CITY OF GARDEN GROVE
ENGINEER’S REPORT
STREET LIGHTING DISTRICT NO. 99-1
FISCAL YEAR 2026-27
ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
May 1, 2026
PREPARED BY
101 Progress, Suite 250
Irvine, CA 92618
www.weareharris.com
Engineer’s Report
Street Lighting District No. 99-1
City of Garden Grove
Fiscal Year 2026-27
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Engineer’s Certification .................................................................................................. i Part I - Overview ........................................................................................................... 1 Part II - Plans and Specifications ................................................................................... 2 Part III – Cost Estimate .................................................................................................. 3 Part IV – Method of Apportionment ............................................................................ 5 Appendix A – Assessment Diagram ............................................................................ 12 Appendix B- Assessment Roll ...................................................................................... 16
Engineer’s Report
Street Lighting District No. 99-1
City of Garden Grove
Fiscal Year 2026-27
i
ENGINEER’S CERTIFICATION
AGENCY: THE CITY OF GARDEN GROVE
PROJECT: STREET LIGHTING DISTRICT NO. 99-1
TO: THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF GARDEN GROVE
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
ENGINEER’S REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2026-27
The preparation of this Annual Engineer’s Report (“ Report”) is in conformance with the obligation of t he City Council for the annual levy of assessments wit hin the Street Lighting District No. 99-1 of the Cit y of Garden Grove to provide lighting services upon each lot or parcel of land in the district in proportio n to the estimated benefit to be received by each such l ot or parcel of land for Fiscal Year 2026-27. Serv ices will be provided through June 30, 2026.
Pursuant to the Landscaping and Lighting Act of 1972 (Part 2 Division 15 of the Streets and Highways Code of the State of California, commencing with Section 22500) (“Act”), Article XIIID, Section 5(a) of the State of California Constitution, and in accordance with the City of Garden Grove’s Resolution being adopted by the City Council for:
STREET LIGHTING DISTRICT NO. 99-1
(Hereinafter referred to as the “District”),
I, Alison Bouley, authorized representative of the District, the duly appointed Assessment Engineer submit the following Report which consists of the following four (4) parts and Appendices:
PART I
Overview: Provides the background and reason for the District.
PART II
Plans and Specifications: Plans and specifications for the existing and ult imate improvements are as set forth on the lists thereof, attached hereto, and ar e on file in the office of the City Engineer and ar e incorporated herein by reference.
ii
PART III
Cost Estimate: An estimate of the costs of the maintenance and/or servicing of the existing and ultimate improvements for Fiscal Year 2026-27, including incidental costs and expenses in connection therewith.
PART IV
Method of Apportionment of the Assessments: The method of apportionment of assessments indicat es the proposed assessment of the net amount of the co sts and expenses of the maintenance and/or servicing of the existing and ultimate improvements to be assessed upon the several lots and parcels o f land within the District in proportion to the estim ated special benefits to be received by such lots a nd parcels.
Appendices
Appendix A – Assessment Diagram
Appendix B – Assessment Roll
In conclusion, it is my opinion that the costs and expenses of the District have been assessed to the lots and parcels within the boundaries of the District i n proportion to the estimated benefits to be receiv ed by each lot or parcel from the services provided an d in conformance with the assessment methodology adopted by the City Council for the levying of assessments.
DATED: May 1, 2026
___________________________________________
Alison Bouley, P.E., Assessment Engineer
R.C.E. No. C61383
Engineer of Work
County of Orange
State of California
Engineer’s Report
Street Lighting District No. 99-1
City of Garden Grove
Fiscal Year 2026-27
1 PART I – OVERVIEW
This Report is prepared pursuant to the City Counci l action taken at their regular meeting ordering a Report for the Street Lighting District No. 99-1 and the levy of assessments for the Fiscal Year commencing July 1, 2025 and ending June 30, 2026. This Report is prepared in compliance with the requirements of Proposition 218 as stated in Articles XIIIC and XII ID of the California Constitution (hereinafter refe rred to as “Articles”), and the Landscaping and Lighting Ac t of 1972, being Part 2 of Division 15 of the Calif ornia Streets and Highways Code (hereinafter referred to as “Act”).
Background
The City of Garden Grove currently levies an assessment for street lighting on parcels throughout the City through its Citywide Street Lighting District (here inafter referred to as “Citywide SLD”). Since the formation of the Citywide SLD, two non-contiguous residential areas have been annexed and incorporated into the City pursuant to LAFCO Annexation No. 141. These two areas were previously provided local and arterial street lighting by the County of Orange. The City is now required to provide resources in order to maintain the current levels of service for both loc al and arterial lighting for these two areas. Zone 1 is assessed for local and arterial lighting within thi s District. Zone 2 is assessed for local lighting only in this District, while the arterial lighting is covered by the Citywide SLD.
The assessment methodology contained herein incorpo rates an analysis of general benefit and special benefit as approved by the City Council at the time the District was formed. The assessments to be levied on each property do not exceed the reasonable cost of proportional special benefit conferred on each parcel from the funded operation and maintenance of street light improvements.
In addition to LAFCO Annexation No. 141, six owners of residential property, in a contiguous area of th e City currently within Citywide SLD and assessed for arterial lighting only, petitioned the City for th e installation and maintenance of a single local stre et lamp to benefit their properties. Therefore, th e annual costs of maintaining the local and arterial lighting that benefit these property owners is to b e assessed annually through the District.
Engineer’s Report
Street Lighting District No. 99-1
City of Garden Grove
Fiscal Year 2026-27
2 PART II – PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS
The facilities, which have been constructed within the City of Garden Grove, and those which may be subsequently constructed, will be serviced and maintained as generally described as follows:
The improvements to be operated, maintained and ser viced by the District are that portion of the local and arterial street lighting system of the City of Garden Grove that confers special benefit to the Di strict parcels. The specific location of both local and a rterial street light improvements within the City c an be found on the Street Light Inventory Maps maintained by the City and on file in the office of the City Engineer where they are available for inspection.
Article XIIID of the California Constitution define s “maintenance and operation expenses” as “the cost of rent, repair, replacement, rehabilitation, fuel, power, electrical current, care and supervision necessary to properly operate and maintain a permanent public im provement”. The District funding includes, but is not limited to, the removal, repair, replacement or relocation of light standards, poles, bulbs, fixtures and all appurtenances, electrical energy, supplies, and engineering and incidental costs relating to the operation and maintenance of the local and arterial lighting benefiting the District parcels.
The local street lighting improvements to be operated, maintained and serviced by the District include all Edison owned street lights within the right-of-way of the local public streets located within the boundaries of the District as displayed in Exhibit A. These l ights are all within close proximity to the Distric t parcels and provide special benefit to such parcels.
The arterial street lighting improvements to be operated, maintained and serviced by the District include a reasonable allocation of all Edison-owned street light operation, maintenance and servicing on the major arterial streets within the City that provide special benefit to Zone 1. Arterial lighting for parcels within Zone 2 is currently provided by an assessmen t through the Citywide SLD and are not part of the District improvements.
Engineer’s Report
Street Lighting District No. 99-1
City of Garden Grove
Fiscal Year 2026-27
3 PART III – COST ESTIMATE
The City's budget for the installation, operation, maintenance and servicing of lighting details the estimated costs for Fiscal Year 2026-27 as available at the time of preparation of this Report, and includes engineering fees, legal fees, printing, mailing, po stage, publishing, and all other related costs iden tified with the District proceedings.
Lighting Cost Zone 1 Zone 2 Total
Lamp Size Number
4,000 lumen LED bulbs 43 @ $162.84 per year $6,862.08 $1 40.04 $7,002.12 Engineering & Incidentals (1) $1,030.69 $21.03 $1,051.7 2 Cost Local Lighting $7,892.77 $161.07 $8,053.84
Arterial Lighting Cost (2) $4,585.03 $0.00 $4,585.03
Less: City Contribution (3) ($1,513.06) $0.00 ($1,513. 06) Engineering & Incidentals (1) $914.62 $0.00 $914.62
Cost Arterial Lighting $3,986.59 $0.00 $3,986.59
Total Lighting Cost $11,879.36 $161.07 $12,040.43
District Engineering (4) $1,606.35 $21.78 $1,628.13
Total 2026-27 District Expense Budget* $13,485.71 $18 2.85 $13,668.56 General Fund Contribution (5) ($3,713.01) ($76.41) ($3, 789.42) Estimated Assessment Revenue
Local Assessment $5,967.20 $106.44 $6,073.64
Arterial Assessment $3,805.49 $0.00 $3,805.49
Total Estimated 2026-27 Assessment $9,772.70 $106.44 $9,879.14 Cost per assessed parcel SINGLE FAMILY $28.71 $17.74
CONDOS/TOWNHOMES $23.33
MULTI-FAMILY Varies
VACANT Varies
(1) Engineering and Incidentals include, but are not limited to, City Engineering department maintenance. (2) Gail Lane property owners pay for arterial lighting through the Citywide SLD. (3) City contribution represents 33% of arterial lighting cost relating to general benefit. (4) District engineering includes the cost of compliance with Proposition 218. (5) General Fund contribution required to offset shortfall due to fixed assessment rates. * Fund Balance included in the Citywide District
Engineer’s Report
Street Lighting District No. 99-1
City of Garden Grove
Fiscal Year 2026-27
4 The Edison-owned street lights were converted to li ght emitting diode (LED) in 2018 and the City owned lights were converted to LED in 2020.
The 1972 Act requires that a special fund be set-up for the revenues and expenditures of the District.
Funds raised by assessment shall be used only for t he purpose as stated herein. A contribution to the District by the City may be made to reduce assessme nts, as the City Council deems appropriate. Any balance or deficit remaining on July 1 must be carried over to the next Fiscal Year.
Engineer’s Report
Street Lighting District No. 99-1
City of Garden Grove
Fiscal Year 2026-27
5 PART IV – METHOD OF APPORTIONMENT
General
Part 2 of Division 15 of the Streets and Highways Code, the Landscaping and Lighting Act of 1972, permits the establishment of assessment Districts by cities for the purpose of providing certain public improvements which include the maintenance and serv icing of street lights, traffic signals, landscapin g and park and recreational facilities.
Section 22573, Landscaping and Lighting Act of 1972 requires that maintenance assessments be levied according to benefit rather than according to assessed value. This Section states:
"The net amount to be assessed upon lands within an assessment District may be apportioned by any formula or method which fairly distributes the net amount among all assessable lots or parcels in proportion to the est imated benefits to be received by each such lot or parcel from the improvements.”
Zones of Benefit
The Act permits the designation of zones of benefit within any individual assessment District if "by reason of variations in the nature, location, and extent o f the improvements, the various areas will receive different degrees of benefit from the improvements. " (Sec. 22574). Thus, the 1972 Act requires the le vy of a true "assessment" rather than a "special tax."
The District has two zones of benefit which were es tablished at the time of formation to apportion the cost of the District improvements based on proportional special benefit conferred on each property in the zones. The District provides Zone 1, as described below, both local and arterial lighting benefits an d provides Zone 2 local lighting benefit only. Zone 2, as described below, is currently assessed for ar terial lighting through the Citywide SLD.
Zone 1
Zone 1 of the District is comprised of property wit hin LAFCO Annexation No. 141 that incorporates into the City boundary two non-contiguous residential areas. The first annexation area includes 290 parcels in the area northeast of the corner of Dale Street and Lampson Avenue. The second annexation area includes 54 parcels on the west side of Fairview Avenue, south of Trask Avenue. These areas are displayed on separate maps as Appendix A.
Engineer’s Report
Street Lighting District No. 99-1
City of Garden Grove
Fiscal Year 2026-27
6 Zone 2
Zone 2 includes 6 single-family residential parcels located on Gail Lane, north of Chapman Avenue. Thi s area of the City was without local street lighting, and the property owners of the parcels petitioned the City for the installation, operation, maintenance a nd servicing of a single local street light on Gail Lane that benefits their properties.
Boundaries of the District
The boundaries of Street Lighting District No. 99-1 are three non-contiguous residential areas in the C ity and are shown on the maps on file in the office of the City Engineer and attached as Appendix A.
In addition, Article XIIID Section 4 of the State C onstitution requires that a parcel's assessment may not exceed the reasonable cost of the proportional spec ial benefit conferred on that parcel. Section 4 provides that only special benefits are assessable and the City must separate the general benefits fro m the special benefits.
Methodology
General Benefit
The City recognizes that a portion of the maintenance, operation and servicing of the City’s arterial lighting improvements funded by the District provide a gener al benefit to the public at large. City traffic st udies have shown that 33% of the City traffic flow on art erial streets is related to through traffic from surrounding regional areas. This pass-through traf fic is an appropriate measure of the general benefi t provided by the maintenance, operation and servicin g of arterial lights. Therefore, the City is makin g a contribution of funds to the District equal to or in excess of the 33% of the estimated arterial lighting costs for the District. This amount is shown in the Estimated District Budget as the “General Fund Contribution”.
Special Benefit
Articles XIIIC and XIIID of the California Constitu tion define special benefit as “a particular and di stinct benefit over and above general benefits conferred on real property located in the District or to the public at large. General enhancement of property value do es not constitute ‘special benefit’.” The method o f assessment for each Zone analyzes the special benef it each parcel receives from the improvements funded in each Zone. The costs are spread to the i ndividual parcels based on their assigned Assessmen t Units.
Engineer’s Report
Street Lighting District No. 99-1
City of Garden Grove
Fiscal Year 2026-27
7 Assessments for the District are being levied to provide funding for the following:
1. The operation, maintenance, and servicing of local street lights in close proximity, within approximately 90 feet, to certain lots and parcels which provide a direct special benefit to such lots or parcels.
2. The operation, maintenance, and servicing of arterial street lights which provide a special benefit to all the assessable parcels within the District whether or not such parcels are in close proximity to such lighting.
Local Lighting Apportionment
The special benefit from operation, maintenance and servicing of local street lighting within the Dist rict only accrues to those parcels within the District l ocated in areas where such lighting is provided.
Therefore, parcels without local street lighting ar e not assessed for the cost of providing such light ing.
Generally, a parcel is determined to have local lig hting provided if a street light is within approxim ately 90 feet of the parcel.
The benefit from local lighting can be measured by increased safety to people and property, as well as the increased availability of lighting. In order to es tablish the proportionate share of local lighting b enefit to any parcel of land in relation to the total special benefits to be received by local lighting, it is necessary to establish a benchmark to relate that one parcel to all others. The benchmark is called the Assessment Unit (AU). The District uses the Single Family Res idence (SFR) as the benchmark AU. All other land u ses will be compared to the benchmark of the Single Family Residence to gain a comparative Assessment Unit based on population and parcel size as described be low. For parcels with local lighting, there exists the core benefit of available lighting for every parcel in the District near a street light. This “Availa bility” benefit is apportioned to parcels with local lighti ng in the District on a per parcel basis, and has b een assigned one-fourth of the SFR Assessment Unit. In addition to this benefit, parcels in the District benefit from improved safety related to people who own or u se the parcels in the District (“Safety to People”) , which has been assigned one-half of the SFR Assessment Unit. Parcels also benefit from improved safety related to the parcel itself (“Safety to Property”) , which has been assigned one-fourth of the SFR Assessment Unit. The three benefit factors are then added together for a total of 1 AU per SFR.
Safety to People Benefit + Safety to Property Benef it + Availability Benefit = SFR Benefit 1/2 AU 1/4 AU 1/4 AU 1 AU
Safety to People
The Safety to People benefit results in a special benefit to residential parcels because local street lighting improves traffic safety during ingress and egress to the property and creates a deterrent to crime against people on the property. Vacant, non-developable pr operties within the District are not perceived to receive Safety to People benefit.
Engineer’s Report
Street Lighting District No. 99-1
City of Garden Grove
Fiscal Year 2026-27
8 The Safety to People benefit is apportioned to prop erties in the District based on the following demographic population information for residential uses as provided by the City of Garden Grove Planning Department, as shown in Table 1.
Safety to Property
The Safety to Property benefit results in a special benefit to both residential and vacant non-developable parcels because local lighting operation, maintenan ce and servicing provides for the protection of buildings and personal property against crimes such as theft and vandalism. The Safety to Property benefit is apportioned to properties in the Distric t based on relative property size as available from the City of Garden Grove Planning Department for residential uses.
For all residential uses, an average density has be en used to determine the per unit parcel size. Vac ant uses are related to the Residential uses utilizing the Single Family Residential average density of 7, 200 square feet as shown in Table 2.
In determining the benefit for local lighting, larg er properties do not necessarily receive benefit in proportion to their larger size, because a large share of the property may not be protected by the light on the street. In addition, these properties would ty pically have to provide their own privately funded lighting system in order to afford protection to th eir entire lot. To account for this, Safety to Pro perty benefit points per unit will only be assigned up to 20 dwelling units or 20 times 7,200 square feet (144,000 square feet) for Vacant properties.
Table 3 shows the breakdown of the Assessment Unit benefit points assigned to each land use for those properties located in areas with local street lights.
Land Use Description Population
per Unit
Rounded % of
SFR
Safety to People
Benefit (1/2)
Single Family Residential (SFR) 3.51/unit 100% 0.50
Condominium 3.02/unit 85% 0.43
Multiple Family Residential 3.38/unit 95% 0.45
Vacant 0/parcel 0% 0.00
TABLE 1 - POPULATION DEMOGRAPHICS (SAFETY TO PEOPLE)
Land Use Description Square Feet
per Unit
Rounded % of
SFR
Safety to Property
Benefit (1/4)
Single Family Residential (SFR) 7,200 sf/unit 100% 0.25 Condominium 3,300 sf/unit 46% 0.12
Multiple Family Residential 2,600 sf/unit 36% 0.09
Vacant 7,200 sf/unit 100% 0.25
TABLE 2 - AVERAGE DENSITY PER LAND USE (SAFETY TO PROPERTY) Engineer’s Report
Street Lighting District No. 99-1
City of Garden Grove
Fiscal Year 2026-27
9 Table 4 provides a summary of assessment units for the different land uses for local lighting benefit.
The rate per AU is calculated by dividing the total budget amount by the total number of AU's:
Arterial Lighting Apportionment
All parcels in the District receive a special benef it from the installation, operation, maintenance an d servicing of traffic signals and freeway lighting a s well as the operation, maintenance and servicing of safety lighting and street lighting on arterial str eets. The arterial lighting, traffic signals, safe ty lighting, freeway lighting, and capital improvements (Arteria l Lighting) are provided throughout the City and al l properties in the City may easily access these improvements. In contrast to Local Lighting, Arterial Lighting benefits properties primarily because the propertie s, and the persons using the properties, are provid ed safe arterial street access. Therefore, Arterial Lighting benefit will be apportioned to parcels in the District on a per unit basis taking into account demographic population information.
Vacant properties, which have no people residing on the property, also benefit from arterial lighting because of the convenience associated with emergency vehicle access and other traffic that must use the arterial streets to service the vacant properties i n the District. Therefore, Vacant parcels are assi gned a Land Use Description Safety to
People
Safety to
Property
Availability
Benefit Total AU's
Single Family Residential (SFR) .50/unit .25/unit .25 /parcel 1.00/unit* Condominium .43/unit .12/unit .25/parcel .79/unit*
Multi-family up to 20 units .45/unit .09/unit .25/par cel .54/unit + .25/parcel Multi-family more than 20 units .45/unit 1.80/parcel .25/parcel .45/unit + 2.05/parcel Vacant minimum 7,200sf .00/7,200sf .25/parcel .25/par cel .50/parcel Vacant 7,200 to 144,000sf .00/7,200sf .25/7,200sf .25 /parcel .25/7,200sf + .25/parcel Vacant maximum > 144,000sf .00/7,200sf 5.00/parcel .2 5/parcel 5.25/parcel * Total AU's shown are assuming there is only 1 unit on the parcel TABLE 3 - LOCAL LIGHTING BENEFIT FACTORS
Single Family Residential 284 284 278.00 6.00 284.000
Condominium 52 52 41.08 0.00 41.080
Multiple Family Residential 13 26 17.29 0.00 17.290
Vacant 0 0 0.00 0.00 0.000
349 362 0 336.37 6.00 342.370
TABLE 4 - LOCAL LIGHTING ASSESSMENT UNIT SUMMARY
Totals
Total AU's Parcels Dwellings Square Ft Land Use Description Zone 2 AU's Zone 1 AU's / 342.370 AU's = $17.74 / AU $6,073.64
Engineer’s Report
Street Lighting District No. 99-1
City of Garden Grove
Fiscal Year 2026-27
10 per parcel benefit point. Vacant parcels are assig ned 0.25 benefit points per parcel, based on the co re benefit attributable to every assessable parcel in the District from Arterial Lighting.
Table 5 shows the breakdown of the Assessment Units assigned to each land use for all assessable property in the District.
Table 6 provides a summary of assessment units for the different land uses for arterial lighting benefit.
The rate per AU is calculated by dividing the total budget amount by the total number of AU's:
District Engineering Costs
District Engineering Costs include legal, assessmen t engineering, and other engineering related costs necessary to achieve the District’s compliance with Article XIIID of the California Constitution. All parcels in the District benefit from the District Engineeri ng Costs. Each parcel in the zone is allocated a proportionate share of the District Engineering Cost based on its assigned benefit points.
Total Assessment
The total assessment for each parcel is the sum of its assessment for local and arterial lighting. Tab le 7 summarizes the Fiscal Year 2026-27 assessment rates for the various land uses in Zones 1 and 2.
Land Use Description Total AU's
Single Family Residential (SFR) 1.00 / unit
Condominium 0.85 / unit
Multiple Family Residential 0.95 / unit
Vacant 0.25 / parcel
TABLE 5 - ARTERIAL LIGHTING BENEFIT
Single Family Residential 278 278 278.000 0.000 278.000 Condominium 52 52 44.200 0.000 44.200
Multiple Family Residential 13 26 24.700 0.000 24.700
Vacant 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000
343 356 0 346.900 0.000 346.900 Totals
Total AU's
TABLE 6 - ARTERIAL LIGHTING ASSESSMENT UNIT SUMMARY
Parcels Dwellings Square Ft Land Use Description Zone 1 AU's Zone 2 AU's $3,805.49 / 346.900 AU's = $10.97 / AU
Engineer’s Report
Street Lighting District No. 99-1
City of Garden Grove
Fiscal Year 2026-27
11 Zone 2
Single-family
Residential
Condos/
Townhomes
Multi-family
Residential 1 Vacant 2
Single-family
Residential
Assessment per parcel per unit per unit per parcel per p arcel Local $17.74 $14.01 $9.58 $4.44 $17.74
+ $4.44 per
parcel
+ $4.44 per
parcel
Arterial $10.97 $9.32 $10.42 $2.74 N/A
Total $28.71 $23.33 Varies Varies $17.74
1 Multi-Family Residential rate shown is for Multiple Family Residential parcels up to 20 units 2 Vacant rate shown is for a Vacant parcel sized between 7,200 to 144,000 SF Zone 1
TABLE 7 - SUMMARY OF ASSESSMENT RATES
Engineer’s Report
Street Lighting District No. 99-1
City of Garden Grove
Fiscal Year 2026-27
12 APPENDIX A – ASSESSMENT DIAGRAM
The Assessment Diagram, which shows the exterior boundaries of the Assessment District, the boundaries of any zones within the Assessment District and the lines and dimensions of each lot or parcel of land within the Assessment District, is on file in the o ffices of the City Engineer and the City Clerk and is incorporated herein by reference.
The lines and dimensions of each lot or parcel with in the Assessment District are those lines and dimensions shown on the maps of the Assessor of the County of Orange for the Fiscal Year to which this Report applies. The Assessor's maps and records ar e incorporated by reference herein and made part of this Report.
Engineer’s Report
Street Lighting District No. 99-1
City of Garden Grove
Fiscal Year 2026-27
13 Engineer’s Report
Street Lighting District No. 99-1
City of Garden Grove
Fiscal Year 2026-27
14 Engineer’s Report
Street Lighting District No. 99-1
City of Garden Grove
Fiscal Year 2026-27
15 Engineer’s Report
Street Lighting District No. 99-1
City of Garden Grove
Fiscal Year 2026-27
16 APPENDIX B – ASSESSMENT ROLL
An assessment of the estimated cost of maintenance and/or servicing of the existing improvements on each benefited lot or parcel of land within the Assessment District for the Fiscal Year to which this Report applies are on file in the offices of the City Engi neer and the City Clerk and incorporated herein by reference.