Green Valley Hills Landscape Lighting & Assessment District

Green Valley Hills Landscape Lighting & Assessment District

Historical Formation Number 5
CSD Accounting Fund Number 21
Engineer's Report Number 3
County Assessor Tax Code 64306

EDHCSD Resolution Number: 89-13

Green Valley Village LLAD improvements are located along Green Valley Road, extend North on Salmon Falls Road and terminates on Lake Forest Road.

Improvements include:

  • Landscaping – 93,980 square feet (SF).
  • Fencing – 3,855 lineal feet (LF) of redwood fencing and brick pilasters.
  • Signs/Monuments – three (3) entry village entrance signs.
  • Streetlights – four (4).
Green Valley Hills Stantec Map Only


The El Dorado Hills Community Services District (District) last engaged with owners of the Green Valley Hills LLAD #21 in late 2019/early 2020 regarding the non-inflationary factor and underfunded status of your LLAD. Due to COVID, the District’s continued outreach was delayed. The District is now re-engaging to notify owners of an upcoming vote by mail ballot to address the status of your LLAD.  Ballots will be mailed no later than May 28, 2021.  A sample ballot can be found here.

Information regarding the background and details of your LLAD are outlined below.

ENGAGEMENT
The District began this process back in January 2018, hosting a meeting for the residents of El Dorado Hills who pay into District-managed Landscape and Lighting Assessment Districts (LLADs), specifically those formed without an annual inflationary factor.

In response to questions received during the January meeting, the District held individual meetings in late 2019/early 2020 with each of the four (4) LLADs without an inflationary factor and are in an underfunded status. Since those meetings, the District has updated its Cost Allocation and Asset Reserve Studies, and are re-engaging owners to finalize addressing the condition of their LLAD.

GENERAL LLAD HISTORY
An LLAD is a funding mechanism, assessed by a levy on parcels, and created to financially assist local governments, such as the District, in providing the administration, operations and maintenance of assets within a defined boundary. Between the late 1980s and mid-1990s, the District formed several LLADs to fund the improvements, operations and maintenance of assets throughout El Dorado Hills, such as irrigation and landscape areas, street lights, fencing, entry monuments, and a variety of other park and open space facilities. The assets and funds associated with the LLADs are individually tracked within the District’s budget and reported on an annual basis.

GREEN VALLEY HILLS (LLAD #21) 
Green Valley Hills (“LLAD #21”) was formed in 1989 and is comprised of a number of assets and maintenance areas including:
• Landscaping – 93,980 sq. ft.
• Fencing – 3,855 linear feet of redwood fencing and brick pilasters
• Signs – Two (2) village entrance signs
• Streetlights – Four (4)

At the time of formation, an inflationary factor, also referred to as a Consumer Price Index (“CPI”), was not incorporated into the assessment to fund future increasing costs related to the operations and maintenance for the above referenced assets. For the past 32 years, this has resulted in a “flat” or “level” assessment (current maximum assessment is $76.90) to the parcels within Green Valley Hills LLAD #21. The major factors supporting the need to include an inflationary adjustment in an LLAD assessment are related to the rising costs for materials, utilities, labor, etc. The exclusion of this inflationary factor has contributed to insufficient funding of the LLAD.

If LLAD #21 had been created with an inflationary factor, similar to other LLADs in the District, the maximum assessment would have increased from $76.90 in 1989 to $180.86 in 2020, an annual increase associated to the CPI, which ranged from 0.7% and 5% during that period of time. Based on current market costs and the condition of current assets needing replaced, the proposed maximum rate to be assessed is $349.14*. This assessment would not provide the immediate funding to replace the existing fence due to the current cost for materials and construction.

Ballot and Q&A Virtual Session Information

Mail Ballot Options

The following options will be made available by mail ballot:

OPTION
1 (recommended)
Green Valley Hills owners agree to the recommended inflationary increase to their current assessment to meet the operations and maintenance needs, up to the proposed maximum rate of $349.14.*

OPTION 2
Green Valley Hills owners do not approve an inflationary increase. With this option, decreased operations and maintenance, and potential removal of assets will be necessary based on available budget.

OPTION 3
Owners organize a Homeowners Association (HOA) and dissolve the LLAD completely. With this dissolution, the HOA would be required to manage and provide maintenance services to the area. Should the Green Valley Hills owners opt to absorb maintenance operations into a
newly formed HOA, formation of a “shell LLAD” would be required to ensure that if the HOA were to fail, the District has the ability to activate the LLAD to fund maintenance operations.

Green Valley Hills LLAD is one of several in this same position, where an inflationary factor was not included and funding is limited. Current regular operations and maintenance costs for LLAD #21 averages $14,000-$21,000 annually. In addition to regular annual maintenance, the District also refers to the “Browning Reserve Study”, a deferred maintenance report to identify and schedule repair and/or replacement of the assets within the LLAD.

Several scheduled repairs and/or replacement of assets have not occurred due to the present inability to increase the assessment to match the funds needed to perform that work. The current list of assets and cost for these improvements are outlined in the table below:

Reserve Component (Asset) Budget

Bark Replacement $1,447
Irrigation Parts $6,422
Irrigation Misc. – 93,980 SF (valves, sprinklers, drainage) $3,179
Irrigation Backflow Preventers (2”) $1,365
Tree Replacement (east/south areas) $5,459
Shrub Replacement (east/south areas) $6,459
Fence Replacement – 3,855 LF $134,925*
Fence Staining – 23,130 SF $27,756
Signage Monuments  $26,628

*Current costs for fence replacement is approx. $270,000

GVH Monument Sign    GVH Monument 2

GVH Wrought Iron Fence   GVH Landscaping & Fencing

 GVH Fence Detached    GVH Fencing 1   

Directing District General funds towards backfilling the “underfunded” LLADs is not an equitable way to resolve the issue, as it causes a reduction in funding used for other District-wide obligations.

The District is seeking resolution to properly address the LLADs that are insufficiently funded. To assist in this process, your participation in the upcoming vote by mail ballot is requested. Ballots will be mailed no later than May 28, 2021. 

Q & A Virtual Session for Green Valley Hills LLAD
May 12, 2021 at 5:30 p.m. via Zoom
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89857694032
Call In Number 1 (669) 900-6833

The District looks forward to working together with our owners. The outcome of your vote will help
determine how the future of the LLAD will be maintained.