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Home My WebLink AboutCC RES 00-135RESOLUTION NO. 00-135 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA, ESTABLISHING A PILOT PROGRAM FOR THE CITY OF PALM DESERT TO PROVIDE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR NEIGHBORHOOD ASSESSMENT DISTRICTS. A POLICY IN CONNECTION WITH THE INITIATION OF SPECIAL ASSESSMENT PROCEEDINGS BY PETITION OF THE PROPERTY OWNERS FOR THE PURPOSE OF FINANCING THE CONVERSION OF OVERHEAD UTILITY FACILITIES TO UNDERGROUND LOCATIONS THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM DESERT HEREBY FINDS, DETERMINES, RESOLVES AND ORDERS AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. The legislature of the State of California has found and declared that, in many areas of the State, landowners, cities, public agencies and public utilities desire to convert existing overhead electric and communication facilities to underground locations by means of special assessment proceedings, that a public purpose will be served by providing a procedure to accomplish this conversion, and that it is in the public interest to provide for the conversion by special assessment proceedings. Section 2. Homeowners in various locations in the City of Palm Desert have expressed a desire for the City Council of the City of Palm Desert to undertake special assessment proceedings for the purpose of financing the conversion of overhead utility facilities to underground locations. Section 3. To assist homeowners in the cost of the underground conversion of overhead utilities the City Council of the City of Palm Desert hereby establishes a pilot program to provide financial assistance to neighborhoods which form undergrounding assessment districts. The City of Palm Desert undergrounding assistance program shall be initially funded in the amount of not to exceed $3 million, available to pay for certain eligible undergrounding assessment district costs. The following six (6) conditions shall apply: 1. The City undergrounding assistance program shall be available to neighborhood underground assessment districts on a first -come -first -serve basis. To qualify, neighborhoods must initiate the assessment district proceedings by the submission of the petition described below, certification of the petition and adoption of the resolution of assessment district formation by the City Council of the City of Palm Desert. 2. Only certain assessment district costs are eligible for funding by the City of Palm Desert undergrounding assistance program they include, but not limited to, the following: 1) Engineering fees; 2) administration and supervision costs; 3) sale of bonds which finance the district; 4) work within the public right-of-way to include trenching, backfill, and tie-in paving. G \C tyMgr\Monica O'Reilly\wpdocs\Pat Conlon\AssmntResItn wpd RESOLUTION NO. 00-135 3. Assessment district costs which are not eligible for funding by the City of Palm Desert undergrounding assistance program include, but not limited to, the following: 1) Work and equipment on private property; 2) conduit, conductors, and equipment owned by the private electrical, telephone, and cable television companies. 4. The total amount of eligible costs funded by the City of Palm Desert undergrounding assistance program shall not exceed 50 percent of the overall cost of the underground assessment district. 5. Neighborhood districts which are eligible for the City of Palm Desert undergrounding assistance program are shown on Exhibit A of this resolution. Smaller contiguous neighborhood districts may be combined into one larger district, but in no case can the districts shown on Exhibit A be subdivided into smaller districts. 6. Neighborhood undergrounding assessment districts have a one-time eligibility for the City of Palm Desert undergrounding assistance program. If a neighborhood underground assessment district fails to form, and funds are expended on engineering and/or legal and/or administration activities, that district will be precluded from future participation in the City undergrounding assistance program. Section 4. Pursuant to the Municipal Improvement Act of 1913 (Streets and Highways Code Section 10000, et semc .) (thc "1913Act"), proceeding for a conversion must be initiated by either a petition of property owners or by a determination of the City Council that the City or a public utility has voluntarily agreed to pay over 50 percent of all costs of conversion, excluding costs of users' connections to underground electric or communication facilities. The 1913 Act provides that a petition for proceedings for conversion must be signed by not less than five owners of assessable land in the proposed assessment district, as shown on the last equalized roll used by the City, owning lands constituting more than one-half of all assessable lands within the proposed assessment district. Section 5. Once proceedings have been initiated by a petition of property owners, the City Council may undertake to complete proceedings to form an assessment district and to levy and collect assessments against properties in such assessment district to pay for the costs of undergrounding overhead utility facilities. However, pursuant to Article XIIID of the California Constitution, the formation of the assessment district must be abandoned in the event of a majority protest. A majority protest will exist if more ballots are received from property owners who oppose the assessment than from those who support it. In determining the existence of a majority protest, ballots must be weighted in proportion to the assessment against the property for which the ballot is cast. G \C tyMgr\M 0111 ca U'Reilly`,wpdocs\Pat Conlon\AssmntReslln wpd Page 2 RESOLUTION NO. 00-135 Section 6. The City Council desires to accommodate the desires of property owners who request the City to form an assessment district for the purpose of financing the cost of undergrounding overhead utility facilities. However, the City Council recognizes that substantial costs are involved in undertaking such assessment proceedings, including engineering cost, City administrative costs, legal costs and noticing costs. While such costs may be reimbursed to the City from assessments and/or bond proceeds in the event an assessment district is formed, such costs would not be reimbursed to the City in the event of a majority protest. Section 7. The City Council also recognizes that signing a petition indicating a property owner's initial support of an assessment district does not preclude that property owner from casting an assessment ballot in opposition to the proposed assessment. Therefore, in order to reduce those instances where an assessment district is defeated by a majority protest and the City becomes liable for the unreimbursed costs of undertaking assessment proceedings, the City Council has determined to undertake assessment proceedings only where there is initially an extraordinarily high level of property owner support. Such support must be shown by submission to the City Clerk of a petition signed by not less than five owners of assessable land in the proposed assessment district, as shown on the last equalized roll used by the City, owning lands constituting more than 70 percent of all assessable lands within the proposed assessment district. In addition, where a petition is signed by an owner of 40 percent or more in area of the property proposed to be assessed, the petition must also be signed by owners of not less 30 percent in area of the property proposed to be assessed which is not owned by the owner of such 40 percent or more. G \GtyMyr\Monica O'Reilly\wpdocs\Pat Conlon\AssmntResltn wpd Page 3 RESOLUTION NO. 00-135 PASSED, APPROVED, and ADOPTED at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Palm Desert held on this 14th day of December , 2000, by the following vote, to wit: AYES: Benson, Crites, Kelly, Spiegel, Ferguson NOES: None ABSENT: None ABSTAIN: None ATTEST: SHEILA R. GIL GAN, C TY CLERK CITY OF PALM DES , CALIFORNIA (i \CmMgt\Monica O'Reilly\wpdtxs\J'at Conlon\AssmntResltn wpd Page 4 Resolution No. UU-135 NJ))14 1a, �1 1 .a,.ru■ av • 0! ■ a, .■ OP t� 1i1ui1iu1i1uhi1ui1ii 11a' lid �� at�_a+.- 11111111, �IanQ/.� �/1/.uy�f a,■ Ivy � :mrir.wu- �_.�■ L.d_'lllll� li�l �.nuu■ WiW111..1U ■1� uao �IIIIIIpOIIO Nimmo irn 11■1o1-------`-' ink ynos �1!1111! II!. �l1�il�Jy�r.Tll 71�111� �IIIII IIIIIG III•uiII P .. �IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII� :154 !%fit 41117 • .,...111U, n'::11 Alig 1 fS�S1.SPC ��l1�`%1ay* �._•�.•1 il l•••:ft b. if - II.SS••/ Suuuium_ UNIMIN dp •1\IIatin Si ilk- 1 iiii■iuuuu.i i.=% MINIMINIMM■■III I ii•Agi new /IIIIIIIIIIIII /IIIIIIIIIIIui_ hiu ii`; r1 1i I obi _ VT ..w i w MOM .il . • bill11 . ii 4;,,--,,,ii iron VS 2 �,I 14 1r:i . : lNrr rr S• til- Nal vi ai ./4nOIIhOO!*IIIIr. I 2000 Feet ..3, aimia■': Hr. .7fito■.a1111.1111111. .. UNDERGROUNDING ASSESSMENT DISTRICTS EXHIBIT A RESOLUTION NO. 00-135 DISTRICTS 3-18: TOTAL: 3,916 PARCELS 3 - 192 PARCELS 4 - 355 PARCELS 5 - 195 PARCELS 6 - 135 PARCELS 7 - 358 PARCELS 8 - 362 PARCELS 9 - 226 PARCELS 10 - 174 PARCELS 1 1 - 280 PARCELS 12 - 218 PARCELS 13 - 245 PARCELS 14 - 240 PARCELS 15 - 309 PARCELS 16 - 131 PARCELS 17 - 230 PARCELS 18 - 266 PARCELS