OCPB agenda 070214 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

11-2 Orange County Comprehensive Parks and Recreation Master Plan CHAPTER 11 - Issues for Further Study / Conclusion 11 As can be seen in the example above, land dedication rates for a typical subdivision would generate small fractions of an acre in land for a park, amounts far too small to be useful for park needs by a county that focuses on district and community- scale parks. Even a 100-lot subdivision would generate by this formula only 1.8 acres of parks and open space land (or up to 5 acres if all were flood- plain or steep slope land). Largely for this reason (and the fact that few developments have occurred at planned park sites), the County has chosen to accept the payment-in-lieu amount rather than try to administer hundreds of tiny park sites. By local legislation and ordinance, payment-in-lieu funds must be expended in the district in which the sub- division is located. While the payment in lieu funds have been an im- portant, albeit small contributor to parkland acquisi- tion and park construction, the need for a more up- to-date approach to land dedication and payment in lieu has long been needed. Attempts to examine changes to this model were explored by 1999 or before, and an analysis was undertaken by a con- sultant firm in 2001. At that time, the consultant’s finding determined that the County’s program for land dedication / pay- ment-in-lieu provided insufficient support, but not- ed that the County’s lack of existing parks created a level of service that may not warrant an increase. Knowing that the County was preparing to embark on its first attempt to build parks and create a parks system, it was recommended that this system be re- evaluated in several years when new parks were opened and the level of service increased. for new facilities that are related directly to the in- crease in persons and park needs generated by the development. The full language of the parks and open space land dedication / payment-in-lieu system is provided as Appendix 11-1. While this system has provided important auxiliary funding to the acquisition of several park sites and the construction of a parks, one of the drawbacks of the system is that the land dedication and funding provisions remain the same as they were in the 1980s. Developers of a subdivi- sion must provide 1/57 of an acre for each dwelling unit in the subdivision plan (1/20 of an acre in areas of floodplains and steep slopes). However, a subdivi- sion developer may, with approval, make a payment in lieu of land dedication if there are no identified park needs on this location. In this case, the developer may make a payment equal for $422 per lot if within an identified community park service area (smaller portions of the county around com- munity park sites), or $455 per lot if within a district park service area (all of the county). Map 11-1: Current (2014) Payment-in-Lieu Districts Example: Land Dedication 10 lots: 10 x 1/57 of an acre (0.018 acre) = 0.18 acre of land dedicated for parks/open space. Payment in Lieu of Land Dedication 10 lots: 10 x $455 = $4,550 payment in lieu 126