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Bill targets Mello-Roos loophole to make shoreline properties share infrastructure costs
Summary
Sen. Becker’s SB 390 would close a gap in the Mello-Roos Community Facilities District rules so commercial properties with partial conservation easements in San Mateo County would contribute to CFDs; the committee moved the bill to the floor 9-0.
Sen. Becker told the Assembly Local Government Committee on June 19 that SB 390 is a narrow amendment to the Mello-Roos Act aimed at preventing some fully developed commercial properties from avoiding Community Facilities District (CFD) assessments when partial conservation easements exist.
Becker said the change responds to a court decision and a local situation in San Mateo County’s shoreline region where properties subject to Bay Conservation and Development Commission easements were able, under current law as interpreted, to avoid CFD assessments even though they benefit from local infrastructure such as roads, water and sewers.
James Coleman, a South San Francisco councilmember, testified in support and described an area with an extensive biotechnology cluster and planned infrastructure investments that rely on equitable CFD participation. "The goal is to ensure that all property owners who will benefit from these public improvements, regardless of conservation easement status, will contribute fairly to the cost of those improvements," Coleman said.
Becker and the sponsors said the bill does not remove conservation easements, does not cancel environmental protections and still requires the formation of a CFD and the two-thirds voter approval threshold. No witnesses registered opposition.
The committee recorded a unanimous move of the measure to the Assembly floor; the roll revealed a 9-0 vote to pass SB 390 to the floor.
