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Council closes public comment, schedules public ballot counts for proposed landscaping and winter-berm districts
Summary
After presentations of engineer reports and public hearings, the council adopted resolutions to end the comment period and ordered publicly noticed weighted-ballot counts for a Landscaping Maintenance District and a Winter Beach Berm District; the counts are scheduled for March 9–10 with results to be reported March 23.
The Carpinteria City Council concluded two statutorily required public hearings on March 9 and adopted resolutions to proceed to public weighted-ballot counting for both a Landscaping Maintenance District (2025-1) and a Winter Beach Berm maintenance district.
Staff and consultant representatives presented the engineer’s reports that define the district boundaries, the services to be funded (street and median landscaping, tree maintenance for the landscaping district; seasonal berm construction, ongoing maintenance and permitting for the winter berm), and the methodology used to assign proportional benefit units. Because these are benefit-assessment processes governed by the state statutes referenced in the staff reports (AB 2257 / AB 218), adoption of the resolutions brought the procedure to the ballot-counting stage.
No written protest ballots were presented in-person during the hearings and staff confirmed ballots could still be returned under the posted procedures; council adopted resolutions concluding the public comment periods and ordered public ballot counts to occur the following day(s) in the council chambers. Staff said the counts will be publicly noticed and that weighted ballots will be tallied and presented to the council at its March 23 meeting; if a weighted majority of ballots is opposed, the district formation will fail.
Why it matters: both districts, if formed, will create ongoing assessments paid by affected property owners to fund landscaping/tree maintenance and beach-protection operations; formation depends on the result of the weighted-ballot process rather than a council vote. The staff presentation included explanations of maximum charge adjustments allowed annually by a formula (CPI or 3%, whichever is greater, capped at 6%).
What’s next: city staff and the city clerk’s designee will conduct the weighted ballot count in public on the scheduled dates and report the tally and outcome to council on March 23.
