BACKGROUND:
There are areas within Cathedral City that are not served by a sewer collection system.
These areas are served by individual private onsite septic tank systems. These areas specifically are:
•Within the Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) Service area (approximately 400 parcels):
oWhispering Palms Trail Neighborhood:
▪South of Ramon Road.
oOcotillo Square area:
▪Some Ocotillo Park area streets.
oPomegranate and Papaya Lanes:
oRoyal Palms and Caliente Sands Mobile Home Parks:
▪The above are either under allottee or private ownership. •Desert Water Agency (DWA) Service area (approximately 100 parcels):
oPerez Road area:
▪Cathedral Canyon area to Date Palm Drive.
oSarah Street area:
▪Crossley Road and Sarah Street.
▪Lakeview Villas Condos.
▪The unimproved Agua Caliente Trail area.
▪The Bochner Family property.
The unsewered areas identified above within the CVWD service areas and the Lakeview Villas Condos within the DWA service area, are currently identified as residential areas subject to a State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) Program Grant Application. The Application was prepared by the City’s Consultant Woodard and Curran (Consultant) and submitted by the City in fall of 2022. The Grant, when awarded, will provide funding for the planning services necessary for converting these existing residential septic tanks served areas to sewer collection system served areas.
Please note that only existing residential areas qualify for applying for this planning grant. The DWA areas cited above on Perez Road and Sarah Street, excluding the Lakeview Villas Condos, are zoned for commercial and light industrial, and thus do not qualify for the current SCSRF Grant.
Agua Caliente Trail Area
With the above background information provided, there has been interest in the formation of an assessment district among the property owners of lots in the undeveloped Agua Caliente Trail area. This area encompasses Agua Caliente Trail, San Juan Trail, Desert Primrose Trail, Starlight Trail and Whitewater Trail (location map attached). The property owners are informally calling this area the “Outpost Business Park.”
In August 2019, two (2) property owners conducted a grassroots campaign to determine if there was interest in forming an assessment district in this area. Seventy-five (75) qualifying lots were identified and were sent a survey asking if the property owner was in favor of exploring the formation of an assessment district to provide for streets, curbs, gutters, water, sewer and other utilities. The response was positive from the property owners as forty-nine (49) owners responded in favor and five (5) provided “no” as a response.
Currently, at this time the proponents for an assessment district in this area are requesting that the City explore the opportunity to move to the assessment district discussion to the next step.
Sarah Street Area
This light commercial/industrial area comprises Sarah Street, the south portion of Agua Caliente Trail and Crossley Road (location map attached). Over the years we have had a few properties requesting for sewers be installed. These requests have not progressed further into the assessment district stage.
Bochner Family Property
This single parcel APN 677-420-016 is owned by Bochner Family Real Estate and is located just north of Sarah Street, abutting the Whitewater River Channel to the east and the Dream Home Neighborhood to the north. This 29.41-acre parcel is generally triangular in shape and undeveloped.
Lakeview Villas Condos Area
This private gated condominium development is located north of Ramon Road and is accessed from the west off San Luis Rey Drive and from the north off Mission Drive (location map attached). Lakeview Circle is the development’s only looped street. This single lot development (APN 677-431-046) is owned by Ramon Road Investors and is
9.61 acres in size.
As this is a residential neighborhood, this development is included in the SWRCB CWSRF Program Grant Application detailed in the background section above. There have been a few requests from this development in the past regarding getting sewer lines installed and moving off a septic system, but none in recent years.
Collectively, all the four (4) areas described above will be called the Combined Sarah Street Area for the purposes of this Staff Report.
DISCUSSION:
Woodard and Curran Proposal
With the request being made by the Agua Caliente Trail property owners and the submittal of the SWRCB CWSRF Program Grant Application submitted on behalf of the Lakeview Villas Condos area, Staff solicited Woodard and Curran (Consultant) to formulate a proposal for Assessment District Support Services to assist with the public outreach in the Combined Sarah Street Area. Woodard and Curran are the City’s Consultant on the SWRCB CWSRF Program Grant Application and are familiar with the area and its sewer requirement.
To formulate a proposal, the City and Consultant utilized the City of Los Altos, CA assessment district process flow chart and modified it to show three (3) distinct assessment district formation phases. The phases identified are:
•Phase 1: Providing outreach and soliciting for interest in the formation of an assessment district using letters, meetings and individual discussions as the methods used.
•Phase 2: Consultants engaged to prepare conceptual plans and preliminary cost estimates, continued outreach to property owners and a bond counsel engaged to send out formal petitions for the assessment district formation. •Phase 3: Assessment district plans prepared, City adopts the required resolutions of intention, notices send out, public hearing is held, vote is tabulated and the assessment district either proceeds or is not approved to proceed.
The modified Assessment District Flow Chart is attached to this report with all the steps required for the assessment district formation.
It is proposed the City and the Consultant engage in a contract to perform the Phase 1 steps at this time. As outlined in the proposal, the Consultant will engage, inform, and solicit feedback from property owners within the Combined Sarah Street Area regarding the potential for the formation of a special assessment district that would provide utilities and improvements to the mix of developed and undeveloped parcels within the area.
This initial phase of work will set the groundwork for the City to be able to make an educated decision as to whether the City would proceed into the Phase 2 and 3 assessment district formation processes within the Combined Sarah Street Area.
The highlighted tasks the Consultant would perform in this Phase 1 proposal are:
•Initial outreach to the property owners in the Combined Sarah Street Area. •Provide and send out informational letters to all the property owners in the Combined Sarah Street Area.
•Provide in person outreach to the proponents of the Agua Caliente Trail area. •Provide documentation related to all the above.
With the information provided from the Consultant’s Phase 1 outreach, the City can better make a decision as to whether to move to Phase 2 assessment district actions within the Combined Sarah Street Area.
Note: The outreach may determine that all and/or one or more of the areas may want to proceed to Phase 2 of the assessment district formation stage, to which smaller and/or individual assessment districts can be formed.
Staff is requesting City Council authorize the City Manager to execute a Professional Service Agreement with Woodard and Curran Consulting in the amount not-to-exceed $17,035 to provide the City with Phase I assessment district support public outreach for the Sarah Street Area.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Staff is requesting a General Fund Budget Amendment in the amount of $17,035 for the FY 2022/2023 Engineering Professional and Technical Services Budget 100-156-8601 to initiate Phase 1 of this Project. As this item involves infrastructure improvement planning, it will qualify toward our overall Maintenance of Effort (MOE) credit.
In addition, if an assessment district is formed, this work and the associated expenditures, applicable to the respective assessment district, may be reimbursable through the assessment district funding.