Chelsea Lash
2780 Hillview Drive
Fairfield CA 94534
June 6, 2023
City of Fairfield
1000 Webster Street
Fairfield CA 94533
RECEIVED
2 a0 6 2023
Fay CLMK, City of Fa RWW—
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Subject: Rolling Hills Landscape and Lighting Maintenance District No. 2023-7 To Whom It May Concern,
I have been a resident of the Meadow Glen subdivision since August 2019. From 2019 until early 2023, I have not seen landscape crews maintaining any of the city street -lined trees or hedges in our neighborhood that are listed as part of the Rolling Hills Landscape and Lighting Maintenance District's (RHLLMD) care program. The lack of landscape maintenance was so evident during this time period that private homeowners in our neighborhood, myself included, were taking it upon ourselves to provide trimming of the city street -lined trees and hedges to be able to park vehicles along the street and walk along the sidewalk. It was not until last year at the request of the garbage provider, Republic Services, that the city trees were finally trimmed high enough to allow for the garbage trucks to reach the curbside collection bins without scraping the sides of the collection vehicles and other parked cars on the street. At the beginning of this year, not coincidentally around the time of this ballot measure, RHLLMD changed its contract landscaper to TerraCare who is the only city -contracted landscaper I have ever seen in our neighborhood actually routinely trimming the city hedges and trees along the street in the last three years. The prior landscape company would only come into our neighborhood to weekly service and mow the Meadow Glen public park. At least four of the homeowners on Hillview Dr are original homeowners since the homes were built in 1995 and they can attest to witnessing the same lack of service by RHLLMD over the past 28 years.
The properties in the Meadow Glen subdivision are currently assessed a flat rate of $250 annually.
While I understand the costs associated with landscape maintenance labor and street lighting will increase over time and that to cover the increase in cost, the fee should be appropriately adjusted, at the same time the city should be striving to maximize efficiency and sustainability for the RHLLMD area.
After reviewing the City of Fairfield's Draft Engineer's Report For Landscaping and Lighting Maintenance District No. 2023-7 (Report) dated January 2023, it appears that the City of Fairfield has failed to address the following significant concerns:
The Report does not accurately tabulate the parks and other use areas located with the RHLLMD area. Page 8 and page 19 only identify one public park within the RHLLMD and the Report specifically omits the Meadow Glen public park. Being one of the few public parks in the area, the Meadow Glen public park is frequented by many individuals and families from outside the area of the RHLLMD and should be included in daily trip calculations. The Report also does include an evaluation or assessment of the open space parks within the RHLLMD.
The open space park at the corner of Martin Rd and Hilborn Rd (APN 0156-360-030) is also frequented by many individuals and families from outside the area of the RHLLMD and should be included in daily trip calculations.
2. The calculation of average daily trips does not appear accurate or realistic. The table on page 13 of the Report, lists the Average Daily Trip (ADT) rate for a public park as 0.78 per acre. The only public park included in the Report is Rolling Hills Park. Based on the values in the table on page 19, Rolling Hills Park is estimated to only receive 4.88 trips per day which is completely unrealistic and inaccurate for any public park. As mentioned in item 1 above, the Report does not even include the other public park or the open space parks located within the RHLLMD area. Meanwhile, the ADT rate for a single family residential unit is 9.43 per dwelling unit which seems significantly inflated.
The Report also does not adequately address the use of Hilborn Road as a frontage road. It is not clear if the number of overall trips within the RHLLMD was tabulated based off of real- time counting of vehicular traffic on Hilborn Road or if it was only calculated based off of estimates and the roadway design capacity. The number of trips per property would be significantly inflated if the pass through use of Hilborn Rd as a frontage road is not appropriately accounted for in the Report.
3. Neither the Report nor the information handout provided with the ballot says the City of Fairfield or the RHLLMD will be required to streamline efficiency and sustainability of the landscaping in the area. They only specify that the assessment will be used to maintain the existing level of service for the RHLLMD area for safety, accessibility, aesthetics and livability.
The Report does not mention or evaluate the extreme cost associated with the existing landscaping, specifically the non -recreational lawn located all along Hilborn Rd, a major thoroughfare. The table on page 23 lists the current cost of landscape maintenance as $404,606 and the cost of irrigation at $155,250 which is 62% of the total landscape and tree maintenance budget for the 2023/24 fiscal year. The Report does not specify the percentage of these labor and water costs associated specifically with non -recreational lawn maintenance along Hilborn Rd. The Report does not make any recommendations or requirements for the RHLLMD to curb these extreme labor and water costs by installing no or low -maintenance landscaping. By choosing not to evaluate long-term, lower cost, sustainable landscape options, the City of Fairfield is being fiscally irresponsible and passing the cost of those decisions on to the property owners.
It is my hope in providing these comments that the City of Fairfield will work to prepare a more realistic and accurate report and proposal for the individuals, families and businesses in the Rolling Hills area.
Regards,
Chelsea Lash