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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1986-11-12; City Council; 8770-1; Local Coastal Program Amendment Mello IIoUJ occ.a.S: O Oo en AB# P770-&/ DEPT. PLN TITLi OF CARLSBAD — AGEND BILL 7/K ^ :. LOCAL COASTAL PROGRAM (LCP) AMENDMENT "- MELLO II SEGMENT, REVISED AGRI- CULTURAL SUBSIDY/IMPROVEMENTS PROGRAM DEPT. HD.'WAV CITY AmXHL CITY MGR._2??L_ RECOMMENDED ACTION: 1. Establish a six-week review period to begin November 12, 1986 and end December 24, 1986, during which interested parties may review the proposed Mello II LCP amendment. 2. Direct staff to prepare a notice of availability of the subject documents pursuant to Title 14, Section 13515 of the California Administrative Code. ITEM EXPLANATION On September 23, 1986 the City Council heard a staff update on various proposals to utilize funds that are part of the Carlsbad Agricultural Improvements Program. The program was established in conjunction with the Agricultural Subsidy Program as part of the approval of the Mello II LCP segment in 1981. Subsequent legislation in 1984 eliminated the subsidy portion of the program, however, the improvements portion was retained. The Ag-Improvements fund currently totals almost one million dollars. The fund has the potential to generate approximately two million dollars when all properties required to pay fees have developed. The Ag-Improvements Program was established to provide improvements needed to facilitate the long-term agricultural production within Carlsbad. The section of the Mello II LCP segment that established the program contains a "sunset clause" which allows the expenditure of the fund elsewhere if the monies are not needed in Carlsbad. Council on September 23, 1986 learning of this "sunset clause" directed staff to initiate a LCP amendment to modify the clause. The modification as proposed would extend the sunset clause for an additional 5 years. At the end of the period the balance of the fund not needed for local ag-improvements could be used to enhance "other local coastal resources". In other words the program could not fund Ag-Improvement projects elsewhere in the state's coastal zone. In order to initiate the LCP amendment process it is necessary for the City Council to open a six-week review period for the amendment. During the review period staff will prepare and distribute a notice of the amendment's availability. O 'ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW No environmental review is required to open the six-week review period. Page 2 of Agenda Bill No. FISCAL IMPACT The proposed amendment would ensure that monies collected to mitigate the conversion of coastal agriculture land in Carlsbad will remain for use in the City. The Ag-Improvements fund is presently around a million dollars with the potential of totaling approximately two million dollars. There are no direct costs for the City to participate in planning for the expenditure of the fund. EXHIBITS 1. Memorandum dated September 23, 1986 from the Planning Department to the City Manager regarding the Ag- Improvements Fund 2. Proposed LCP amendment to the Ag-Improvement Program Date: September 3, 1986 To : City Manager From: Planning Department LCP-AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENTS FUND The Hello II segment of the City's Local Coastal Program (LCP), adopted by the Coastal Commission in 1981, established an Agricultural Improvements Program. The program is administered by the Coastal Conservancy and it is funded out of a portion of the ag-subsidy fees which were paid to mitigate ag-land conversions near 1-5. The State Legislature has since eliminated the ag-subsidy portion of the fee but not the ag-improvements portion. Currently, the ag-improvements fund has accumulated approximately a million dollars. The fund has the potential to total approximately two million dollars when all properties under contract to pay the fees have developed. In 1982, the Conservancy Board approved the Carlsbad Agricultural Improvements Program which identified reclaimed water as the top priority ag-improvement project. The following year (1983), the Conservancy established the Carlsbad Agricultural Improvements Review Board (CAIRB) which includes three City representatives (the Mayor, Roger Greer, and Gary Wayne), local agricultural landowners and the County Farm Advisor to assist in both project proposal and project review. The projects evaluated by the CAIRB included: 1. Reclaimed water for irrigation. 2. A low interest farm loan fund. 3. A crop research and development fund. 4. All weather farm roads. 5. A Farmers Market. 6. Farm Labor housing. All of the proposals have met with opposition for one reason or another and to date no ag-improvements funds have been expended. In 1984-85 the Conservancy suspended work on the program pending the outcome of the City's LCP negotiations with the Coastal Commission. Subsequently, the Conservancy, in April 1986, reactivated CAIRB and requested new ag-improvement project proposals. CAIRB met last July to discuss both past and present project proposals. At the July meeting the CAIRB members agreed to the viability of four proposals (see attached meeting summaries): 1. A pilot reclaimed water project to see whether local farmers would find its use acceptable. 2. A low interest loan program to fund development of crop diversification. 3. A farmer's market to serve as wholesale marketing center. 4. Purchase or long-term lease of local ag-land for continued ag-production. The Ecke flower fields north of Paloraar Airport Road were recommended by the City representatives for preservation under this proposal. The Conservancy staff is currently investigating the first three proposals. If feasible the Conservancy staff will prepare detailed proposals including cost estimates and implementation schedules and present them to its board for consideration. The Conservancy staff felt that the fourth proposal (purchase or long-term lease of the Ecke property) did not meet the program requirements of "providing the improvements needed to facilitate long-term ag-production within the planning area". Therefore, the Conservancy requested that the City prepare a detailed proposal which justified the ag-land purchase (or lease) as a viable component of the Ag-lmprovements Program. If the City could justify the proposal the Conservancy staff would present the proposal to its Board for consideration. Project proposals for the Ag-lmprovements Program should be completed as quickly as possible because the LCP which established the program contains a "sunset clause" which allows the Conservancy to use the fund elsewhere if the monies are not needed in Carlsbad. In otherwords, if the City and the local agricultural operators cannot demonstrate a need for spending the ag-improvements fund in Carlsbad, the fund could be spent elsewhere and without City approval starting on January 1, 1987. The Conservancy intends to schedule another meeting of CAIRB after it completes its preliminary investigations on the three project proposals. That meeting is expected in early October. Staff, because of other project priorities and commitments, has not yet prepared a City sponsored proposal. If you would like staff to rearrange its priorities and work on a proposal, we have the following recommendations: 1. The proposals that the Conservancy is investigating all have merit and should be supported. 2. If the City wants to pursue its ag-land purchase or long-term lease proposal, it should expand the list of possible parcels to include all land suitable for agriculture. This could even include lots in the northwest portion of the City that are currently committed to agriculture. 3. The City should initiate an LCP amendment to either expand the "sunset clause" for an additional five years or eliminate it altogether. Another option would be to convert the Ag-improvements fund into the fund set-up by the City's current LCP. The monies could then be used to enhance "other" local coastal resources, including agriculture. This latter option would probably meet with both Coastal Commission and Conservancy opposition. GW: jp EXHIBIT 2 CITY OF CARLSBAD PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO MELLO II LCP AMENDMENT 11/12/86 NOTE: Policy 2-11 was deleted by the City's 1985 LCP amendment 2-85 (Mello II). The text of the deleted policy is summarized below to provide continuity between the original Mello II LCP segment and the 1985 amended version. Additionally, some development has been approved pursuant to the provisions of Policy 2-11 which will require future payment of fees. Also, the agricultural improvements program established by Policy 2-11 is still in effect. Section 2-11D contains the City's proposed amendment to the Agricultural Improvements Program. The City proposal would after January 1, 1992 combine any funds not needed in the program with Agricultural Conversion Mitigation Fees to be used to enhance local coastal resources. The original text of Policy 2-11 Agricultural Subsidy/ Improvements Program is on file in the Planning Department. Policy 2-11 - AGRICULTURAL SUBSIDY/IMPROVEMENTS PROGRAM A. Introduction The Agricultural Subsidy/Improvements Program was established by the Coastal Commission when it approved the Mello II LCP segment in June, 1981. The program has been subsequently modified by legislation which eliminated the subsidy portion and by a Carlsbad LCP amendment which established a new program to conserve agricultural lands (see Policy 2-1). The subsidy program as originally established identified Carlsbad coastal land that was suitable for continued or renewed agriculture. These coastal agricultural lands were divided into the following categories: 1. Subsidized Agricultural Lands - these parcels were designated for permanent agriculture and^eligible to receive a cash subsidy to encourage continued agricultural production. These parcels are no longer in the subsidy program. Instead they were made part of the City's amended program (see Policy 2-1). 2. Potentially Developable Agricultural Lands - these parcels could be developed for urban uses provided the adverse impacts of agricultural conversion was mitigated through the payment of a fee. Two-thirds of the fee would be used to subsidize agriculture on lands in group 1 above. One-third of the fee was to be retained in a general agricultural improvements fund for use in Carlsbad's coastal zone. B. Properties Required to Participate in the Program There were originally four large land holdings that comprised the potentially developable ag-lands (group 2). Those holdings were as follows: (See Exhibit 4-12) 1. Occidental Land Co., 157 acres (now various properties) 2. Shell Oil Lands, 35.41 acres (now Grupe) 3. Banker Life and Casualty Lands, 26.45 acres (ref. Bankers) 4. Lusk Lands, 93 acres Prior to the enactment of the legislation that ended the subsidy portion of the program two properties, Occidental and Shell, entered into contracts with the Coastal Commission and the Coastal Conservancy to pay the conversion fees in order to receive certain development rights. Since Shell (Grupe) and Occidental already had agriclutural conversion mitigation fee obligations established by contract with the Coastal Commission, the City did not include these properties in its amended (1985; agricultural program. However, since both Bankers and Lusk had not entered into similar contracts at the time of the City's amendment, these two properties were included in the new program (see Policy 2-1). C. Permitted Uses on Potentially Developable Agricultural Lands Prior to the payment of the mitigation fee as required by Policy 2-11 agricultural uses as specified in Policy 2-1C are the only permitted uses. D. Administration of the Agricultural Subsidy/Improvements Program Within six months of certification of the Local Coastal Program by the California Coastal Commission, the administering agency in consultation with the owners of "Subsidized Agricultural Lands" shall prepare a schedule for the payment of agricultural subsidy cash grants. The schedule shall be transmitted to the Executive Director of the California Coastal Commission for review and comment regarding consistency of the proposed schedule with the provisions of the adopted LCP. The schedule shall be prepared with the assumption that within five years of the origination of the program each eligible landowner will exercise the option to participate, and shall allocate cash subsidy payments incrementally in accordance with the expected incremental transmittal of agricultural conversion fees. Because nearly one-third of the total amount which may be transmitted through conversion fees is intended to -2- provide areawide agricultural improvements, the allocation schedule shall reserve one third of each incremental conversion fee for the agricultural improvement fund. A reasonable portion of the transmitted conversion fees may be retained by the administering agency to cover the actual costs of administration, up to a maximum of 1% of any conversion fees. Costs of administration will be greatest at the beginning of the program, so a proportion greater than 1% of any fees may be reserved at the initiation of the program for this purpose. Within one year following the approval of the subsidies by the administering agency, the administering agency, in consultation with agricultural landowners, shall prepare a report detailing appropriate uses of the agricultural improvement fund. The report shall be transmitted to the Executive Director of the California Coastal Commission for review and comment regarding consistency of the proposed uses with the provisions of the adopted LCP. If after January 1, 1992 agricultural conversion fees have accumulated in the agricultural improvement fund which are determined by the Executive Director of the California Coastal Commission and the City Manager of Carlsbad to not be needed for agricultural improvements within Carlsbad's coastal zone, these funds shall be expended pursuant to Policy 2-1A Option 3. In other words the funds shall be combined with the Agricultural Conversion Mitigation Fees collected pursuant to Policy 2-1A. Those fees are to be utilized to enhance coastal resources within Carlsbad. Policy 2-1A (Option 3) establishes the priorities for the expenditure of the fee. The State Coastal Conservancy shall be designated as the primary administering agency. The conservancy shall administer the Agricultural Improvements Program in consultation with interested parties and the City of Carlsbad. E. Computation of the Agricultural Subsidy/Improvement Fee Prior to the issuance of a development permit the applicant for such permit shall pay or provide appropriate security to assure the payment of the fee to the administering agency. The amount of such fees shall be $24,050 per gross acre of "Potentially Developable Agricultural Lands" for which the development permit is sought. The $24,050 figure shall be adjusted in accordance with the change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on an annual basis, with the initial such adjustment being made January 1, 1982. -3- The Agricultural Subsidy/Improvement fee shall be apportioned such that approximately two thirds (2/3) are to fund subsidy cash grants and approximately one third (1/3) is to be deposited into the Improvements fund. Legislation in 1984 amended the Public Resources Code (Section 30171.2) to eliminate the Agricultural Subsidy Program. The amendment did not, however, modify the Agricultural Improvement Program. The agricultural subsidy portion of the fee shall be reimbursed pursuant to 30171.2 (PRC). The Agricultural Improvements portion of the fee shall continue to be deposited into the Improvements Program Fund. F. Agricultural Improvements Fund The program could generate approximately two million dollars. These funds shall be used for physical or institutional improvements needed to facilitate long-term agricultural production within the planning area, and appropriate uses could include areawide irrigation equipment, water conservation devices, loan funds, cooperative marketing, roads to assist agricultural production, etc. These funds shall be invested and administered by the administering agency in consultation with local agricultural landowners and the City of Carlsbad. -4-