PRELIMINARY ENGINEER S REPORT

Transcription

1 PRELIMINARY ENGINEER S REPORT FOR THE LANDSCAPING AND LIGHTING DISTRICTS FISCAL YEAR May 12, 2004 Landscaping and Lighting District No. 22 (CALABASAS PARK AREA) Landscaping and Lighting District No. 24 (MALIBU LOST HILLS) Landscaping and Lighting District No. 27 (LAS VIRGENES) Landscaping and Lighting District No. 32 (LOST HILLS COMMERCIAL) Prepared by Hall & Foreman, Inc. Civil Engineering Planning Surveying Public Works C:\Temporary Internet Files\OLK8F\ FY Preliminary Eng Report submitted to City doc

2 CITY OF CALABASAS LANDSCAPE AND LIGHTING DISTRICTS PRELIMINARY FINAL ENGINEER'S REPORT FISCAL YEAR TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND... 1 PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS... 3 IMPROVEMENTS... 4 ESTIMATE OF COST... 5 METHOD OF ASSESSMENT... 6 LANDSCAPING AND LIGHTING DISTRICT NO LANDSCAPING AND LIGHTING DISTRICT NO LANDSCAPING AND LIGHTING DISTRICT NO LANDSCAPING AND LIGHTING DISTRICT NO ASSESSMENT ROLL ANNEXATIONS AND DETACHMENTS LIST OF EXHIBITS EXHIBIT A - BOUNDARY MAPS EXHIBIT B - DISTRICT NO. 22 Landscape Maintenance Costs and Assessments by Zone EXHIBIT C - DISTRICT NO. 24 Landscape Maintenance Costs and Assessments by Zone EXHIBIT D - DISTRICT NO. 27 Landscape Maintenance Costs and Assessments by Zone EXHIBIT E - DISTRICT NO. 32 Landscape Maintenance Costs and Assessments by Zone i

3 CITY OF CALABASAS LANDSCAPE AND LIGHTING PRELIMINARY ENGINEER'S REPORT FISCAL YEAR INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND This report is prepared pursuant to the City Council action taken at their regular meeting ordering a report for the levy of assessments for the fiscal year commencing July 1, 2004 and ending June 30, This report is prepared in compliance with the requirements of Proposition 218 as stated in Articles XIII C and XIII D of the California Constitution, and Chapters 1 and 4 of the Landscaping and Lighting Act of 1972, being Part 2 of Division 1 5 of the California Streets and Highways Code. This report presents the engineering analysis for the Annual Levy of Assessment for the landscaping maintenance districts known as: Landscaping and Lighting District No. 22 (CALABASAS PARK AREA) Landscaping and Lighting District No. 24 (MALIBU LOST HILLS) Landscaping and Lighting District No. 27 (LAS VIRGENES) Landscaping and Lighting District No. 32 (LOST HILLS COMMERCIAL) Hereinafter referred to as District 22, District 24, District 27, and District 32, respectively. The City of Calabasas accepted the transfer of the County's landscape maintenance assessment districts in the summer of 1995 in response to Homeowner's Associations' requests for more local control over the level of maintenance. On October 5, 1994, City Council reviewed and discussed a Feasibility Study that presented findings, recommendations, and procedures related to the transfer of the districts from the County to the City's jurisdiction. By December 1, 1994, the Joint Resolution authorizing the transfer of jurisdiction had been approved by the City Council of the City of Calabasas and the Board of Supervisors of Los Angeles County. As a result of the Jurisdictional transfer, the City Council authorized the FY assessment levies in the four local landscape assessment districts. In the fiscal year , as a result of the passage of Propositions 218 enacting Articles XIII C and XIll D of the California Constitution, the City Council ordered a report that complied with the new benefit analysis requirements and submitted each District's assessment to a property owner mailed ballot, which passed by a majority vote. The assessment methodology contained herein incorporates an analysis of general benefit, special benefit, and public agency benefit. In , the assessment methodologies was approved by the City Council and by a majority of the assessment ballots sent to all property owners in the Districts including approval of a Consumer Price Index increase as approved by City Council. The assessments proposed to be levied on each property do not exceed the reasonable cost of proportional special benefit conferred on each property from the funded improvements

4 Through the levy and collection of benefit assessments, these Districts provide funding for the maintenance and operation of landscaping improvements. Where grant easements to the Landscape Maintenance Districts do not conflict, the law allows the Districts to provide funding for the installation, maintenance, operation, and administration of the following improvements: the installation or planting of landscaping in common landscape areas; the trimming of trees in common landscape areas; the installation or construction of statuary, fountains, or other ornamental structures and facilities; the installation of park or recreational improvements; the installation, construction, repair, renovation, or replacement of public lighting facilities associated with Zones; (Not Public or Right-of-Way Lighting) the maintenance and servicing of the above items, including graffiti abatement; the acquisition of land for park, recreational, or open space purposes associated with direct benefit to specific property owners; the installation or construction of facilities appurtenant to the above of which are necessary or convenient for the maintenance and servicing of the above and are for the exclusive use of the assessed property owners; incidental expenses related to the Districts. As the assessments are levied on the basis of benefit, they are not considered a tax, and, therefore, are not governed by Article XIII A of the Constitution of the State of California. Under the Proposition 2l8 amendments to the State Constitution effective January 1, 1997, the assessments are governed by Articles XIII C and XIII D of the Constitution. In addition, Article XIIID, Section 4 requires that publicly owned property, which receives special benefit, be assessed. As a result, any assessment levied will not exceed the reasonable cost of proportional special benefit conferred on each property from the funded improvements

5 CITY OF CALABASAS LANDSCAPE AND LIGHTING DISTRICTS PRELIMINARY ENGINEER'S REPORT FISCAL YEAR PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS Several items related to the Districts are on file and available for review at the office of Public Works, Landscape Maintenance District Division at the City of Calabasas. The items listed below are included in this Engineer's Report by reference. The lines and dimensions of each lot or parcel within the Assessment District are those lines and dimensions shown on the maps of the Assessor of the County of Los Angeles for the year when this Report is prepared. The Assessor s maps and records are incorporated by reference herein and made part of this Report. Plans and specifications showing each Districts' exterior boundaries; and indicating the general nature, location and extent of improvements

6 CITY OF CALABASAS LANDSCAPE AND LIGHTING DISTRICTS PRELIMINARY ENGINEER'S REPORT FISCAL YEAR IMPROVEMENTS The improvements for which maintenance, servicing, and operation funding are to be provided for District 22, District 24, District 27, and District 32 are shown below. In general, the following services are funded by the Districts: the repair, removal or replacement of landscaping improvements that provide for the life, growth, health, and beauty of the landscaping; cultivation, irrigation, tree trimming, spraying, rodent and pest control, fertilization or treating for disease or injury; the removal of trimmings, rubbish, debris, and other solid waste; the maintenance, repair, and replacement as necessary of all irrigation systems including the energy costs of the irrigation control system. The specific improvements associated with each District are as follows: District 22 Maintenance of landscaping on major residential streets: Parkway Calabasas, Park Granada, Park Entrada, Park Capri and Park Sorrento. Maintenance of landscaping at Calabasas Lake and on identified greenbelt, slopes and areas requiring weed abatement for fire protection purposes. With the exception of the public thoroughfares located within the boundaries of the District, all of the areas maintained by the District are privately owned. The lake and parks are private facilities made available to only the homeowners' associations in District 22. The greenbelts are owned in common or privately owned with easements granted to the District for the purposes described above. Public rights-of-way with landscaped center medians, trees and adjacent turf areas are conditions of development maintained by the District to soften and mitigate the impacts of traffic on the residential tracts. District 24 Maintenance of landscaping in open space areas including parkways, medians, slopes, creeks, and parks. Open space and greenbelts are owned in common or privately owned with easements granted to the District for the purposes described above. Public rights-of-way with landscaped center medians, trees and adjacent turf areas are conditions of development maintained by the District to soften and mitigate the impacts of traffic on the residential tracts. District 27 Maintenance of landscaping on Las Virgenes Road Center medians with turf and street trees are conditions of development subject to District formation to insure the continuing maintenance and soften the traffic impacts on the residential areas. District 32 Maintenance of landscaping on streets and open space areas in the commercial district

7 CITY OF CALABASAS LANDSCAPE AND LIGHTING DISTRICTS PRELIMINARY ENGINEER'S REPORT FISCAL YEAR ESTIMATE OF COST The estimated budget for Fiscal Year for each District is shown in the table below. The beginning fund balance estimated for July 1, 2004, is projected from the budget year. These fund balances are used to finance all work from July 1, 2004 until June 30, The first deposit from the County Assessor's Office to the District accounts is December The projected carryover from will then be the beginning fund balance for fiscal year and so forth. The estimated funding necessary for Fiscal Year for each District is as follows: LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE SOURCES AND USES FOR FY SOURCES District 22 District 24 District 27 District 32 Totals CONTINGENCY / CASH FLOW RESERVE 750, , , ,223, BENEFIT ASSESSMENT 2,056, , , , ,259, AD VALOREM/PROP. TAX 745, , INTEREST TOTAL REVENUE 3,551, , , , ,227, USES UTILITIES 950, , , , , MAINTENANCE CONTRACT 900, , , , , LAKE MAINT. CONTRACT 130, , WEED/PEST ABATEMENT 195, , , , TREE MAINTENANCE 150, , , , , LAKE/PARK INSURANCE 22, , ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS 125, , , , , TOTAL EXPENDITURES 2,472, , , , ,673, CARRYOVER 1,078, , , ,554,

8 CITY OF CALABASAS LANDSCAPE AND LIGHTING DISTRICTS PRELIMINARY ENGINEER'S REPORT FISCAL YEAR METHOD OF ASSESSMENT Articles XIll C and XIII D of the California Constitution require that a parcel's assessment may not exceed the reasonable cost of the proportional special benefit conferred on that parcel. The Articles provide that only special benefits are assessable. The City must separate the general benefits from the special benefits conferred on a parcel, a special benefit being a particular and distinct benefit over and above general benefits conferred on the public at large, including real property within the district. The general enhancement of property value does not constitute a special benefit. In , the assessment methodology was approved by the City Council and by a majority of the assessment ballots sent to all property owners in the Districts. The assessment and annual adjustment, upon approval of a majority vote of the property owners within a District, sets limits to the increase in the assessments in future annual District budgets. The Fiscal Year Assessments are detailed in the Assessment Roll. Commencing with fiscal year , if approved by City Council, the assessment for the District will be subject to an increase each year equal to the change in the Consumer Price Index, All Urban Consumers, for the Los Angeles-Anaheim-Riverside Area ("CPI"), from January through January of the fiscal year prior to the subject fiscal year. Future annual budgets within this limit may be approved by the City Council without additional property owner ratification. The CPI increase may be exceeded only with a majority property owner approval. Each District will be discussed in the following pages in terms of background, special benefit, general benefit, and assessment formula. Certain terms used throughout the Method of Assessment are defined below. DEFINITIONS Special Benefit: Articles XIII C and XIII D of the California Constitution define special benefit as "a particular and distinct benefit over and above the general benefits conferred on real property located in the district or to the public at large. General enhancement of property value does not constitute 'special benefit.'" The following Method of Assessment for each District analyzes the special benefit each parcel receives from the improvements funded in each District. The cost of the landscaping maintenance is distributed to parcels in each District based on the special benefit each parcel receives. In determining the special benefit for each parcel, an assessment formula must be derived. Each District has an assessment formula based on spreading the costs associated with each HOA Area over the parcels within the HOA Area. The costs are spread to the individual parcels based on their assigned Assessment Units. If only one land use exists within an HOA Area, the cost is spread on a per parcel basis. Zones: The Districts have been divided into individual communities or neighborhoods that receive distinct Special Benefit. Usually these communities are divided by tracts and are called Zones. In a few cases, the "Zone" is based on master plan boundaries (Old Town Master Plan) or street boundaries. As discussed above, the landscaping costs that provide a Special Benefit have been determined for each zone or community. These costs then are spread to the

9 properties within the zone based on the number of Assessment Units assigned to each property. Assessment Units: The units assigned to each parcel used to compute the assessment amount. Assigning units to each parcel is a way to allocate special benefit as required by Proposition 218. Where more than one land use exists within a zone, traffic generation factors are used as a means to define the benefit a house receives as compared to an apartment or a commercial property. The following traffic generation factors for the City of Calabasas, and resulting Assessment Units are used in this Report. Land Use Traffic Generation Factor Assessment Unit Single Family Residential (Houses and Condominiums) 10 trips per day 1.0 (10 trips/10 trips) Mult-Family Residential (Apartments) 6 trips per day 0.6 (6 trips/10 trips) Commercial Property 40 trips per day 4.0 (40 trips/10 trips) Note: Traffic Generation Factor is based on information provided by City of Calabasas in The Method of Assessment for each District is provided in sections that follow

10 BACKGROUND LANDSCAPING AND LIGHTING DISTRICT NO. 22 (CALABASAS PARK AREA) Since the formation of District 22 by the County of Los Angeles in July 1979, the following identifies the various activities that have transpired: District Formation (July 1979) District 22 was formed by the County of Los Angeles to provide additional funding for an existing County administered ad valorem-based landscape maintenance district. It was formed to collect revenue concurrent with the existing Landscape Maintenance District No. 22. District Transfer to City of Calabasas (November 1994 July 1995) - Both District 22 and the County Landscape Maintenance District No. 22 were transferred to the City of Calabasas through a Joint Resolution adopted November 16, 1994 by City Council and November 29, 1994 by the County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors to be effective July 1, District Boundary Established ( ) - The boundary of District 22 is shown in Exhibit A. The Clairidge Zones were established in fiscal year Prop 218 Ballot (FY ) - At the Public Hearing on June 20, 2001, the Proposition 218 ballots were tabulated for seven zones in District No. 22 (Calabasas Park Area). The property owners in the six zones (Bellagio, Clairidge, Country Estates, The Ridge, Vista Pointe, and Westridge) voted in support of the assessment increase to begin in FY to their respective zone and the City Council adopted a resolution approving the increase in assessment for each respective zone. The property owners in the Commercial Zone, Cal Road Commercial, voted in opposition of the increase and assessment and were not assessed. Cal Road Commercial Zone (FY ) - For the Fiscal Year , the property owners voted 66.23% by weighted assessments in favor of establishing the Calabasas Road Commercial Zone and were assessed. In addition, fifteen property owners voted to be annexed into the Calabasas Road Commercial Zone. Modified Final Engineer s Report (FY ) - At the July 23, 2003, Public Hearing, the Council approved the final assessment rates for District Nos. 22, 24, 27, and 32 to be levied at the base Fiscal Year assessment rates without any consumer price index increase. Assessments (FY ) - District No. 22 assessments for Fiscal Year , as well as District Nos. 24, 27 and 32, will be levied at the base Fiscal Year assessments rates

11 METHODOLOGY The landscaping services provided to all properties within the district boundary have been closely reviewed to identify the General Benefit and Special Benefit conferred to each parcel. The landscape improvements to be maintained by the District, as further described in the section of this report entitled "Improvements", are located on the major residential streets serving the Calabasas Park Community including Parkway Calabasas, Park Granada, Park Entrada, Park Capri, and Park Sorrento and in open space areas within the District 22 boundaries. The improvements also include greenbelts, fire protection areas, slopes, and natural areas such as McCoy and Calabasas Creek and Calabasas Lake, all located within the Calabasas Park area. GENERAL BENEFIT General Benefit: Articles XIII C and XIII D of the California Constitution require that the benefit to the public at large be identified for any improvements being funded through an assessment district. This so-called "general" benefit may not be assessed to the parcels through an assessment district. The following Method of Assessment for each District analyzes the benefit to the public at large from the landscaping improvements provided by the City for each District. In District 22, a portion of the improvements is identified as General Benefit. The costs associated with these improvements are not included in the District 22 budget assessed to properties in the District. Instead, these costs are paid through an existing ad valorem levy. Proposition 218 does not impact the ad valorem levy, and the proceeds may be used toward any landscape improvements within the District 22 boundary. A portion of the operation and maintenance for the improvements funded by District 22 provide a General Benefit to the public at large within the City of Calabasas. The General Benefits provided by the landscaping include landscaping on the major thoroughfares within the District: Park Capri, Park Granada, and Parkway Calabasas. These roadways are thoroughfares for the community providing access to schools, shops, freeways, and recreational faculties, and therefore, confer a General Benefit to the community. The landscaping along these streets includes parkway landscaping that serves to improve the stabilization of slopes by these roadway sections within the District. This landscaping is a General Benefit to the community and will not be assessed as a Special Benefit through District 22. The proper maintenance of Calabasas Lake, and greenbelt, slope and weed abatement for fire protection provides a General Benefit to parcels within the District by improving the physical and visual environment and making the District area more desirable and safe. Similarly, spraying and treating of landscaping for disease and weed control reduces the likelihood of insect or weed infestation spreading to properties within District 22. Therefore, these costs are considered a General Benefit, and are not assessed through the District. In addition, a portion of the administration costs will not be funded through the assessment to offset any General Benefit associated with rebidding the maintenance contracts associated with the General Benefit improvements listed above. In evaluating the General Benefit associated with street median landscaping, the traffic circulation patterns associated with the District area were evaluated. It was concluded that the General Benefit to traffic passing through the District is primarily associated with the paved roadway portions, traffic signals, signs, and items mentioned above. Any General Benefit associated with the median landscaping is immeasurable. Therefore, from a public use

12 perspective, the street median landscaping provides only a direct and Special Benefit to those parcels in the District. With the exception of the public thoroughfares located within the boundaries of the District, all of the areas maintained by the District are privately owned. The lake and parks are private facilities made available to only the Homeowner's Association in District 22. The greenbelts are owned in common or privately owned with easements granted to District 22 for the purposes described above. Public rights-of-way with landscaped center medians, trees and adjacent turf areas are conditions of development maintained by the Districts to soften and mitigate the impacts of traffic on the residential tracts. Therefore, because of this ownership and use limitation, the maintenance of these improvements created no General Benefit. SPECIAL BENEFIT Each and every assessed parcel within the District receives a particular and distinct Special Benefit from the improvements, over and above any General Benefit that may be conferred by the improvements. The operation and maintenance of the landscaping provides a Special Benefit to the properties within the District even though there may not be landscaping immediately adjacent to a particular parcel. Specifically, each parcel in the District receives the following Special Benefits: The proper maintenance of landscaping along streets provides a safe mode of circulation for the property owners, businesses, clients, vendors, and other visitors of parcels within the District. The proper maintenance of landscaping along streets provides noise abatement to residential properties and visual barriers to improve traffic safety within the District. The Parks and Recreation Federal Ontario, Canada, reported in a 1992 study that parks and recreational activities provide Special Benefits in the form of reduced vandalism, reduced criminal activity, and increased property values. Locally, the Board of Realtors has observed that property values in Calabasas are positively affected when public infrastructure including maintenance of street medians, greenbelts, and slopes are in place, safe, clean, and well maintained. Facilities that are unsafe or damaged by the elements or vandalism decrease surrounding property values. The proper maintenance of street medians, greenbelts, and slopes provides specific increased economic value to the improved properties due to increased capacity to draw prospective real estate purchasers, employers, and employees to the District. The proper maintenance of street medians, greenbelts, and slopes provides increased attractiveness of the District as a place to live, work and do business. The desirability of parcels within the District is specifically enhanced by the presence of well-maintained open space, street medians, and frontage landscaping which is available for the use and enjoyment of the property owners and the visitors of the assessed parcels. This contributes to the ability of the parcels within the District to remain economically viable and be attractive to business activity in comparison to other similarly owned parcels

13 Having properly maintained landscaping readily accessible to properties within the District means that the owners and visitors of the assessed parcels may enjoy the benefits of having such improvements available for use while avoiding the effort and expense of individually installing and maintaining similar improvements. State and City laws hold property owners individually responsible for the safe and proper maintenance of their frontages. The benefits derived from the maintenance of these landscape improvements are 1) the beautification of parks, roadways and greenbelt areas which are used by residents, and 2) the enhancement of the quality of life within the Calabasas Park community because of the existence of these park and landscape improvements. In order for the methodology to be in compliance with Articles XIII C and XIII D of the California Constitution, a thorough study of the landscaping funded by the District was performed in The District was divided into naturally bounded neighborhoods, usually by tracts, but sometimes by street boundaries, or in the case of the commercial area, by master plan. These communities, for the purposes of this report are called zones. Specific usage and services were identified for each zone to determine the level of benefit each property within the District receives. The zones are as follows: Bellagio Calabasas Country Estates Calabasas Hills Calabasas Park Calabasas Park Estates Clairidge Las Villas Oak Park Oak Creek Calabasas Rd. Commercial Palatino Park Sorrento The Oaks The Oaks II The Ridge Vista Pointe Westridge The costs reviewed included all of the costs associated with maintaining items that specially benefit the given zone. Usually the cost items were for landscaping and park improvements that are difficult to access unless the property owner lives within the community. In virtually all cases, the improvements were part of a condition of development and the assessed properties are responsible for the ongoing maintenance. The landscaping costs evaluated for this Engineer's Report include: irrigation costs like water, piping, controllers, and electricity for the timers; planting costs such as remedial work and capital outlay; and maintenance costs like mowing, edging, weeding, irrigation, pruning, maintaining plant material quality, litter and trash removal, ground cover maintenance, clearing of v-ditches, and tree trimming. A complete cost estimate was developed for each community to show the Special Benefit each community receives from the District (see Exhibit B). These costs are apportioned within each zone to each parcel based on the Special Benefit associated with the type of land use. The benefit relationship between land uses is based on the assignment of vehicle trip generation factors. Trip rates are used as a measure of benefit because they are a representative land use comparison factor for the type of improvements being funded, namely street landscaping, slopes, parks, and open space. From the traffic generation factors, Assessment Units are calculated. The Assessment Unit for each land use is computed based on its traffic generation compared to the traffic generated by a single family residence

14 Single Family Residence parcels in the City of Calabasas generate an average of 10 trips per day. A lot is classified as a Single Family Residential use upon recordation of a subdivision map for houses or condominiums. The Single Family Residences are assigned the base Assessment Unit of 1 and are used as the basis of comparison for all other land uses in the District. At this time there are no Multiple Family Residential parcels (apartments) in the District. If at a later date any parcel in the District comes under this land use, it would be assessed to reflect the available data that indicates Multiple Family Residential. Parcels in the City of Calabasas generate an average of 6 trips per day, or 0.6 Assessment Unit per unit. Therefore, the Assessment Units assigned to a multiple family parcel would be the product of the number of dwelling units on a parcel and 0.6 Assessment Units per unit. For instance, a 20-unit apartment house would be assigned 20 x 0.6 = 12 Assessment Units. Residential Vacant (unsubdivided but buildable) property receives a Special Benefit from the improvements as a result of the increased desirability of a parcel that is located in an area with landscaping and park amenities. In addition, the vacant parcels specially benefit from the availability of a landscaping program and access to a City landscaping administrator. At this time the only unsubdivided area in the District has been identified as The Oaks II. The cost of maintaining this area will be distributed between all of the properties within The Oaks 11 area based on each parcel's land area. As the parcels are developed, they will be assessed per their assigned land use designation by the Los Angeles County Assessor. Commercial property within the City of Calabasas generates on average 40 trips per day. Therefore, the Assessment Units assigned to a commercial property is 4.0 Assessment Units per acre. However, at this time, all commercial properties in the District are within the Old Town Master Plan area. The commercial property in the Old Town Master Plan receives benefit from Calabasas Road and Calabasas Creek maintenance. The cost for these specific improvements will be distributed to the properties within the Old Town Master Plan area based on each parcel's land area. The zone is referred to as the Calabasas Road Commercial Zone. Public Agency parcels within the District, that have people working on the premises and have parkway landscaping maintained by the District, benefit from the landscaping improvements to their parkway maintenance, as do other similar parcels. The only Public Agency parcel subject to the assessment is the Tennis and Swim Center. For purposes of the assessment this parcel is considered part of the Old Town Master Plan Area. Therefore, the Tennis and Swim center will receive the same per acre charge as the Commercial properties in the Old Town Master Plan Area. Homeowner's Association and Common Area parcels within the District include large park parcels, small sliver parcels, and parking lots. These properties do not benefit from the District improvements because in many cases they provide the same use and function that the funded improvements provide. In addition, the property owners that would be paying the Homeowner's Association bill are already paying for the District through their own private property. Therefore, the assessment will go directly to the source and assess the properties that benefit from the zone s improvements and maintenance

15 FORMULA OF ASSESSMENT In determining the assessment per parcel, any surpluses projected for the prior fiscal year and projected ad valorem revenues from Landscape Maintenance District No. 22 will be used to offset the General Benefit discussed above. The District budget requirements for the Special Benefit improvement costs have been assembled (as shown in Exhibit B) in order to determine the aggregate levy of assessment for District 22. The assessment per Assessment Unit for each zone is computed by dividing the total maintenance costs for the zone by the number of Assessment Units within the community. The assessment per parcel is determined by multiplying the cost per Assessment Unit by the number of Assessment Units assigned to the parcel. For the Fiscal Year , the assessments will be levied at the base Fiscal Year assessment rate. (See Exhibit B)

16 BACKGROUND LANDSCAPING AND LIGHTING DISTRICT NO. 24 (MALIBU LOST HILLS) Since the formation of District 24 by the County of Los Angeles in August 1984, the following identifies the various activities that have transpired: District Formation (August 1984) - District 24 was formed by the County of Los Angeles in August 1984 to provide funding for landscape maintenance of the open space areas servicing the Malibu Lost Hills Development. The landscaping improvements were a condition of development for the District area. District Transfer to City of Calabasas ( ) - District 24 was transferred to the City of Calabasas through a Joint Resolution adopted November 16, 1994 by the City Council and November 29, 1994 by the County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors to be effective July 1, All of the parcels in District 24 are either multiple family or single family residential. The boundary of District 24 is shown in Exhibit A. Calabasas View Zone Establishment and Mira Monte Annexation (FY ) - In District 24, the proposed establishment of Calabasas View Zone and the proposed annexation of Tract No Mira Monte in District 24 were considered. For the proposed establishment of Calabasas View Zone in District 24 and the proposed annexation of Mira Monte (Tract No ) into District 24, the noticing and balloting requirements and other applicable provisions of Article XIID of the California State Constitution (Proposition 218) were followed. Ballot results indicated that Tract No (Mira Monte) voted in support of the assessment into District No. 24. Ballots for Calabasas View Zone opposed the establishment of the landscape zone, therefore City Council approved the de-annexation of parcels within the proposed Calabasas View HOA from District No. 24. Saratoga Zone Established (FY ) - Property owners voted 65.54% by weighted assessments in favor of establishing the Saratoga Zone. Approximately 270 parcels were assessed $40.00 per parcel totaling $10, in Maintenance Costs. Assessments (FY ) - District No. 24 assessments for Fiscal Year , as well as District Nos. 22, 27, and 32, will be levied at the base Fiscal Year assessments rates. METHODOLOGY The landscaping services provided to all properties within the district boundary have been closely reviewed to identify the General Benefit and Special Benefit conferred to each parcel. The landscape improvements to be maintained by the District, as further described in the section of this report entitled "Improvements", are located on the major residential streets serving the Malibu Lost Hills community, including Lost Hills Road, Calabasas Hills Road, Meadow Creek Lane and portions of Las Virgenes Road

17 SPECIAL BENEFIT Each and every assessed parcel within the District receives a particular and distinct benefit from the improvements, over and above any General Benefit that may be conferred by the improvements. The operation and maintenance of the landscaping provides a Special Benefit to the properties within the District even though there may not be landscaping immediately adjacent to a particular parcel. Specifically, each parcel in the District receives the following Special Benefits: The proper maintenance of landscaping along major streets provides a safe mode of circulation for the property owners and other visitors of parcels within the District. The proper maintenance of landscaping along streets provides enhanced noise abatement to residential properties and visual barriers to improve traffic safety within the District. The proper maintenance of parkways, medians, slopes, creeks, and parks specially benefits parcels within the District by improving the physical and visual environment and making the District area more desirable. The Parks and Recreation Federal Ontario, Canada, reported in a 1992 study that parks and recreational activities provide Special Benefits in the form of reduced vandalism, reduced criminal activity, and increased property values. Locally, the Board of Realtors has observed that property values in Calabasas are positively affected when public infrastructure including maintenance of street medians, greenbelts, and slopes are in place, safe, clean, and well maintained. Facilities that are unsafe or damaged by the elements or vandalism decrease surrounding property values. The proper maintenance of parkways, medians, slopes, creeks, and parks provides specific increased economic value to the improved properties due to increased capacity to draw prospective real estate purchasers to the District. The proper maintenance of parkways, medians, slopes, creeks, and parks provides increased attractiveness of the District as a place to live. The desirability of parcels within the District is specifically enhanced by the presence of well-maintained parkways, medians, slopes, creeks, and parks, which are available for the use and enjoyment of the property owners and the visitors of the assessed parcels. This contributes to the ability of the parcels within the District to remain economically viable and be attractive to rental activity in comparison to other similarly zoned parcels. Having properly maintained parkways, medians, slopes, creeks and parks readily accessible to properties within the District means that the owners and visitors of the assessed parcels may enjoy the benefits of having such improvements available for use while avoiding the effort and expense of individually installing and maintaining similar improvements. State and City laws hold property owners individually responsible for the safe and proper maintenance of their frontages

18 The benefits derived from the maintenance of these landscape improvements are the beautification of the roadways and the greenbelt areas, which are used by residents and the enhancement of the quality of life and property values within the Malibu Lost Hills community because of the existence of this landscape maintenance. GENERAL BENEFIT In addition to examining the Special Benefits from the landscape improvements to be maintained by the District, the General Benefit, if any, must be identified. In evaluating the General Benefit associated with the street median and parkway landscaping funded through the District, several factors have been considered. An overriding factor is the origination of the landscaping as a condition of development. Other residential areas of the City that are not included in an assessment district receive a minimal standard of City-funded landscape maintenance. The standard City performed landscaping for non-arterial streets in the City includes no median landscape and minimal if any parkway landscape. The City standard, therefore, is to have homeowner associations or landscaping and lighting districts fund interior tract landscaping maintenance, operation, and servicing. As a result, there is no General Benefit attributable to the District from the funded improvements. In addition, the traffic circulation patterns associated with the District area were evaluated. It was concluded that the General Benefit to traffic passing through the District is primarily associated with the paved roadway portions, traffic signals and signs. Any General Benefit associated with the landscaping is immeasurable. So from a public use perspective, the street median landscaping provides only a Special Benefit to those parcels in the area as written in Special Benefit above. Public rights-of-way with landscaped center medians, trees and adjacent turf areas are conditions of development maintained by the District to soften and mitigate the impacts of traffic on the residential tracts. Therefore, because of this ownership and use limitation, the maintenance of these improvements create little or no General Benefit. FORMULA OF ASSESSMENT In order for the methodology to be in compliance with Articles XIll C and XIII D enacted by Proposition 218, a thorough study of the landscaping provided to each zone within the District was performed in Specific usage and services were identified for the zone to determine the level of benefit each property within the area receives. The District was divided into naturally bounded neighborhoods, usually by tracts, but sometimes by street boundaries, and within each neighborhood there is a single land use. The zones are as follows: Deersprings Saratoga Hills & Ranch El Encanto Steeplechase Lincoln Meadows RCS Tract Public Agency parcels within the District that have people working on the premises and have parkway landscaping maintained by the District benefit from the landscaping improvements to their parkway maintenance, similar to other parcels. Therefore, they are assigned 1 Assessment Unit per parcel. However, at this time, there are no Public Agency parcels in District 24. Homeowner's Association and Common Area parcels within the District include large park parcels, small sliver parcels, and parking lots. These properties do not benefit from the District improvements because in many cases they provide the same use and function that the funded

19 improvements provide. In addition, the property owners that would be paying the Homeowner's Association bill are already paying for the District through their own private property. Therefore, the assessment will go directly to the source and assess the properties that benefit from the zone s improvements and maintenance. The aggregate assessment for Fiscal Year will be offset by any surpluses projected from the previous fiscal year. The assessment amount for each Assessment Unit is determined by dividing the aggregate levy of assessment for Fiscal Year for each zone by the number of parcels in the zone. For the Fiscal Year , the assessments will be levied at the Fiscal Year assessment rate. (See Exhibit C )

20 BACKGROUND LANDSCAPING AND LIGHTING DISTRICT NO. 27 (LAS VIRGENES) Since the formation of District 27 by the County of Los Angeles in August 1984, the following identifies the various activities that have transpired: District Formation (August 1984) - District 27 was formed by the County of Los Angeles in August 1984 to provide funding for landscape maintenance of the center medians with turf and street trees on Las Virgenes Road servicing the Las Virgenes Canyon Community. Transfer to City of Calabasas (November 1994 July 1995) - District 27 was transferred to the City of Calabasas through a Joint Resolution adopted November 16, 1994 by City Council and November 29, 1994 by the County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors to be effective July 1, The boundary of District 27 is shown in Exhibit A. There are no special zones established in the District. Assessments (FY ) - District No. 27 assessments for Fiscal Year , as well as District Nos. 22, 24, and 32, will be levied at the base Fiscal Year assessments rates. METHODOLOGY The landscaping services provided to all properties within the district boundary have been closely reviewed to identify the General Benefit and Special Benefit conferred to each parcel. The landscape improvements to be maintained by the District, as further described in the section of this report entitled "Improvements", are located on the Las Virgenes Road serving the community within the District. SPECIAL BENEFIT Each and every assessed parcel within the District receives a particular and distinct benefit from the improvements, over and above any General Benefit that may be conferred by the improvements. The operation and maintenance of the landscaping provides a Special Benefit to the properties within the District even though there may not be landscaping immediately adjacent to a particular parcel. Specifically, each parcel in the District receives the following Special Benefits: The proper maintenance of landscaping along major streets provides a safe mode of circulation for the property owners and other visitors of parcels within the District. The proper maintenance of landscaping along streets provides enhanced noise abatement to residential properties and visual barriers to improve traffic safety within the District. The proper maintenance of parkways, medians, and slopes specially benefits parcels within the District by improving the physical and visual environment and making the District area more desirable

21 The Parks and Recreation Federal Ontario, Canada, reported in a 1992 study that parks and recreational activities provide Special Benefits in the form of reduced vandalism, reduced criminal activity, and increased property values. Locally, the Board of Realtors has observed that property values in Calabasas are positively affected when public infrastructure including maintenance of street medians, greenbelts, and slopes are in place, safe, clean, and well maintained. Facilities that are unsafe or damaged by the elements or vandalism decrease surrounding property values. The proper maintenance of parkways, medians, and slopes provides specific increased economic value to the improved properties due to increased capacity to draw prospective real estate purchasers to the District. The proper maintenance of parkways, medians, and slopes provides increased attractiveness of the District as a place to live, work, and do business. The desirability of parcels within the District is specifically enhanced by the presence of well-maintained parkways, medians, and slopes, which are available for the use and enjoyment of the property owners and the visitors of the assessed parcels. This contributes to the ability of the parcels within the District to remain economically viable and be attractive to rental activity in comparison to other similarly zoned parcels. Having properly maintained parkways, medians, and slopes readily accessible to properties within the District means that the owners and visitors of the assessed parcels may enjoy the benefits of having such improvements available for use while avoiding the effort and expense of individually installing and maintaining similar improvements. State and City laws hold property owners individually responsible for the safe and proper maintenance of their frontages. The benefits derived from the maintenance of these landscape improvements are the beautification of the roadways and the greenbelt areas, which are used by residents and business owners in the District; and the special enhancement of the quality of life and property values within the Las Virgenes Community because of the existence of these landscaped areas. GENERAL BENEFIT In addition to examining the Special Benefits from the landscape improvements to be maintained by the District, the General Benefit, if any, must be identified. In evaluating the General Benefit associated with the street median and parkway landscaping funded through the District, several factors have been considered. An overriding factor is the origination of the landscaping as a condition of development. Other residential areas of the City that are not included in an assessment district receive a minimal standard of City-funded landscape maintenance. The standard City performed landscaping for arterial streets in the City includes minimal median and parkway landscape maintenance, operation and servicing. The City standard, therefore, is to have fronting property fund the landscaping maintenance, operation, and servicing of arterial streets. The parcels in the District are funding only the cost of their frontage landscaping maintenance. As a result, there is no General Benefit attributable to the District from the funded improvements

22 FORMULA OF ASSESSMENT In order for the methodology to be in compliance with Articles XIll C and XIII D enacted by Proposition 218, a thorough study of the landscaping provided to each zone within the District was performed in Specific usage and services were identified for each zone to determine the level of benefit each property within District 27 receives. The District was divided into naturally bounded neighborhoods, usually by tracts, but sometimes by street boundaries, and within each neighborhood there is a single land use. The zones are as follows: Calabasas Land Co. Las Virgenes Park Las Virgenes Village Mayer Malibu LTD Public Agency parcels within the District that have people working on the premises and have parkway landscaping maintained by the District benefit from the landscaping improvements to their parkway maintenance, similar to other parcels. Therefore, they are assigned 1 Assessment Unit per parcel. However, there are no Public Agency parcels in District 27 at this time. Homeowner's Association and Common Area parcels within the District include large park parcels, small sliver parcels, and parking lots. These properties do not benefit from the District improvements because in many cases they provide the same use and function that the funded improvements provide. In addition, the property owners that would be paying the Homeowner's Association bill are already paying for the District through their own private property. Therefore, the assessment will go directly to the source and assess the properties that benefit from the District s improvements and maintenance. The aggregate assessment for Fiscal Year will be offset by any surpluses projected from the previous fiscal year. For the Fiscal Year , the assessments will be levied at the base Fiscal Year assessment rate. (See Exhibit D)