SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT PROPOSED WATER
DEMAND OFFSET PROGRAM:
On
Tuesday, August 5, 2003, the Board of Directors of the Soquel Creek Water
District has scheduled a Public Hearing at 7 pm at the Capitola City Council
Chambers located at 420 Capitola Avenue in order to present a new requirement
for developers/builders of new construction.
For each new home, a builder would be required to retrofit existing
homes and businesses in the Soquel Creek Water District service area in order
to get a new water hookup! How many
homes/businesses? Chris Regan, Soquel
Creek Water District Communications and Conservation Director, has stated that
a formula which produces the necessary water savings as calculated by the
District could require an indeterminate number of homes to retrofit with low
flow water saving devices. The premise
is to have the builder do enough retrofits to equalize the amount of water for
each new residence built. For example,
some existing retrofits may use more water than others. So a builder could choose to retrofit a
restaurant or a school, which ordinarily uses more water than an existing
residence. Meanwhile, the number of
retrofits could be as many as 8 (existing) home retrofits or less, depending on
the calculated savings required for each new residential hookup. In any case, an average cost of $300-500 per
retrofit could run $2000 to $4000 and up.
According to information provided by the District, in
order to determine the number of retrofits a developer has to complete, the
District will use "water use factors", which reflect water use over
the life of a project expressed as annual use in acre-feet. The proposed guidelines state that
applicants for water service would be required to purchase and install
sufficient numbers of shower heads, kitchen and bathroom sink faucet aerators,
and low-flow toilets to offset the expected water use of their respective
developments by a 1.2 to 1 ratio. The
District will maintain a list of property owners desiring retrofits, which may
be utilized by the builder to accomplish the requirement, or the builder may
develop a separate list. Therefore,
homeowners who want to have their toilets retrofitted for free by a builder
will put their properties on the list. Once retrofitted, District staff will
verify that the retrofitted units have been properly installed and will
calculate the (water) savings achieved.
Builders would be assessed a charge for District staff/representative to
verify that all properties were properly retrofitted for the builder's
project. No "in lieu" fees
would be allowed, in return for not doing the retrofits. (In addition to the retrofit cost, a new
hookup for domestic and fire is $6950.) In the Soquel Creek Water District,
only 17 new hookups were added last year.
At the present time, there are very few pending projects
and the total number of new residential units in the "hopper" is
probably less than 50. There are many
questions: How much water will this new
proposal save? Will such additional costs be prohibitive to housing
affordability? Are there other solutions that are more viable? What figures have been used to calculate
home water use? How will this plan be managed?
And on and on. "Watch" and attend the
meeting next Tuesday evening, August 5, 2003.
COUNTY OF SANTA CRUZ
Housing Element Public Hearings: The Housing Advisory Committee's sole
agenda item for August 6 and August 20 will be a Public Hearing about the
County's Housing Element. The meetings
will be held from 6:00-8:00pm at Cabrillo College Room 435, 6500 Soquel Drive,
Aptos, CA. The draft Housing Element
will outline the 2621 proposed units for the County until the year 2007. At the present time, Watsonville is the only
jurisdiction in Santa Cruz County that has received certification from State of
California Housing and Community Development (HCD) for 2,283 units. Capitola, Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley and the
County are in various stages of the approval process for their respective
Housing Elements. "Watch"!
Agriculture Disclosure Chapter 16.50:
County Board of Supervisors will hold a Public Hearing on
August 12, 2003 to discuss amendments to the Agriculture Disclosure ordinance
Chapter 16.50. The proposed ordinance
would require disclosure and notification, upon sale or transfer of ALL Santa
Cruz County properties by means of a recorded document stating that Santa Cruz
County is in an Agricultural area, with certain disclosure provisions. At the current time, only those properties
which are adjacent to property (located within 200 feet) are required to make the disclosure and
record a notice of adjacency regarding Agriculture. Please contact your supervisor in writing to: Board of Supervisors, 701 Ocean Street,
Santa Cruz, CA 95060 with your opinion before August 12, or log on to
www.co.santa-cruz.ca.us and email your Supervisor from there. Attend the meeting on August 12! "Watch"!
CITY OF WATSONVILLE
Farmworker First Time Home Buyer Grants
Watsonville's
Farmworker First Time Home Buyer Grants were designed to help agricultural
workers buy newly constructed homes. To be eligible for a Farmworker Grant, at
least 25% of household income must come from agricultural employment. The City of Watsonville defines agricultural
employment as "any work that is performed in the fields to cultivate or
harvest fruit, vegetables or flowers. Packing and processing agricultural
products is only considered agricultural employment if the work occurs where
the products are grown. For example, mushrooms and flowers are typically grown,
picked, packaged and shipped from the same site. Work in the fishing, poultry,
livestock and timber industries may also qualify as agricultural employment.
Transporting agricultural products is generally not considered agricultural
employment."
Applicants must not have owned a home in the last three years and must qualify under household income guidelines. For example, a family of 4 persons may not exceed income of $60,550. Priority is given to buyers who live or work within the City limits of Watsonville. Eligible Homes must be in the City, brand new and never occupied. The maximum grant is $30,000. To be eligible for a Farmworker Grant, the home, condo, or townhome must be located in the City of Watsonville, must be newly constructed and never occupied. Mobile homes are not available.
There is no limit
to the purchase price for a new home. Both market rate homes and the affordable
homes produced under the City's Affordable Housing Ordinance are eligible for
Farmworker Grants. (It is important to
note that the buyer must qualify with a lender for the entire financing
package.) The maximum Farmworker Grant is currently $30,000, and can combine
other assistance programs for purchase if needed. Homebuyers must contribute at least 3% of the purchase price of
the home--either toward closing costs or downpayment.
These Farmworker
Grants are considered secured grants because a lien is recorded against the
property. No payment or interest is
charged if certain guidelines are followed.
Each year, about 10% of the grant is forgiven. If a property owner owns and lives on the property for 20 years,
the grant is forgiven. Check out the
City's website for this and other loan programs and to review Watsonville's new
developments at http://www.ci.watsonville.ca.us
or contact rhd@ci.watsonville.ca.us
831-728-6014. "Watch"
this one for your Farmworker clients!
CITY OF SANTA CRUZ
Amendments to the City's Unified Housing Rehab Guidelines
The City’s Unified Housing Rehabilitation Program (UHRP)
offers loans and grants to assist low-income households, landlords and
nonprofit community and governmental organizations with the rehabilitation of
owner-occupied and rental housing. Primary funding for the UHRP comes from
federal Community Development Block Grant and Home Investment Partnerships
Program entitlement grants. The UHRP
Administrative Guidelines formulate policies and procedures for the analysis
and approval of loan/grant applications, disbursement of loan/grant funds and
rehabilitation project management, and must be revised in order to accommodate
changing federal funding regulations and administration of the funds.
The following include some of the clarifying changes
to the program:
1)
Allows funds to be used in the conversion of existing accessory structures to
accessory dwelling units. 2) Establishes a common definition of “annual income”
to be used in qualifying loan applicants for all types of funding sources
available for use in the UHRP. 3) Restructures deferred loans to re-define
payment schedules. and 4) Eliminates mobile home loans for individuals. These
loans have proven to be problematic in the past (only 2 mobile home loans
issued in the last 10 years) due to the fact that mobile homes are not real
property and security of the loans has been an issue. However, loans for repair and upgrade of infrastructure
improvements in mobile home parks are still available. Contact the City of Santa Cruz at or log on
to www.ci.santa-cruz.ca.us for more information. "Watch"
Bay Gharkey Street Alley
Re-Named Via Riva Trigoso: On March 8, 2003, area residents dedicated the alley
behind Lighthouse Avenue as Via Riva Trigoso. The
site was selected to honor the Santa Cruz-Italian fishing colony, La
Barranca. La Barranca was
geographically located between Bay and Gharkey Streets, next to Lighthouse
Avenue. It is the first alley ever
named after Riva Trigoso. Today, there
are over 10,000 California descendents from this small village in Italy. The Santa Cruz Genovese Fishing Colony is
part of the Pacific Coast chain of Italian communities originating from the
Riva Trigoso coastal village of Sestri Levante, a Santa Cruz sister city east
of Genova.
The
alley was named to commemorate the birthplace of Mary Carniglia, the first
woman to open a business on the Municipal Wharf. Mrs. Carniglia moved to Santa Cruz in 1906 after the
earthquake. She was the first Italian
woman in Santa Cruz with bilingual skills and an English education. She worked as a bilingual translator aiding
the Italian community with citizenship paperwork and many other interpretation
needs. Mrs. Carniglia aided fellow
community members displaced during World War II. She helped those without United States citizenship obtain proper
documentation and lobbied the government on behalf of Italian fisherman that
had fishing privileges revoked during the war.
It's fun to "Watch" the history and note a new
street name based on an old tradition.
NAR GAD MEETING
The
National Association of REALTORS® Government Affairs Directors (GAD) meeting
was held July 23-27. Federal
legislation was updated and discussed.
As of July 2003, some of the pending bills included the following: HR2622
"Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003” to amend the Fair
Credit Reporting Act to prevent identity theft, improve resolution of consumer
disputes, improve the accuracy of consumer records, make improvements in the
use of, and consumer access to, credit information, and for other purposes; HR 1500 "Veteran's Appraiser Choice
Act" Allows veterans to select the appraiser for housing loans for
which they apply that are to be guaranteed by the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs; S 576 "Business Property
Economic Revitalization Act" and HR 1634 Leasehold Legislation: Reduces
the recovery period for leasehold improvements from its current 39 year level
to 10 years; S875 "Community Development Homeownership Tax Credit Act" Creates a tax credit available to developers
and investors who build or rehabilitate affordable housing that individuals
below the median income in an area could purchase; HR 666 Mortgage Cancellation Relief Act: amends the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude from gross income of individual taxpayers
discharges of indebtedness attributable to certain forgiven residential
mortgage obligations; and HR 8 Death Tax
Repeal Permanency Act: Makes repeal of the estate tax permanent. Also noted are the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Act which contain several favorable
provisions for real estate including a capital gains rate cut from 20% to 15%,
a bonus depreciation provision that includes tenant leasehold and increase for
small business expensing.
The
package includes a dividends rate cut that is not harmful to housing tax credit
programs and cuts individual tax rates.
NAR continues to go head to head with the bankers by gathering more and
more support for HR 111 Community Choice
in Real Estate Act which prohibits financial holding companies and national
banks from engaging directly or indirectly, in real estate brokerage or real estate
management activities. In addition, NAR
is meeting with FCC on the National Do-Not-Call Registry and Unsolicited
Facsimiles.
On
Tuesday, July 22, 2003, NAR staff met with FCC officials to discuss their
recent amendments to their Telemarketing Rules. Of specific concern to NAR are
1) the decision by the FCC to extend compliance obligations for the National
Do-Not-Call Registry to intrastate as well as interstate activity, and 2) the
FCC's reversal of its longstanding interpretation of the prohibition on
unsolicited facsimiles. While
maintaining that the FCC has the authority to preempt state law and that their
new interpretation of the unsolicited fax issue was more closely aligned with
Congressional intent, the FCC encouraged NAR to seek clarification or
reconsideration on any of the provisions on which NAR believes 1) the FCC
overstepped their authority and/or 2) NAR will require additional
clarification. The approach for seeking reconsideration or clarification is
through a Petition process. For further
information on the Do-Not-Call Registry, please log on to the NAR website at
http://www.realtor.org. Please feel
free to call your federal legislators on any of the aforementioned bills. "Watch"!
Please Note: The Legislative Watch is prepared by Rose
Marie McNair, Legislative Monitor, and is only a summary not intended to
provide legal advice, and should always be verified for accuracy.