By: Joe Naiman For The Alpine Sun
Permanent Road Division zones are formed at the request of property owners to finance the improvement and maintenance of roads which are not in the county-maintained system. The property owners pay for the cost of improving and maintaining the roads, and the cost share assessed to each parcel is determined by the amount of benefit it receives from the improvement.
By: Joe Naiman For The Alpine Sun
Permanent Road Division zones are formed at the request of property owners to finance the improvement and maintenance of roads which are not in the county-maintained system. The property owners pay for the cost of improving and maintaining the roads, and the cost share assessed to each parcel is determined by the amount of benefit it receives from the improvement.
In February 1998 the San Diego County Board of Supervisors approved the use of Permanent Road Division zones as an alternative to a County Service Area, although some county service areas cover fire protection, parks, or other services rather than roads. The county supervisors established a countywide permanent road division in February 2000 while transitioning the county service areas for road improvements into PRD zones. Board of Supervisors Policy J-16, which covers the establishment of assessment districts to provide for local roads, outlined the conditions to form a PRD zone in an existing development.
“PRD’s allow the owners to pool private funding to regularly maintain their private roads,” said Supervisor Bill Horn.
Policy J-16 provided only the option of an assessment district to form a PRD zone. Landowners petition to request mail ballot proceedings, and if a weighted majority of the ballots received by the county approve the zone’s formation the district is established. The California Streets and Highways Code allows a PRD zone to be formed either by a landowner ballot approving an assessment or by registered voters within the proposed PRD zone boundary approving a special tax which requires support from two-thirds of the voters for passage.
On May 4 the Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to amend Policy J-16 to allow for the option of forming a PRD zone by a special tax.
“PRD’s can now be formed through a simpler, cheaper ballot process,” Horn said. “This action will allow a new method for property owners living adjacent to these roads to create a Permanent Road Division zone.”
Although a two-thirds majority of registered voters rather than landowners will be needed to approve a special tax, the amended Policy J-16 protects landowners by requiring that only landowners can sign a petition indicating whether they prefer an assessment or a special tax. A petition requesting a special tax must be signed by at least two-thirds of the landowners within the proposed PRD zone boundary while a petition requesting an assessment must be signed by at least 60 percent of the landowners.
In either case sufficient petition signatures will bring the proposed PRD zone to the Board of Supervisors for further action. An assessment petition will trigger a mail election with the results of the weighted vote returning to the Board of Supervisors for confirmation or rejection. A petition for a special tax will be placed on a ballot under the auspices of the Registrar of Voters.
The cost of processing the formation will be included in the zone’s expense. The county will absorb the processing cost if the formation is not approved, although the high percentage of property owners who signed the petition makes failure unlikely.
If all outstanding debt for the PRD zone has been repaid, dissolution of a PRD zone may be requested by landowner petition. The dissolution would be brought to county staff and the Board of Supervisors for review if a petition is signed by at least a majority of the landowners within the PRD zone or by landowners of at least 50 percent of the assessed valuation.
