Agenda Item: 1
CITY OF SANTA CLARITA
AGENDA REPORT
PUBLIC HEARINGS
CITY MANAGER APPROVAL:
DATE: February 10, 2026
SUBJECT: LMD ZONE 33 (SAND CANYON PLAZA) ZONE FORMATION DEPARTMENT: Administrative Services
PRESENTER: Andrew Adams
RECOMMENDED ACTION
City Council:
1. Conduct a public hearing and open and review ballots.
2. Adopt a resolution approving the Engineer's Report for annexing parcels in Tract 53074 into the City of Santa Clarita’s Landscape Maintenance District No. 1, Zone 33 (Sand Canyon Plaza), if no majority protest exists, and order levies beginning Fiscal Year 2026-27. If a majority protest exists, no action will be required.
BACKGROUND
On September 12, 2017, the City Council approved the Sand Canyon Plaza project, Tentative Tract Map 53074, which consists of 580 residential units, approximately 45,000 square feet of retail development, and 147,000 square feet of assisted living facilities.
Pursuant to the project’s conditions of approval, all landscape improvements required under these conditions and located within the public rights-of-way, or where a landscape easement exists, shall be maintained by the City of Santa Clarita’s (City) Landscape Maintenance District (LMD). The applicant is therefore required to form a new City LMD zone for the maintenance and repair of these improvements.
The proposed LMD Zone 33 will fund costs associated with the maintenance of landscape improvements, including but not limited to landscape maintenance and monitoring, irrigation system operation, utilities, administration, and the establishment of reserves for the future replacement of significant infrastructure located within this LMD zone.
The Engineer’s Report contains the proposed boundaries of LMD Zone 33, identifies the
facilities and services to be funded, determines the general and special benefits received by properties within the zone, and establishes the methodology used to apportion the annual assessments. All parcels were established in accordance with the project’s conditions of approval to ensure the continued maintenance of required landscape and infrastructure improvements. As a result, each parcel within LMD Zone 33 receives a special and distinct benefit from these improvements.
The total annual costs associated with maintaining the landscape improvements within LMD Zone 33 are estimated to be $82,599. These costs include landscape maintenance, administration, and capital reserves necessary to support the long-term replacement of major infrastructure.
The annual assessment to maintain the improvements associated with LMD Zone 33 will be $162.92 per Equivalent Benefit Unit (EBU). Multi-family residential dwellings, including apartments, condominiums, townhomes, and duplexes, will be assessed at a rate of 0.75 EBU, reflecting the proportional special benefit received by these dwelling types, which are typically smaller than single-family homes.
The maximum assessment rate will adjust each year based on the annual change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), All Urban Consumers, for the Los Angeles–Riverside–Orange County Area.
The actual assessment levied in any fiscal year will be approved by the City Council and may not exceed the maximum assessment rate. Assessments will begin in Fiscal Year 2026–27.
The cost to prepare the Engineer’s Report to create LMD Zone 33 is estimated to be $8,500.
While the City is responsible, by law, for retaining an assessment engineering firm to prepare the report, the property owner is financially responsible for all costs associated with this action.
Funds deposited by the developer into a pass-through account, managed by the Finance division, will be used to cover costs incurred by the assessment engineer.
At the December 9, 2025, regular meeting, the City Council adopted procedural resolutions declaring its intention to form LMD Zone 33 and set the public hearing date for February 10, 2026. Ballots were mailed to the affected property owners on December 19, 2025, in accordance with Proposition 218 ballot requirements.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION
1. Do not adopt a resolution to annex Tract 53074 into Landscape Maintenance District No. 1, LMD Zone 33.
2. Other action as determined by the City Council.
FISCAL IMPACT
All expenses associated with the creation of this Landscape Maintenance District will be borne by the developer. If this LMD is formed, annual assessment revenue for operations and capital reserves would equal $82,599 inclusive of an annual Consumer Price Index escalator. At-large General Benefit and Special Benefits conferred to parcels outside the proposed District will be funded through non-special assessment revenues.
ATTACHMENTS
Public Hearing Notice LMD Zone 33 Sand Canyon Plaza
Resolution Approving ER and Intent to Order Annexations (Sand Canyon Plaza 33) Engineer's Report LMD No 1 Zone 33 Sand Canyon Plaza (available in the City Clerk's Reading File)