Sonora RDA EOPS

 

 

Grants and Redevelopment Department
 

The Grants and Redevelopment Department overseas programs and projects for the City. This Department is also responsible for City loan programs, housing projects and programs, business assistance, the Sonora Opera Hall and special events. Department projects and programs are constantly changing based on funding availability.

The Redevelopment Agency of the City of Sonora exists to improve blighted areas in the City, encourage economic development and encourage housing for low and moderate income households. The Agency has become one the key sources of public enterprise that has helped to a healthy and vibrant Sonora. Since its inception, the Redevelopment Agency has undertaken numerous programs and projects to improve public infrastructure, provide affordable housing, improve parking facilities and improve/develop public parks/trails. The Agency is a separate public body, as with most cities, the City Council Members also serve as the governing Board for the Redevelopment Agency. For a more comprehensive insight into Redevelopment in California and more specific information regarding the Sonora Redevelopment Agency please see Redevelopment 101.

As required under Section 33418 of the California State Health and Safety Code the Sonora Redevelopment Agency has developed a database of the housing units assisted with moneys from the Agency’s Low and Moderate Income Housing Fund.  This copy of the database is available to the public by contacting (209) 532-3508.

Redevelopment 101

In 1952, California voters approved Article XIII, Section 19 (later renamed Article XVI, Section 16) of the California Constitution, allowing redevelopment agencies in the State to use tax increment financing to revitalize project areas.  California Community Redevelopment Law, contained in the California Health and Safety Code (Section 33000 et seq.), governs the creation and activities of redevelopment agencies.  Redevelopment is created, adopted and carried out locally. Approximately 400 Redevelopment Agencies exists in California.

The mission of redevelopment is to improve properties that have become abandoned, neglected or unsafe.  Redevelopment enhances and expands local businesses, renovates declining housing stock and improves public infrastructure.  Communities with limited financial resources, in partnership with private entities, can use funds from redevelopment projects to rehabilitate property, build better homes, create jobs, stimulate private business and development, and create investment to accomplish what could not be done by other public or private means without the assistance of redevelopment. 

The redevelopment process involves a series of mandated steps:

STEP 1 - Governing body establishes a redevelopment agency

The California Community Redevelopment Law provides that any county or city can establish a redevelopment agency by the action of their governing body.  The governing body of the community must determine that there is a need for the redevelopment agency to exist.  The following is examined to determine the need and the feasibility of creating an agency within a community:

• Identifying existing deficiencies and problems in the area

• Determining the economic constraints and opportunities

• Defining potential redevelopment projects and programs

• Clarifying the legalities associated with implementation of the redevelopment program in the community

• Identifying blight characteristics in the area

• Defining the project area

The local governing board and the redevelopment agency are two separate, distinct legal entities.  In all but a few agencies in California, the local governing body also serves as the redevelopment agency board.  Redevelopment agencies have the authority to:

• Receive and spend taxes

• Improve public infrastructure and facilities

• Prepare sites for improvement

• Combine properties

• Sell or lease property

•  Assist private development

• Regulate land use

• Preserve, upgrade and produce housing

A Redevelopment Agency was established for the City of Sonora on May 1, 1985.

STEP 2 - Local governing body adopts a survey area

The survey area includes the properties to be evaluated in the determination of the existence of blight and the feasibility of being redeveloped.  From this a “project area” is selected.

A survey area was designated at the time the Sonora Redevelopment Agency was established however, a Redevelopment Plan was not completed.  On September 16, 1991, the earlier survey area was repealed and a new survey was adopted.

 

STEP 3 - The planning commission selects a redevelopment “project area” from the survey area

To qualify for redevelopment, an area must show signs of wear and tear, or “blight” as defined by California Law.  Deteriorating or blighted areas have serious adverse social, economic and physical conditions which constitute a danger to the health, safety and general welfare of the people of the community.  The definition of a “blighted area” is an area that exhibits substantial and prevalent adverse physical and economic conditions requiring redevelopment assistance.  When an area is described as having blight, it does not refer to all of the properties in that area; it only means that the area suffers from conditions that are too difficult to overcome without assistance.

California Redevelopment Law uses the term “blight” to describe the following conditions:

• Adverse Physical Conditions –

• Unsafe or unhealthy buildings

• Aging, deteriorating and poorly-maintained buildings

• Factors hindering economic viability of property

• Adjacent or nearby incompatible land use

• Irregular lots in multiple ownership

• Improvements needed to community facilities, water & sewer, roads and other public infrastructure

• Adverse Economic Conditions –

• Depreciated or stagnant property values

• Vacant and underutilized land or buildings

• High business vacancies, low commercial leases and high turnover rates

• Impaired property values due to hazardous waste or negative environmental conditions

• Poor business conditions

• Serious lack of commercial facilities

• Deteriorating, unsafe and substandard housing conditions, serious residential overcrowding

• Problem businesses and high crime rates

• Residential overcrowding

A 536 acre “Project Area” was selected on November 12, 1991.  The blighting conditions sited in the Preliminary Report for the “Project Area” under the Sonora Redevelopment Agency:  “In general, the Project Area is characterized by interspersed structural deterioration, an incompatible mix of adjoining land uses, deficiencies in the local public infrastructure system, irregular parcelization patterns, lack of recreation facilities, and socioeconomic maladjustment.”

 

STEP 4 - The planning commission adopts a preliminary plan that outlines the basic goals and objectives of the proposed redevelopment project and the project area. 

The preliminary plan contemplates the redevelopment of a portion of the survey area.  It is required as the basis for the subsequent preparation of a more definitive plan for redevelopment of the designated “project area”.  It includes:

• Information about the agency and redevelopment in general

• Legal requirements

• Project Area boundaries

• Project Area characteristics

• Overall objectives and project activities of the proposed redevelopment program

•  Relationship of project to general plan

• General impact of the project

The Preliminary Plan for the Sonora Redevelopment Project was approved by the Planning Commission on November 12, 1991 and accepted by the Sonora Redevelopment Agency on November 13, 1991.

STEP 5 - The preliminary plan is accepted by the agency board and circulated to all affected taxing entities.

Public notification to and participation by all property owners within the Project Area occurs after the plan is prepared.  During this period the agency board, legislative body and planning commission meet to discuss the plan and receive community input.  This concludes with a public hearing on the redevelopment plan.  At least 30 days prior to this hearing all parties involved receive information and an invitation to attend and participate in the public hearing along with other noticing requirements.

STEP 6 - After the preliminary plan is adopted, the agency begins the preparation of required technical documents, including the Preliminary Report, and environmental documentations.

The Preliminary Report is required under Community Redevelopment Law.  The Preliminary Report must include:

• The reasons for the selection of the Project Area.

• A description of the physical, social and economic conditions existing in the Project Area.

•  A preliminary assessment of the proposed method of financing the redevelopment of the Project Area, including an assessment of the economic feasibility of the project and the reasons for including a provision for a division of taxes.

• A description of the specific project or projects then proposed by the agency in the Project Area in sufficient detail to permit the fiscal review committee to review the potential impacts of the proposed project.

• A description of how the project or projects to be pursued by the agency in the Project Area will improve or alleviate the blighting conditions with the Project Area.

The Preliminary Report for the Sonora Redevelopment Agency was completed in March 1992.

 

STEP 7 - The agency also develops a draft redevelopment plan

A redevelopment plan provides a legal framework for planning and implementing revitalization activities in a redevelopment project area.  A redevelopment plan:

• Describes the purposes and objectives of eliminating deteriorated conditions

• Sets the basic goals, powers and limitations within which the redevelopment agency must conduct its activities over the life of the project

• Is broad and flexible

Every redevelopment plan is unique to its community and the plan must conform to the community’s General Plan.  It must be broad and flexible, as it stays in place for many years and generally includes the following components:

• Project area boundaries

• A map showing designated land uses

• Redevelopment goals and objectives for the project area

• Specific improvements the agency plans to accomplish

• Low and moderate income housing provisions

• Duties and powers of the agency

• Plan administration

• Rights of the property owners and tenants

• Financial and legal tools for putting the plan into action

In formulating the redevelopment plan, limitations are established for various aspects of the redevelopment program, these include:

• The maximum portion of taxes divided & allocated to the Agency

Can not exceed a cumulative total of $95 million for the Sonora Redevelopment Agency

• The length of time the redevelopment project area and plan will be in existence

The Redevelopment Plan for the Sonora Redevelopment Agency is currently scheduled to terminate on July 20, 2032 (40 years from the date of the adoption of the Redevelopment Plan)  The Agency will not pay indebtedness or receive property taxes after 10 years from the termination of the effectiveness of the Redevelopment Plan, after July 20, 2042.

•  The time in which eminent domain may occur

Under that Agency’s Redevelopment Plan Eminent Domain had to occur within 12 years from the date the Ordinance adopting the Plan became effective.  The Agency no longer has the power of eminent domain.

•  A time limit on the establishment of loans, advances and indebtedness to finance the project

In the Redevelopment Plan for the Sonora Redevelopment Agency it was originally set at 30 years from the date of the adoption of the Plan, however, when AB 1290 went into effect on January 1, 1994 this was reduced to 20 years from the date of the adoption of the Plan.  Currently, the Agency can not incur debt after July 20, 2012.

• A limitation on the amount of bonded indebtedness which can be outstanding at any one time

The Agency’s total outstanding principal of any bonds so issued and payable from tax increments shall not exceed $32 million at any one time except by amendment of this Plan.

• A limitation on the amount of vacant land that can be included within a project area

At the time that the Project Area survey was conducted in 1991, 81.9 percent was developed for urban use and 18.1 percent was vacant, meeting the requirement of “predominantly urbanized”.

 

STEP 8 -The agency then circulates the preliminary report, draft redevelopment plan and draft environmental impact report

 

STEP 9 - The agency consults with affected taxing entities and the community

When the redevelopment project area is adopted, the current assessed values within the project area only are designated as the “base year” or “base assessed value”.  After the plan adoption, all the taxes paid on this “base year” assessment go, as they always have, to the other taxing agencies, ie county, schools, etc..  Any increase in assessed value above this base year value within a project area and the taxes resulting from this increased assessed valuation per the standard tax rate becomes the main source of revenue for the agency.

When a new redevelopment area is formed, the county government determines the total assessed value of all properties within the project area.  This amount is called the “base assessed value” as property values increase above this “base value” the growth is known as “tax increment”.  A portion of this tax increment is then transferred to the redevelopment agency.  Using tax increment, Redevelopment Agencies invest in local improvements within the project area.  An agency cannot receive or spend tax increment funds until it has adopted a redevelopment plan and established debt.  During the life of the redevelopment project, public taxing entities continue to receive the same amount of tax revenues that they received when the agency was formed, and a portion of the tax increment.  Their portion of the tax increment is referred to as a “pass-through”.

 

The agency can only receive annual tax increment if it can show that it has created a debt which is an obligation of the agency.  Debt can be created by the sale of bonds, the receipt of loans or advances of funds, the financial obligation to pay the cost of a project, or other obligations of the law.  Debt which has not been paid for by the agency is considered outstanding indebtedness and is an obligation of the agency and not any other entity.

The Sonora Redevelopment Agency negotiated Pass-Through Agreements with, Tuolumne County, Superintendent of Schools, Yosemite College District, Sonora High School and Sonora Elementary School

 

STEP 10 - The local governing body and agency calls for a public hearing on the proposed redevelopment plan

The Public Hearing for the Sonora Redevelopment Agency’s Redevelopment Plan was held on July 13, 1992.

 

STEP 11 - The environmental documentation is completed and approved

July 13, 1992 the Final EIR was certified for the Sonora Redevelopment Agency’s Redevelopment Plan.

 

STEP 12 - The redevelopment plan is adopted

Ordinance No. 678, effective August 19, 1992, approved and adopted the Redevelopment Plan for the Sonora Redevelopment Project Area.

The goal of the adopted Sonora Redevelopment Plan is to eliminate or mitigate conditions of blight by providing needed public improvements; by encouraging rehabilitation and repair of deteriorated structures; by facilitating land assembly and development which will result in housing opportunities, employment opportunities and an expanded tax base; and by promoting development in accordance with the City of Sonora General Plan.  In pursuing attainment of this goal, the objectives established for the Sonora Redevelopment Project include:

• Expansion and diversification of the community's economic and employment base, through the facilitation of more year-round employment opportunities, including industrial development and expansion.

• Strengthening of the general retail and service commercial sectors of the local economy, through diversification and enhancement of population-generated and income-generated demand.

• Increasing tourism through enhancement of the historic character of the community while providing expanded and improved visitor facilities.

• Enhancement of the aesthetic qualities and structural safety of the central business district to support its competitive performance.

• Recapture of general retail sales leakage from Sonora to other, larger trade centers.

• Increasing the capture of potential commercial trade originating from through traffic on State Routes 49 and 108.

• Expansion and improvement in the quality of the community's low and moderate income housing stock through rehabilitation and replacement programs and new construction.

• Improvements to infrastructure supporting the Project Area, particularly streets, storm drainage, curb, gutter and sidewalk to remove existing impediments to the economic development of the community.

•  Improvement of parking conditions in the central area of the community through creation of additional parking spaces.

• Enhancement of community facilities and recreational opportunities available to residents of the Project Area and supportive of the local population at-large.

• Elimination or mitigation of other existing blighting conditions and influences, including incompatible land uses, obsolete or substandard structures, inadequate public facilities, and/or small, irregular and landlocked parcels.

• Provision of opportunities for participation by owners and tenants in the revitalization of their properties.

• Establishment and implementation of performance criteria to assure high quality site design standards, environmental compatibility, and design elements which provide unity and integrity to development projects.

The Redevelopment Plan also includes the following improvement projects to address blight in the Project Area (not listed in priority order):

• Construction of a wide variety of traffic circulation system improvements, including street construction, street widening, street signage and traffic signal installation, to facilitate and improve access to properties located in the Project Area, enabling and enhancing their development.

• Main Street and other Project Area curb and sidewalk replacement, including handicap access improvements.

• Water, sewer and storm drain system improvements.

• Opera Hall Funding to help Complete Project Improvements

Various public facilities, including but not limited to:

• Construction of Parking Facilities

• Park and Recreation Facilities

• Downtown Bicycle Racks and Public Restrooms

• General Beautification Projects    

• Elimination or mitigation of other existing blighting conditions and influences, including incompatible land uses, obsolete or substandard structures, inadequate public facilities, and/or small, irregular landlocked parcels.

• Increase, improvement or preservation of the City's supply of low and moderate income housing, within the Project Area or elsewhere in the community. 

• Replacement, in the Project Area or elsewhere in the community, of any low and moderate income housing units destroyed or removed from the Project Area.

• Various projects which are of joint benefit to the Agency and the County of Tuolumne.

 

STEP 13 - The Five Year Implementation Plan is adopted

AB 1290 went into effect January 1, 1994.  It established the requirement that all redevelopment agencies must approve Five Year Implementation Plans.  The purpose of this requirement is to provide a monitoring device to ensure that redevelopment activities are linked to the elimination of blight.  At least once during the five year term of the Plan, between two to three years after adoption, an agency must hold a public hearing to review the redevelopment plan and its corresponding implementation plan in order to evaluate the progress of the redevelopment project.

As set forth in Section 33490, an implementation plan must contain the following:

• Specific goals and objectives of the Agency for the project area.

• Specific programs, including potential projects and estimated expenditures planned for the next five years.

• An explanation of how the goals, objectives, projects and estimated expenditures will eliminate blight.

• An explanation of how the goals, objectives, projects and estimated expenditures will implement the low and moderate income housing set-aside and housing production requirements set forth in Sections 33334.2, 33334.4, 33334.6 and 33413 of the Health and Safety Code.  This explanation must contain a Housing Production Program for each of the five years of the Implementation Plan in enough detail to measure performance.

• The number of housing units to be rehabilitated, price-restricted, assisted or destroyed.

• Plans for using annual deposits to the Housing Set-Aside Fund.

• If a planned project will result in destruction of existing affordable housing, an identification of proposed locations for the replacement housing, the agency will be required to produce pursuant to Section 33413 of the Health and Safety Code, must be included.

• The project area affordable Housing Production plan (AB 315 plan) required by Section 33413(b)(4) of the Health and Safety Code.

The Housing Production Plan pertains to the Housing Set-Aside Funds.  California law requires that 20 percent of the total tax increment collected in a project area be set aside in the Housing Fund, referred to as the “Housing Set-Aside”.  These funds can be used to:

• Buy property

• Sell property at a low cost to developers who then build affordable housing

• Reduce the cost of rental and privately-owned housing

• Prevent the loss of government-sponsored housing that is currently affordable

• Meet replacement housing requirements

• Improve sites, roads and public utilities so that new affordable housing can be built

However, the use of the Housing Set-Aside funds is very restrictive and regulated by State law.  Use of Housing Set-Aside funds carries, in most cases, very restrictive affordability covenants.  For rental units assisted by the agency they must remain affordable for at least 55 years and for owner-occupied units they must remain affordable for at least 45 years.

The Sonora Redevelopment Agency is operating under its fourth Five Year Implementation Plan covering the planning period of 2010-2014

 

STEP 14 – Additional Requirements

Agencies are also required to prepare an annual report to the State Controller and Department of Housing and Community Development.  This includes an independent audit by a certified public accountant to assure that the funds are used according to the plan.

All substantial activities and actions of the agency require consideration and approval by the agency board in a public meeting or public hearing with notice duly given.  Additionally, activities of the agency are first approved at a public meeting during the adoption of the annual budget.

 PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS

The Sonora Redevelopment Agency’s focus is to eliminate constraints to private investment to ensure continued growth of industrial, commercial, retail and residential development.  Agency Staff will, from year to year, make recommendations to the Agency Board regarding specific projects or public improvements to achieve its goal of eliminating or mitigating blighting conditions.

 Projects are selected on the following basis:

• Projects that directly and immediately leverage new commercial and industrial development leading to the increase in local employment.

• Housing projects which leverage additional private investment and which leverage additional public funds for housing programs.

• Projects which are targeted to specific existing conditions of blight or to blighting influences in the Project Area.

• Projects, housing and non-housing, that provide future program income and generate Agency capacity to fund additional projects in the future.

• Public improvement projects that directly result in new private investment.

Housing programs to meet the following needs:

• Replacement and Preservation Housing Needs

• Home Ownership

• Neighborhood Residential Improvements

• Inclusionary Housing

• Projects which have a financial payback, including loan repayments and tax increments, shall be paid back as soon as practicable.  Payback shall be determined by the nature of the project and the financing.

PROJECTS/PROGRAMS COMPLETED BY THE SONORA REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY

• High School Swimming Pool Contribution

• Fire Station

• Fire Engine

• Vehicle Replacement

• Police Department Relocation & Facility Improvements

• Woods Creek Park Restrooms & Misc. Park Improvements

• Church Street Parking Lot Project

• Downtown Education Center Site Acquisition & Facility   Improvements

• Education Center Beautification Project

• Public Works Department Site Acquisition & Facility Improvements

• School Street Parking Lot Acquisition

• Vegetation Removal – City Streets

• Parking Lot Overlays

• Parking Lot and Street Signs

• Downtown Trash Receptacles

• Web Site

• Economic Development Activities and Publications

• Public Works Equipment

• Downtown Restroom Facility

• Beautification/Landscape Projects

• Stewart Street Sidewalk/Retaining Wall Project

• Historic Inventory Report

• China Town Monument Project

• Fire Hydrant Replacement Program

• Opera Hall Expansion Project and Equipment

• Rother’s Corner Project and Overlay

• Christmas Pole Decorations

• Downtown Historic Light Fixtures

• Storm Drain Projects

• Facade Loan Program

• At Risk Housing Preservation

• Homebuyers’ Assistance Loans

City of Sonora
Rachelle Kellogg,
Community Development Director
94 N. Washington Street
Sonora, CA 95370
Phone: (209) 532-3508
Fax: (209) 532-3511