Watsonville Municipal Code Art. 7 School Facilities Fees

This article shall be known and may be cited as the “School Facilities Fee Law of the City of Watsonville”.

(§ 1, Ord. 462 C-M, eff. May 10, 1979)

This article is adopted pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 4.7 (commencing with Section 65970) of Division 1 of Title 7 of the Government Code of the State.

(§ 1, Ord. 462 C-M, eff. May 10, 1979)

The purpose of this article is to provide a method for financing temporary school facilities necessitated by new residential developments causing conditions of overcrowding. The intention of this article is to establish a service fee to provide adequate school facilities for residents of new dwelling units.

(§ 1, Ord. 462 C-M, eff. May 10, 1979)

The Council, from time to time, by resolution, may issue regulations to provide for the administration and implementation of the provisions of this article.

(§ 1, Ord. 462 C-M, eff. May 10, 1979)

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

(a) “Conditions of overcrowding” shall mean that the total enrollment of an attendance area school or schools, including the enrollment from proposed development, exceeds the capacity of such school or schools within the attendance area as determined by the governing body of the school district.

(b) “Decision-making body” shall mean the Council or its designee.

(c) “Dwelling unit” shall mean a building, or portion thereof, or a mobile home designed for residential occupation by one person or a group of two (2) or more persons living together as a domestic unit.

(d) “Reasonable methods or mitigating conditions of overcrowding” shall include, but not be limited to, concepts such as:

(1) Any agreement 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, and school boundary realignments;

(3) The use of available bond or State loan revenues to the extent authorized by law;

(4) The use of funds which could be available from the sale of surplus school district real property and funds available from other appropriate sources, as determined by the governing body of the school district; and

(5) Agreements between a subdivider or other developer of residential developments in the 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.

(e) “Residential development” shall mean a project containing residential dwellings, including mobile homes, of one or more units or a division of land for the purpose of constructing one or more residential units. “Residential development” shall include, but not be limited to, a preliminary or final development plan, a subdivision tentative or final map, a parcel map, a conditional use permit, a building permit, or any other discretionary permit for a new residential use.

(§ 1, Ord. 462 C-M, eff. May 10, 1979)

Pursuant to Sections 56970 et seq. of the Government Code of the State, the governing body of the school district may make 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 educational programs, including the reason for such conditions existing;

(b) All reasonable methods of mitigating conditions or overcrowding have been evaluated; and

(c) No feasible method for reducing such conditions exists.

Upon making such findings, the school district shall provide the Council with written notice of its findings as provided in Section 3-6.707 of this article.

(§ 1, Ord. 462 C-M, eff. May 10, 1979)

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

(a) The findings set forth in Section 3-6.706 of this article;

(b) Findings of facts and a summary of the evidence upon which the findings set forth in Section 3-6.706 of this article were based;

(c) The mitigation measures and methods, including those set forth in subsection (d) of Section 3-6.705 of this article, considered by the school district in any determination made concerning them by the district;

(d) The precise geographic boundaries of the overcrowded attendance area or areas; and

(e) Such other information as may be required by a Council regulation.

(§ 1, Ord. 462 C-M, eff. May 10, 1979)

After the receipt of any notice of findings complying with the requirements of Section 3-6.707 of this article, the Council, if it concurs with such school district findings, shall do so by resolution.

(§ 1, Ord. 462 C-M, eff. May 10, 1979)

Within an attendance area, where the Council has concurred in a school district’s notice of finding 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 pursuant to this article, provision has been made for the payment of fees, or some other provision has been agreed upon by the applicant for a residential development in the school district to mitigate the conditions of overcrowding within that attendance area; or

(b) That there are specific, overriding physical, economic, social, or environmental factors which, in the judgment of the decision-making body, would benefit the City, thereby justifying the approval of a residential development otherwise subject to the provisions of this article without requiring the payment of fees or other alternate provision required by this chapter.

(§ 1, Ord. 462 C-M, eff. May 10, 1979)

In an attendance area where the Council has concurred that overcrowding exists, the applicant for a proposed residential development, as a condition of approval or the obtaining of a building permit, shall pay fees or make an equivalent arrangement in lieu thereof, unless excepted as provided in subsection (b) of Section 3-6.709 of this article, as determined by the decision-making body during the hearings and other proceedings on the specific residential development applications falling within its respective jurisdiction. Prior to the imposition of the fees, it shall be necessary for the decision-making body acting on the application to make the following determination: that the facilities to be constructed, purchased, leased, or rented from such fees are consistent with the General Plan.

(§ l, Ord. 462 C-M, eff. May 10, 1979)

Any requirement imposed pursuant to this article shall bear a reasonable relationship and will be limited to the needs of the community for temporary, elementary, or high school facilities and shall be reasonably related and limited to the need for the schools caused by the residential development.

(§ 1, Ord. 462 C-M, eff. May 10, 1979)

When fees are required by this article to be paid, such fees shall be in the amount fixed by resolution of the Council.

(§ 1, Ord. 462 C-M, eff. May 10, 1979, as amended by § 1, Ord. 545-82 C-M, eff. February 25, 1982)

If the payment of a fee is required, such payment for each dwelling unit shall be due and paid at the time the building permit is approved and issued. The fees shall be held in trust by the City until transferred to the school district.

(§ 1, Ord. 462 C-M, eff. May 10, 1979)

If a residential development approval is vacated or voided, and if the City still retains the fees collected there for, and if the applicant so requests, the Council shall order the fees returned to the applicant.

(§ l, Ord. 462 C-M, eff. May 10, 1979)

Following concurrence by the Council pursuant to Section 3-6.708 of this article, the City Clerk shall notify the school district. The governing body of the school district shall then submit a schedule specifying how it will use the fees 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 time 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 Council and the reasons for the modifications.

(§ 1, Ord. 462 C-M, eff. May 10, 1979)

All fees collected pursuant to this article and transferred to the school district shall be used only by the district for the purpose of providing the temporary elementary or high school classrooms and facilities necessary for the operation of such classrooms within the City.

(§ 1, Ord. 462 C-M, eff. May 10, 1979)

The school district, upon receiving funds pursuant to this article, shall maintain a separate account for the fees paid and shall file a report with the 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 Council.

(§ 1, Ord. 462 C-M, eff. May 10, 1979)

When it is determined by resolution of the Council that conditions of overcrowding no longer exist in an attendance area, decision-making bodies shall cease the imposition of any requirements under this article.

(§ 1, Ord. 462 C-M, eff. May 10, 1979)