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SARATOGA CITY COUNCIL
MEETING DATE: July 15, 2009 AGENDA ITEM:
DEPARTMENT: Public Works CITY MANAGER: Dave Anderson
PREPARED BY: Richard Taylor DIRECTOR: John Cherbone
________________________________________________________________________
SUBJECT: Proposed ordinance amending the City Code to revise the requirements for park
dedication and fees and technical amendments to the City’s code provisions to
conform with state law.
RECOMMENDED ACTIONS:
(1) Open the public hearing and consider all testimony received;
(2) Introduce and waive the first reading of the attached ordinance; and
(3) Direct staff to place the attached ordinance and resolution on the consent calendar
for adoption at the September 2, 2009 City Council meeting.
SUMMARY:
The June 2007 update to the Open Space and Conservation Element of the City’s General Plan
recognized that additional parks, trail and resource conservation areas must be developed,
protected, and preserved in order to retain the identity and natural resources of the City. The
update calls for the dedication of five acres of developed municipal parkland per 1,000 residents.
The current City Code only requires dedications based on a ratio of three acres of parkland for
every 1,000 residents. The attached ordinance (Attachment A) would amend the City Code to
change that ratio to five acres of real property per 1,000 residents. This ordinance also clarifies
provisions of the City Code to ensure it conforms with state law.
DISCUSSION:
Five acres of parkland per 1,000 residents is the standard promulgated by the National Recreation
and Park Association and is a common metric used by other communities in California to measure
adequacy of parkland. The 2007 update to the Open Space and Conservation Element of the
City’s General plan recognized that additional parkland must be protected and established a goal
of five acres of parkland per 1,000 residents. The City’s Parks and Trails Master Plan also call for
five acres per 1,000 residents. This amount of parkland would allow the City to maintain its
existing character as a small town residential community surrounded by rural and open spaces.
The City Code currently requires dedications at a ratio of three acres per 1,000 residents. The
City requires the dedication of this amount of land, or imposes a requirement for the payment of
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fees, as a condition of subdivision approvals. The dedication ration authorized by state law
depends in part upon the existing ratio of park acreage to population within the City. Cities may
adopt ratios as high as five acres per 1,000 residents only if the existing ratio in the City is at least
as great. As part of the ongoing inventory of City property staff recently completed the attached
inventory of parks and recreation lands (Attachment B). The inventory of City parkland indicates
that Saratoga contains five acres of parkland per 1,000 residents. (The City has 158 acres of
parkland and, according to the 2000 census, a population of 28,843 for a ratio of 5.3 acres per
1,000 residents.) Accordingly the City is authorized by state law to require dedications at a ratio
of 5 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents.
ALTERNATIVES:
The City could adopt a figure other than five acres per 1,000 residents. However, State law
prohibits the City from requiring more than five acres per 1,000. If the City wanted to adopt a
lower figure it would need to amend the General Plan accordingly.
FISCAL IMPACTS: The ordinance will allow the City to acquire and develop park and
recreation lands to meet the needs of new residents to Saratoga.
ADVERTISING, NOTICING AND PUBLIC CONTACT:
This matter was noticed at the time the agenda was posted.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment A – Proposed Ordinance
Attachment B – Park and Recreation Land Inventory