DATE: June 16, 2026
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Director of Maintenance Services
SUBJECT: LLAD 96 -1 Assessment Hearing: Adopt a Resolution to Approve the Final Engineer's Report, Reconfirm Maximum Base Assessment Amounts, Confirm the Assessment Diagrams and Fiscal Assessments, Order the Levy and Collection of Fiscal Assessments; and Adopt a Resolution to Approve Funding Recommendations and Appropriate Special Revenue Funds for Consolidated Landscaping and Lighting Assessment District No. 96 -1, Zones 1 through 18, for Fiscal Year 2027
RECOMMENDATION
That the City Council adopts two resolutions (Attachment II, III):
1. Approving the Final Engineer’s Report,
2. Confirming the Maximum Base Assessment (MBA) amounts,
3. Confirming the Fiscal Assessments,
4. Confirming the Assessment Diagrams,
5. Ordering the Levy and Collection of Fiscal Assessments,
6. Approving the Funding Recommendations, and
7. Appropriating Revenue and Expenditure budgets for Consolidated Landscape and Lighting Assessment District (LLAD) No. 96-1, Zones 1 through 18 for Fiscal Year 2027.
SUMMARY
The Landscaping and Lighting Act of 1972 requires an annual review and update of the engineer’s report to set the annual assessment rate for each benefit zone. Assessment rate recommendations are made based on annual expenses, required cash flow, and future capital repair and replacement requirements. Recommended annual assessment rates cannot exceed the Maximum Base Assessment (MBA) established when each zone was originally formed. The annual engineer’s report (Attachment IV) includes a detailed summary and budget for each of the eighteen benefit zones.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no impact to the General Fund (100) as monies related to these LLADs are preserved in dedicated special revenue funds. LLAD assessment revenue is collected, and expenditures are paid directly from their dedicated special revenue funds. All zones have adequate cash balances for annual expenses, cash flow, and capital replacement, as shown in Table 3.
BACKGROUND
The Landscaping and Lighting Act of 1972 (Streets and Highways Code §22500) is a flexible tool used by local government agencies to form LLADs. These districts are formed to finance the cost of operating, maintaining, and servicing landscaping (including parks), and lighting improvements in public areas. In 1996, six separate LLAD benefit zones (1-6) were consolidated into one district by the ad option of Resolution No. 96 -63. The new district was subsequently renamed, Consolidated Landscaping and Lighting A ssessment District No. 96 -1, and is known as the “District.” In subsequent years, zones 7-18 were individually created and annexed into the District.
This staff report and the attached engineer’s report provide assessment, benefit, and budget details for each of the established eighteen zones. The eighteen benefit zones are located throughout the City as shown on the following map.
Zone Name/Location
Est FY 2026
Ending Cash
Balance
FY 2027
Revenue
FY 2027
Expenditures Change
Est FY 2027
Ending Cash
Balance
1 Huntwood Ave. and Panjon St. 12,809 9,086 8,876 211 13,019 2 Harder Rd. and Mocine Ave. 18,159 13,931 16,607 (2,676) 15,484 3 Prominence 332,904 196,365 272,052 (75,687) 257,217 4 Stratford Village 84,475 29,750 37,083 (7,334) 77,142 5 Soto Rd. and Plum Tree St. 25,534 11,339 11,611 (273) 25,261 6 Pepper Tree Park 108,137 13,188 13,499 (311) 107,826 7 Twin Bridges 903,693 242,459 292,922 (50,464) 853,229 8 Capitola St. 46,130 5,750 7,993 (2,243) 43,887 9 Orchard Ave. 10,351 3,150 3,213 (63) 10,288 10 Eden Shores 103,432 211,729 228,054 (16,325) 87,107 11 Stonebrae 511,074 298,862 369,358 (70,497) 440,577 12 Eden Shores East (Spindrift) 61,813 37,406 28,297 9,109 70,922 13 Cannery Place 954,005 278,897 375,587 (96,690) 857,314 14 La Vista 280,663 127,968 130,149 (2,181) 278,482 15 Cadence - - - - - 16 Blackstone 282,691 84,488 114,053 (29,565) 253,126 17 Parkside Heights 281,097 59,241 21,673 37,568 318,665 18 SoHay 417,070 125,256 85,806 39,450 456,519 4,434,036 1,748,864 2,016,834 (267,970) 4,166,066 Self-Maintained.
TABLE 3: ESTIMATED CASH BALANCE CHANGES PER BENEFIT ZONE Cash Balance:
The following table (Table 1) provides a summary of the LLAD benefit zones, including the year in which each zone was formed and the number of assessable parcels within each zone.
TABLE 1: DESCRIPTION OF BENEFIT ZONES
A B C D E
Zone Name/Location Year Formed Type of
Development
Number of Assessed
Parcels/SFE
1 Huntwood Ave. and Panjon St. 1990 Residential 30
2 Harder Rd. and Mocine Ave. 1991 Residential 85
3 Prominence 1992 Residential 155
4 Stratford Village 1995 Residential 174
5 Soto Rd. and Plum Tree St. 1995 Residential 38
6 Pepper Tree Park 1982 Industrial 11
7 Twin Bridges 1998 Residential 348
8 Capitola St. 1999 Residential 24
9 Orchard Ave. 2000 Residential 74
10 Eden Shores 2003 Residential 534
11 Stonebrae 2006, 2018, 2020 Residential 644
12 Eden Shores East (Spindrift) 2007, 2016 Residential 379 13 Cannery Place 2008 Residential 599
14 La Vista 2016 Residential 179
15 Cadence 2017 Residential 206
16 Blackstone 2016 Residential 157
17 Parkside Heights 2019 Residential 97
18 SoHay 2019 Residential 433
Total Assessed Parcels: 4,167
Self-Maintained.
DISCUSSION
Recommended changes to a zone’s annual assessment rate are based on annual expenses, required cash flow, and capital replacement requirements. When determining the annual assessment rate, staff looks at two things:
(1) Maximum Base Assessment – The MBA is the maximum assessment rate that a parcel can be charged annually. This is established during the original formation of the zone. The annual MBA can only be increased if an inflation factor was included in the original formation document.
(2) Assessment Revenue – The assessment revenue is the annual amount of revenue collected by charging each parcel an assessment rate. The assessment rate recommendation depends on review of the following three items:
a. Annual Expenses – Annual operating and maintenance expenses are estimated based on past years’ experience and future years’ estimates. Expenses include staff administration, noticing, and annual reporting.
b. Cash Flow – This is the amount of “cash” needed to pay monthly invoices when revenue is not received monthly (assessment rates are received through property tax revenues collected by Alameda County, which are transmitted to the City three times a year (January, May, and June).
c. Capital Replacement – This is the “savings account” where funds are collected and reserved each year to fund future capital replacement items. Future capital expenses are estimated based on an inventory of capital items, their useful life, and future replacement cost.
Table 2 on the following page summarizes assessment information by zone. The table provides assessment details for each zone by describing the number of parcels, if there is an annual inflation adjustment calculation included, lists the MBA rate, the FY 2027 assessment rate, and the change between last year’s adopted assessment and this year’s recommended assessment. For FY 2027, staff recommends no change to five Zones (5, 6, 15, 17, and 18), twelve increases (1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, and 16), one decrease (12) and based on annual expenses, required cash flow, and future capital repair and replacement.
A B C D E F G H I J
Zone Name/Location # Parcels CPI Adj FY 2027 Max Base
Assessment
FY 2027
Rate
FY 2026
Assessment
1 Huntwood Ave. and Panjon St. 30 No 295.83 270.03 247.73 Incr 22.30 9% 2 Harder Rd. and Mocine Ave. 85 No 193.39 152.08 139.52 Incr 12.56 9% 3 Prominence 155 Yes 1,204.78 1,167.45 1,101.36 Incr 66.09 6% 4 Stratford Village 174 No 180.00 137.27 133.27 Incr 4.00 3% 5 Soto Rd. and Plum Tree St. 38 No 258.67 258.67 258.67 None - 0% 6 Pepper Tree Park 11 No 2.61 2.61 2.61 None - 0% 7 Twin Bridges 348 Yes 1,260.16 700.00 698.08 Incr 1.92 0% 8 Capitola St. 24 Yes 901.26 226.77 215.97 Incr 10.80 5% 9 Orchard Ave. 74 Yes 240.64 42.76 40.34 Incr 2.42 6% 10 Eden Shores 534 Yes 1,434.96 398.02 365.16 Incr 32.86 9% 11a Stonebrae (Developed) 617 Yes 2,035.28 471.45 449.00 Incr 22.45 5% 11b Stonebrae (Undeveloped) 27 Yes 249.87 249.87 237.97 Incr 11.90 5% 12a Eden Shores - East 261 Yes 269.68 100.00 110.41 Dcr (10.41) -9% 12b Eden Shores East (Spindrift) 118 Yes 262.02 100.00 110.41 Dcr (10.41) -9% 13 Cannery Place 599 Yes 1,530.46 469.41 442.84 Incr 26.57 6% 14 La Vista 179 Yes 792.54 725.28 704.16 Incr 21.12 3% 15 Cadence 206 Yes 768.56 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 16a Blackstone (Zone A) 133 Yes 548.12 542.49 516.66 Incr 25.83 5% 16b Blackstone (Zone B) 24 Yes 558.76 569.60 542.48 Incr 27.12 5% 17 Parkside Heights 97 Yes 640.72 600.37 600.37 None 0.00 0% 18a SoHay Zone A (Developed) 192 Yes 488.68 300.00 300.00 None - 0% 18b SoHay Zone B (Developed) 79 Yes 464.26 285.00 285.00 None - 0% TABLE 2: ASSESSMENT AMOUNTS BY BENEFIT ZONE
Change from last year
Proposition 218 Compliance
For FY 2027, all fiscal assessments are proposed to be levied in compliance with Proposition 218 and do not require the noticing and balloting of property owners to obtain their approval. Any future increases in fiscal assessment amounts that exceed the MBA would require the noticing and balloting of property owners.
STRATEGIC ROADMAP
This agenda item is not directly related to the Council’s Strategic Roadmap.
PUBLIC CONTACT
City staff: 1) mailed a postcard to all affected property owners to provide details of their recommended FY 2027 assessment rate and to alert them to two Council meetings where they could provide input (June 2 and June 16); 2) held a virtual meeting on June 10 via Zoom; and 3) published a printed legal notice in the East Bay Times on or before June 6, 2026.
NEXT STEPS
Following If the City Council adopts the two attached resolutions (Attachment II and III), the Final Engineer’s Report (Attachment IV) will be approved, the revenue and expenditure budgets will be appropriated, and the final Assessor’s tax roll will be prepared and filed with the County Auditor’s Office allowing the assessments to be included in the FY 202 7 tax roll. The draft assessment rolls are included (Attachment V) but are under review and will be updated in July to allow up-to-date information to be included for developing zones. Once updated in July, a copy will be provided to the City Clerk and County Assessor.
Prepared by: Manny Grewal, Management Analyst
Recommended by: Todd Rullman, Director of Maintenance Services Approved by:
_______________________________
Jennifer Ott , City Manager