HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-20-2016 Item 8, RibleCOMMENTS AND QUESTIONS REGARDING THE PROPOSED
DREDGING OF LAGUNA LAKE
1)Thank you for the informative presentation by city staff on August 4, 2016 regarding the
current condition of Laguna Lake and the proposed removal of sediment from the lake.
2)Thank you and congratulations for beginning the process of addressing the problem of
sedimentation in the lake.
3)The following statements and questions relate to the proposed use of a Benefit-Assessment
District or Community Facilities District to provide funding for the lake dredging project,
and how the project is to be accomplished.
a.The city received the lake and park fifty-plus years ago at no cost.
b.Taxing properties abutting the lake based on value added by that status will be asking
the owners of those properties to contribute a disproportionate share toward
remediating a situation they had no part in creating.
c.I believe a real estate appraiser would confirm the value added by a property’s
lakefront status lies primarily in the view(s) offered and only secondarily in the
access to the lake from those properties. Visitors first say, “great view,” not, “do you
have a boat.” There will be water in the lake (and the view of it) without dredging the
lake, at least insofar as the properties within Tract 279 are concerned, for many years
to come. As proposed (Option 2A), the dredging will leave most Tract 279 properties
unaffected in terms of view of, access to, and depth of the lake. It does not seem
much value will be added to those properties.
d.Any value added by a property’s lakefront status is offset by the fact those properties
lie (along with a number of non-lakefront properties) within a Federal Emergency
Council Meeting: 09-20-2016
Item: 8
Management Agency (FEMA) designated flood zone, an honor bestowed subsequent
to the January 1973 flood event. The flooding experienced in the Laguna area in
1973, and the resultant designation by FEMA were a direct result of the city’s
inadequately sized lake/creek outlet (specifications for the outlet’s design and
construction were set by the city) at Madonna Road.
e. If it is reasonable to require lakefront properties to pay a larger share of the cost of a
dredging project perceived to maintain or enhance those property’s values, is it also
be reasonable to expect the owners of properties in close proximity to Mission Plaza
to pay a share of the cost of the proposed enhancements to the Plaza? The properties
around Mission Plaza will enjoy increased foot traffic, higher sales per square foot
and greater property values when the Plaza is improved.
f. Laguna Lakefront property owners already pay higher property taxes than similar
non-lakefront properties in the area and have done so for fifty-plus years.
g. If lakefront property owners are to bear a higher proportion of the cost of the lake-
dredging project, they inherently become partners of the city. These partners will
justifiably have high expectations. They should have a greater voice in the current
proposed project and the ongoing maintenance of the lake.
h. The above-mentioned real estate appraiser would also confirm the fact the value of
lakefront status varies dependent on location. The value added to, for example 1588
Oceanaire, is much different than that added to 1320 Oceanaire. A fair imposition of a
“parcel tax” connected to dredging or otherwise maintaining the lake will require an
individual appraisal of the exact value added by lakefront status to each parcel.
i. The use of proceeds from the tax on lakefront properties should only be used for
dredging the lake. The proceeds should not be used for repairing the banks on the
city’s side of the lake, nor building a walkway on the peninsula, nor fixing the large
portion of the park road that has fallen into the lake, nor repairing the docks (one of
which rests on a foundation that is seriously undermined), nor removing sediment
from the creek, nor repairing the creek bank at the golf course., etc.
j. Is the park roadway planned as the route used by the trucks carrying the sediment
removed from the lake? Is the roadway designed and constructed to an appropriate
standard, given the number and weight of the trucks necessary to remove 50,000
cubic yards of material?
k. Is some of the impetus behind seeking to tax lakefront property at a much higher rate
than anyone else within the city to help assure buy-in by property owners other than
lakefronters?
Thank you for your time and for consideration of the above,
Henry Rible
1464 Oceanaire (for 41 years)