Agenda Item No. 19
CITY OF YUCAIPA
AGENDA REPORT
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
FROM: Fermin Preciado, Director of Development Services/City Engineer Benjamin J. Matlock, Planning Manager/City Planner
FOR: City Council Meeting of August 22, 2022
SUBJECT: Enhanced Infrastructure Finance District Study Session RECOMMENDATION:
That the City Council conduct a Study Session regarding Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts (EIFDs), which will include a presentation from the Kosmont Companies, and provide direction to staff as appropriate.
DISCUSSION:
An Enhanced Infrastructure Finance District ("EIFD") is a governmental entity that may be established by a City, County, or through a partnership between the two, that uses future incremental revenue from existing tax rates to help fund and complete public capital facilities and infrastructure projects, as well as other specified projects of communitywide significance, that provide a significant benefit to the properties within the EIFD as well as the surrounding community. EIFDs are funded by capturing all or a portion of the future property tax increment revenue (i.e. the difference in property taxes owed prior to and post establishment of the EIFD) generated within the boundaries of the district. The EIFD may finance projects through the issuance of bonds or under a "pay -go" model where money is spent as it is collected. The requirements for the City's establishment of an EIFD are set forth in California Government Code Sections 53398.50, and following (referred to as the "EIFD Law").
On January 12, 2015, the City Council conducted a Study Session and considered various financing alternatives for the installation and/or construction of public facilities and certain infrastructure improvements and directed staff to return to Council with any costs associated with establishing one of the financing alternatives. Included in that Study Session was a comprehensive discussion regarding the use of EIFDs, among other financing alternatives, which had only recently been established following approval of Senate Bill (SB) 628 in 2014. SB 628 was to create this new type of public financing tool an appropriate successor tool to the former Redevelopment Agency (RDA) financing mechanisms after they were dissolved by the state in 2011. It provides local governments an intriguing new tool in economic development, although not at the same level of the former RDAs. -313-
Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District Study Session City Council Meeting of August 22, 2022
Following that study session, the City further explored the creation of an EIFD in 2015 to fund certain projects within the Freeway Corridor Specific Plan and the College Village Overlay. However, because this was a new tool, the County of San Bernardino (County) was reluctant to support the formation of a EIFD until successes with this tool were made elsewhere in the state. Since that time, EIFDs have been successfully formed throughout the state. Further, a recent EIFD was formed in Rancho Cucamonga with provisions that may allow for a future partnership with the County.
In 2021, SCAG awarded the City a grant to study the formation of an EIFD that would encompass specific project areas needing infrastructure and that would address the City's 2021-2029 RHNA requirements. These areas include the Crafton Hills College Overlay District and Freeway Corridor Specific Plan, among others. The EIFD has been included in the City's 6�h Cycle Housing Element as a potential tool that can fund necessary projects that would support the development of these areas.
This Study Session is intended to provide City Council and interested parties an opportunity for a discussion regarding EIFDs, and for Council to provide direction to staff as may be deemed appropriate. Additional outreach will also be included to engage property owners that may be within a future EIFD, as well as other related stakeholders in the community, to help explain what the tool is, the process for formation, and the available benefits towards the development of those properties.
Approved by:
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