards of the Design Standards Environmental Management District (D). Plans not requiring such approval shall be subject to the following Schedule B:

Schedule A

(Ord. No. 204, § 3; Ord. No. 316, § 3; Ord. No. 1042, § 9, 2017)

The tax imposed by the provisions of Section 3-3.104 of this article shall be due and payable upon the issuance of a building permit for the construction of any such residential, commercial, or industrial unit or upon a request for the final approval and granting of a certificate of occupancy for a mobile home park. For all such units, the tax shall be in addition to other taxes as well as to the fees required to be paid for the building permits. For all mobile home spaces, the tax shall be in addition to all inspection fees required to be paid in the construction of a mobile home park, and no final approval or occupancy permit shall be granted until the tax is paid on all mobile home spaces.

No permit shall be issued authorizing the construction of any residential, commercial, or industrial unit or building or any mobile home park in the City without the payment of the tax imposed by the provisions of this article.

(Ord. No. 204, §§ 4, 8; Ord. No. 316, §§ 4, 8)

Any tax paid to the City pursuant to the provisions of this article for any building or unit of a building or mobile home park which is not constructed shall be refunded upon an application of the taxpayer and a showing to the satisfaction of the Director of Administrative Services that the building or unit has not been constructed or construction commenced and that the building permit issued for the building or unit has been cancelled or surrendered or otherwise does not authorize the construction of the building or unit.

(Ord. No. 204, § 9; Ord. No. 316, § 9)

The Council may grant an exception to the provisions of this article upon the appeal of a property owner in the case of the replacement of a residential, commercial, or industrial unit destroyed by fire, earthquake, flood, explosion, or other disaster.

(Ord. No. 204, § 6; Ord. No. 316, § 6)

The following construction and occupancies shall be excluded from the tax imposed by this article so long as such uses and occupancies shall continue:

(a) The construction and occupancy of any residential unit which has a sales price of $50,000 or less or the construction and occupancy of any residential unit which is determined by the Council to provide housing for low income residents. In the case of residential units selling for $50,000 or less, the exemption shall be granted in the form of a refund to be paid by the City to the purchaser of the unit upon the submission of an escrow statement showing the sales price of the unit to be $50,000 or less;

(b) The construction and occupancy of any building or unit by any bank, including national banking associations;

(c) The construction and occupancy of any building by an insurer as that term is defined in Section 28 of Article XIII of the Constitution of the State;

(d) The construction and occupancy of any building by the United States, or any department or agency thereof, or by the State, or any department, agency, or political subdivision thereof; and

(e) The construction and occupancy of any building by a nonprofit corporation exclusively for religious, educational, hospital, or charitable purposes.

(Ord. No. 204, § 7; Ord. No. 316, § 7)

(a) For municipal services. All proceeds from the taxes, penalties, and interest collected pursuant to Schedules A and B set forth in Section 3-3.104 of this article shall be deposited in the General Fund of the City and shall be used for such municipal purposes as are authorized by law.

(b) For the preservation of agriculture and related valuable community resources. All proceeds from the taxes collected pursuant to Schedule C set forth in Section 3-3.104 of this article shall be deposited in the Agriculture Preservation Fund and shall be used exclusively for the purpose of preserving agriculture on lands designated for such use in the General Plan and such other related purposes as are authorized by law. Expenditures from the Agriculture Preservation Fund shall be made after the General Plan has been amended designating specific farmlands to be preserved in agriculture as a long-term or permanent land use. Such expenditures from the Agriculture Preservation Fund may include, but shall not be limited to:

(1) The construction of buffers and fences;

(2) Employee housing assistance;

(3) Refunds of prior capital improvement bond assessments;

(4) Refunds of those portions of prior property tax payments determined to be in excess of taxes which would have been paid based only on agricultural land values;

(5) The promotion of local agriculture product sales;

(6) City acquisitions of farmlands; and

(7) Such other applicable expenditures as deemed appropriate by the Council.

(Ord. No. 204, § 10; Ord. No. 316, § 10)