1987/07/07 Community Development Agency ResolutionRON00002-26/0059R/kf
06/15/87
RESOLUTION NO. 87-11
RESOLUTION OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AGENCY OF
THE CITY OF ROHNERT PARK, CALIFORNIA ,.,MAKING
FINDINGS
FINDINGS WITH RESPECT TO BLIGHT WITHIN THE
REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT AREA OF THE REDEVELOPMENT
PLAN FOR THE ROHNERT PARK COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
PROJECT AND APPROVING AN ASSESSMENT OF CONDITIONS
REPORT
WHEREAS, pursuant to notice duly given, the Community
Development Agency of the City of Rohnert Park, California (the
"Agency") and the City Council of the City of Rohnert Park (the
"City Council") have held a full and fair joint public hearing on
July 7, 1987, concerning the Redevelopment Plan for the Rohnert Park
Community Development Project (the "Redevelopment Plan"); and
WHEREAS, the Agency and City Council have received and
considered testimony and evidence presented at said joint public
hearing concerning the conditions of blight, as defined by the
Community Redevelopment Law (California Health and Safety Code
Section 33000, et se .,) within the redevelopment project area of
the Rohnert Park Community Development Project (the "Project Area")
including such evidence as prepared by the Agency pursuant to Health
and Safety Code Section 33352 (the "Redevelopment Plan Report"); and
WHEREAS, a report entitled "Assessment of Conditions" has
been prepared by the Agency Staff and submitted to the Agency for
review and consideration and is included in the assembled documents
and memoranda included in the Rohnert Park Community Development
Project Public Hearing Document Binder (the "Public Hearing Document
Binder") as previously transmitted to the Agency; and
WHEREAS, the Agency and the City Council have received and
considered testimony and evidence presented at said joint public
hearing on the necessity for including the lands within said Project
Area for effective redevelopment pursuant to the Redevelopment Plan;
and
WHEREAS, prior to the date of adoption of this resolution,
a Public Hearing Document Binder has been prepared and submitted to
the Agency for consideration in connection with the joint public
hearing.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, DETERMINED AND ORDERED BY
THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AGENCY OF THE CITY OF ROHNERT PARK AS
FOLLOWS:
MW
Section 1. The Agency hereby finds and determines based
upon the Assessment of Conditions Report as included in the Public
Hearing Document Binder and incorporated herein by this reference
and the testimony and the evidence presented at the joint public
hearing that the Project Area as more fully described in the
Redevelopment Plan is "predominately urbanized" within the meaning
of Health and Safety Code Section 33320.1. The Agency further finds
and determines based upon the Assessment of Conditions Report and
the testimony and evidence presented at the joint public hearing
that the following conditions of blight exist within the Project
Area and that the properties within the Project Area suffer from
economic dislocation, deterioration, or disuse because of one or
more of the following factors:
(a) The subdividing and sale of lots of irregular form and
shape and inadequate size for proper usefulness and development;
(b) An economic dislocation, deterioration, or disuse
resulting from faulty planning;
(c) The laying out of lots in disregard of the contours
and other topography or physical characteristics of the ground
and surrounding conditions;
(d) The existence of inadequate public improvements,
public facilities, open spaces, and utilities which cannot be
remedied by private or governmental action without redevelopment;
(e) A prevalence of depreciated values, impaired
investments, and social and economic maladjustment.
Section 2. It is hereby found and declared that the
conditions within the Project Area have caused a reduction of proper
utilization in the Project Area to such an extent that the City of
Rohnert Park (the "City"), is confronted by blight and a serious
physical, social and economic liability which cannot reasonably be
expected to be reversed or alleviated by private enterprise acting
alone, and the conditions present within the Project Area require
the use of redevelopment power in the interest of the health, safety
and general welfare of the people of the City and the State of
California.
It is also hereby found and declared that although the
Project Area may include some lands which are not detrimental to the
public health, safety or welfare, nevertheless, it is necessary to
include such land within the Project Area for effective
redevelopment of all the lands in the Project Area as a whole. No
land which is not detrimental to the public health, safety or
welfare is included in the Project Area for the purpose of obtaining
the allocation of tax increment revenue from such land without other
substantial justification for its inclusion.
It is hereby further found and declared that it is
necessary to include all of the land within the Project Area in
- 2 -
order to effectively redevelop the Project Area and remedy the
problems associated with blight and to alleviate the presence of
blight. The principal characteristics of blight which affect the
Project Area include the subdividing and sale of lots of irregular
form and shape and inadequate size for proper usefulness and
development, the laying out of lots in disregard of the contours and
other topography or physical characteristics of the ground and
surrounding conditions, a prevalence of depreciated property values,
impaired investment and social and economic maladjustment and a
substantial lack of the necessary public infrastructure facilities
which cannot be remedied by private or governmental action without
redevelopment. These problems have historically caused private
developers to bypass development opportunities in the lands included
in the Project Area in preference to other areas in the County of
Sonoma and the City which do not present similar development
constraints, including the comparatively higher cost of providing
for the necessary public improvements as described in the
Redevelopment Plan and as discussed in the Environmental Impact
Report as prepared in connection with the Redevelopment Plan.
Without redevelopment assistance, particularly in the area of
financing certain public improvements such as streets, sewers,
public utilities and storm drainage improvements, economic
conditions in the Project Area are unlikely to permit full
realization of property values within a commercially reasonable time
frame. The economic conditions which prevent the orderly
development and utilization of lands within the Project Area may
spread and negatively impact surrounding areas if redevelopment
activities are not directed toward alleviating the problems
burdening the Project Area. Without some form of assistance which
may be provided through redevelopment activities, the development of
the Project Area in a manner consistent with the goals and
objectives of the City's adopted General Plan may not be
achievable. Unless the Agency intervenes to,provide some form of
assistance to finance the development authorized by the General Plan
as well as encourage the development of new long-term employment
opportunities, the lands included within the Project Area will
stagnate and deteriorate.
Section 3. The Agency hereby approves the report
entitled "Assessment of Conditions Report", which is incorporated in
the Public Hearing Document Binder and incorporated herein by
reference, and accepts and adopts all the conclusions and factual
findings as stated therein.
Section 4. The Secretary of the Agency is hereby
authorized and directed to transmit a copy of this Resolution to the
City Council, and hereby recommends that the City Council approve
the "Assessment of Conditions Report" and take whatever other
actions deemed appropriate under the circumstances.
adoption.
Section 5. This Resolution shall take effect upon
- 3 -
ADOPTED AND APPROVED this 7th day of July -I 1987.
(SEAL)
ATTEST:
Secretary of the Community
Development Agency of the
City of Rohnert Park
/0059R
Chairman of the Community
Development Agency of the
City of Rohnert Park
- 4 -
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF SONOMA ) ss.
CITY OF ROHNERT PARK
I, Lorraine Roberts, Deputy , Secretary of the Community
Development Agency of the City of Rohnert Park do hereby certify
that the foregoing resolution was regularly introduced and adopted
by the Community Development Agency of the City of Rohnert Park at a
regular meeting thereof, held on the 7th day of _,jjj , 1987,
by the following vote of the Community Development Agency of the
City of Rohnert Park:
AYES: (5) Members
NOES: (0) None Members
ABSENT { 0 ) None Members
ABSTAIN: (0) None Members
IN
the official
Rohnert Park
(SEAL)
/0059R
Cochran Hollingsworth, Hopkins, Le inski Eck
WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed
seal of the Community Development Agency of the City of
this 7th day of July , 1987.
By: A e-� �'� � '4't'� b(
Secretary of the Community
Development Agency of the City
of Rohnert Park
�g P- r, I-
RONO0002-27/0060R/kf
06/30/87
ASSESSMENT OF CONDITIONS REPORT
ROHNERT PARK COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
June, 1987
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
OF THE CITY OF ROHNERT PARK
Prepared by:
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
STAFF
Conditions within the Redevelopment Project Area of the
Rohnert Park Community Development Project (the "Project Area") have
resulted in an improper and inefficient utilization of land. These
conditions include the presence of blight as said term whose defined
under the Community Redevelopment Law. Such conditions present the
City of Rohnert Park (the "City") with a serious physical, social
and economic liability. It cannot be reasonably expected that
private enterprise acting alone and without the assistance of the
redevelopment powers of the Community Development Agency of the City
of Rohnert Park (the "Agency") can reverse the problem of improper
utilization of land and the existence of blight within the Project
Area.
The City's General Plan provides for intensification of
commercial and industrial land uses within the Project Area. One of
the primary objectives of the General Plan and the Redevelopment
Plan for the Rohnert Park Community Development Project (the
"Redevelopment Plan") is to provide expanded employment
opportunities within the Project Area. While there may be potential
for new development in the Project Area, there is substantial
evidence that the presence of blight precludes such development
unless redevelopment powers are utilized by the Agency.
The Project Area itself has experienced rather limited
patterns of new development. For the most part such new development
which has occurred over the last few years within the Project Area
has been restricted to a limited or minor expansion of existing
commercial and industrial uses with some residential development. A
substantial portion of the Project Area is burdened with severe
inadequacies of public improvements of a regional nature, which
makes commercial development economically infeasible without
redevelopment assistance. Moreover, the configuration of the
physical topography of the Project Area significantly contributed to
the conditions of blight which are present. Inadequate flood
control drainage channels impose substantial development
restrictions upon the Project Area. Inadequately sized lots in the
general pattern of earlier development which occurred as a result of
the physical characteristics or limitations created by these local
conditions have severely hampered past development potential.
It is anticipated that redevelopment activity in the
Project Area will reverse the present pattern of properties not
being utilized to a maximum potential. Redevelopment of the Project
Area should also channel new development into areas which have
historically been developed and thus assist in the preservation of
other lands which have not previously been developed for urban uses
within the community.
One of the principal characteristics of the Project Area is
the mixed character of existing land use patterns. Parcels of land
which have been developed for commercial, industrial, agricultural
or residential related uses are now indistinguishable and disbursed
among adjacent industrial and commercial uses. The Project Area
itself is generally flat land historically dedicated to agricultural
uses prior to urbanization. There is a definite interspersion of
residential dwellings in and amongst the commercial and industrial
uses. A substantial number of the existing residential dwelling
units are in need of rehabilitation and repair.
More than eighty percent (80%) of the land included in the
Project Area has been developed for urban uses, as defined by Health
and Safety Code Section 33320.1. The Project Area consists of an
underutilized, blighted and predominately urbanized area and
contains approximately one thousand two hundred and six (1206) acres
of land. The Project Area also includes forty-two (42) acres of
underutilized, blighted and predominately urbanized land in the
unincorporated Sonoma County adjacent to the northwest portion of
the Project Area. The total Project Area contains one thousand two
hundred forty-eight (1,248) acres.
The Project Area is generally located in an area which
incorporates a substantial portion of the City's commercial area in
the central and western portions of the City. Included in the
Project Area will be some residential land uses, as well as general
or light industrial land uses in the western portion of the City.
The total land area as proposed for the Project Area is located
primarily western, central and southwestern portions of the City.
Although the project area enjoys a high degree of highway visability
and access from U.S. Highway 101, the manner in which Highway 101
has been developed, has not resulted in the realization of the
economic potential of the Project Area. In fact, the physical
location of U.S. Highway 101 and the surrounding development
conditions and restraints have resulted in historic pattern of
development of portions of the Project Area which has led to the
disuse and underutilization of � the substantial amount of the
property located within the Project Area. In view of the
substantial costs of remedying problems associated with inadequate
public improvements within the project area, private development
acting alone and without redevelopment assistance cannot reasonably
be expected to absorb the full cost of remedying the problems which
are present within the Project Area. The inadequacy of public
improvements within the Project Area is chiefly related to
inadequacies with respect to public improvements of a regional
nature.
Infrastructure limitations are especially apparent
throughout the Project Area's flood control and traffic systems.
The Cotati Creek and Laguna de Santa Rosa drainage systems are
partially improved to protect against one hundred year flood plain
conditions in the Project Area. However, substantial work is needed
to complete portions of the Master Plan system. The new
improvements are proposed to include Systems A, B, C and I of the
Laguna -Mark West Zone lA Master Plan. Combined with street and
storm drainage improvements, the new Master Plan system will carry
2 -
increased peak discharge from within and outside the Project Area.
Traffic impacts are especially noted on Rohnert Park Expressway.
Generally now operating at Level C (Level E is full capacity),
arterial intersections particularly are increasingly congested and
hazardous. Signal installation and road widening improvements are
scheduled along the arterials to improve traffic capacity for
current and projected demand, with the highest level of service
expected to be Level D at Rohnert Park Expressway and Highway 101.
Additional infrastructure limitations are water and sewer
expansions in the western Project Area, in the vicinity of the sewer
pumping station. This portion of the Project Area is precluded from
growing now due to water service and fire flow limitations, and lack
of domestic sewer.
The historic trend for assessed values in the Project Area
has shown relatively low increases in the assessed values in the
Project Area, then it is apparent that such relatively low increases
cannot sustain the infrastructure improvement program necessary to
eliminate blight from the Project Area. This inadequacy of an
infrastructure improvement funding source is another symptom of
blight which burdens the project area. Health and Safety Code
Section 33032(c) provides that "...the existence of inadequate
public improvements, public facilities, open spaces and utilities
which cannot be remedied by private or governmental action without
redevelopment."
/0060R
- 3 -