On Monday, Rio Linda Elverta Recreation and Parks District administrator Mike Heller spoke at the Rio Linda Visions meeting about the proposed “Panhandle” annexation by the City of Sacramento. You can listen to the presentation below.
The Panhandle is about 1,400 acres in Sacramento County. This is composed of two areas;
- The “Handle” is the mostly vacant 589 acres of property to the north of Del Paso Road and south of Elkhorn Boulevard, just west of Sorrento Road. This goes all the way north to the Krumenacher Cattle Ranch at the corner of Elkhorn Blvd and East Levee Road.
- The “Pan” is the developed area south of Del Paso Road and north of I80. This area is about 840 acres, of mostly light-industrial uses.
In September 2007, the City Council approved a motion for final Council action, after approval of a tax exchange agreement. A tax exchange agreement between the City and County of Sacramento was approved by the City Council and Board of Supervisors in 2010 for the vacant land north of Del Paso Road and 58 acres of developed industrial property immediately north and south of Del Paso Road.
Then the Great Recession came about, and a final hearing was never held.
On July 14, 2016, the project was brought back to the City Planning and Design Commission for review and comment to solicit feedback from the community.
The City is not interested in the Pan. The focus of the annexation proposal is the Handle only. We should also note here that the business and property owners in the Pan are not interested to switching from County to City services and the expenditure that would require of them. Also, the City would have to do $10.5 million dollars of infrastructure work to bring the Pan up to current City codes.
A decade from now, when Sacramento has approved and developed the Handle with 1600 homes, a new Robla District elementary school, and a completed (finally) East Natomas Educational Center, and the County starts development on the North Precinct (the property north of Elkhorn Blvd from East Levee Road to the 99 freeway and north all the way to the Sutter County Line), maybe the city changes its tune and they decide they want the pan as well.
Here’s the problem; The entire Panhandle area is within the Rio Linda Elverta Recreation and Parks District boundaries. In fact, our parks district receives 40% of its total funding from the panhandle.
In October of 2017, The City asked for a joint meeting with the County and the RLERPD to discuss the tax agreement. Right now from the undeveloped handle, the County gets about $22,000 annually via property taxes. The RLERPD traditionally receives 1% of property taxes. In the tax plan, the City is offering RLERPD about $2500 per year for the next 5 years. $12,500 over 5 years isn’t much in the grand scheme of things.
The rub is that RLERPD will no longer be the service provider for the handle. After 5 years, RLERPD will receive no revenue from that property, which is important, because in 5 years development will be well underway, property improvements raise property taxes, and RLERPD misses out on that opportunity to service that area and it’s two new parks and all the increased tax revenue that comes with it.
The City is adamant that Sacramento Parks and Rec will be the service provider for the panhandle after the annexation, and that RLERPD will have to give up that property. However, there’s been precedent where an area has incorporated or been annexed and the incumbent service district has continued providing services. It’s also felt that RLERPD can do a better job of providing services to that area than the City of Sacramento can do. In fact, Sacramento District 1 Councilmember Angelique Ashby is on record as saying the City will use the revenue from this development to finish the parks in Natomas that have gone unfinished for many years.
On July 3 2018, the City Council voted to move forward with the annexation. During this meeting, Ashby stated that when the City acquires land, they take over all services, which isn’t an accurate statement. Metro Fire is providing services in Natomas, and the Sacramento County Sheriff is also providing services in Natomas.
The current tax agreement is going to the Board of Supervisors at their meeting on July 17th. Unfortunately, the Supervisors and their staff are on recess until Monday the 16th. This development is in District 1, which is Phil Serna’s district.
Once there is an agreement in place, the issue will go before LAFCO, the Local Agency Formation Commission for approval. One of the LAFCO policies is that you cannot have a service area isolated from the surrounding area. If the City annexes the handle without the pan, the pan will be an island of Sacramento County within the City Limits. This cannot happen UNLESS all the represented parties are in agreement.
The RLERPD is an independent district, and is not a part of the County Government, and they do not agree as a party to this agreement.
Incorporation?
Here is a good time to discuss any possible future incorporation of Rio Linda & Elverta as a city.
This is the RL/E community area as defined by Sacramento County:
This is the map of the Rio Linda Elverta Recreation and Parks District:
As you can see, RLERPD provides services all the way down into the panhandle, and all the way west to the 99 freeway.
If Rio Linda & Elverta were to ever attempt incorporation again, we would incorporate along the RLERPD service area. With the panhandle gone, pan or not, that severely limits the developed area the new city would collect revenue from, and puts any serious future efforts in jeopardy.
The city is annexing property to the southwest, the County laying out plans to develop the North Precinct directly west, we’re being squeezed by the City on the south and Placer and Sutter Counties to the north. At what point does Rio Linda stop being Rio Linda? When does it end? When do we as a community put our foot down and say no, we don’t agree with the City and County’s plans and this isn’t what we want for ourselves and our children?
I think we’re there. The wolves are at the door.
Links:
Rio Linda Elverta Recreation and Parks District
City of Sacramento Community Development
Sacramento Business Journal story “Rural Rio Linda, Elverta May Push For Cityhood” 2005
