AGENDA ITEM #3
R-15-11
Meeting 15-03
February 12, 2015
To:
Board of Directors
Open Space Authority
From:
Andrea Mackenzie
General Manager
SUBJECT
Authorize General Manager to Pursue Amendments to the Authority’s Enabling Act
BACKGROUND
The original Enabling Act of the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority was passed by the State
Legislature in 1992 and became effective in 1993. Amendments modified the original Enabling Act in
2007 (effective 2008) and 2012 (effective 2013).
As Authority Staff prepare for the intensive effort involved in the implementation of Measure Q, Staff
reviewed the Enabling Act and identified amendments that would benefit the organization’s
effectiveness in meeting its mission. For now, Staff proposes two areas for amendment: (1) a name
change; and (2) power to hold property outside the Authority’s current boundaries in limited
circumstances.
1) Name Change
The Santa Clara County Open Space Authority’s redesign of its logo in 2013 makes reference to the
Santa Clara Valley in order to distinguish itself more clearly from the Santa Clara County Parks and
Recreation Department, and also to make the association with the geomorphological/aesthetic features
of our area rather than the political. Staff has heard solid support in the community for use of the term
“Valley” in the Authority’s formal name. However, without a legal change of the Authority’s name in the
Enabling Act, “County” is used on documents requiring the Authority’s formal name (e.g., contracts).
This presents confusion internally and externally. Moreover, in contracts and legal proceedings many
parties, and even the courts, have assumed that the Authority is part of Santa Clara County government,
not a special district, simply because the term “County” appears in the official name of the agency. Staff
seeks to resolve this confusion by legally memorializing the change.
Additionally, the Authority is commonly referred to informally by much shorter monikers for obvious
reasons. The agency is most commonly referred to in conversation as “OSA” or “the Authority.”(In legal
papers, many refer to the full acronym of the Authority’s name: “SCCOSA.”) While the Authority is used
to these appellations of affection and generally think nothing of them, we are aware that others less
familiar with the Authority can be left with an incorrect impression, when hearing of “the Authority”, of
an agency that regulates or enforces. Other interpretations may also be prevalent.
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Staff feels that the term “Agency” instead of “Authority” would help significantly reduce the regulatory
impression in the Authority’s name, and also allows continued use of the “OSA” moniker.
As the Authority prepares to engage in a significant inflection point in terms of community engagement,
Staff proposes to resolve both concerns with one name legal name change: to the
Santa Clara Valley Open Space Agency
2) Holding Of Property Interests Outside The Authority’s Jurisdiction
The Authority works at a landscape scale to fulfill its mission of conserving the natural environment,
supporting agriculture and connecting people to nature. Many of the landscapes with exceptionally high
conservation values identified in the Valley Greenprint extend across county boundaries and, in some
cases, properties under common ownership do as well. Watersheds serve as more effective boundaries
for conserving environmental features like natural habitats, floodplains, and groundwater recharge
areas. The Upper Pajaro River and Soap Lake area, for example, encompasses land in both Santa Clara
County and San Benito County. This area is a critically important conservation target for many state and
local agencies, and yet San Benito County currently lacks the necessary capacity among local agencies
and organizations to effectively preserve the floodplain through an existing conservation easement
grant program.
Proposed changes to the Enabling Act would allow the Authority to acquire property interests (e.g.
property in fee, conservation easements, etc.) outside the jurisdiction where those interests straddle
Santa Clara County and another county or city, or lands that lie within watersheds where protection of
these watershed lands is necessary to protect the conservation values within the Authority’s jurisdiction.
If approved by the Board, the proposed changes would then be authored by a member of the California
Legislature who would be asked by Authority staff to do so, and ushered through the legislative process
by Conservation Strategies Group (legislative consultants in Sacramento). If a bill passes in 2015,
changes would become effective January 1, 2016.
FISCAL IMPACT
Staff estimates the cost of implementing a change to the Authority’s name on printed materials, signs,
field equipment and uniforms, etc. to be between $30,000 to $35,000. Other costs include the costs of
OSA Staff to work with the legislator who will carry the bill.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the Board authorize the General Manager to move forward with proposed
amendments to the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority’s Enabling Act as specified in the attached
document. Staff also recommends that the Board further authorize the General Manager to propose
other amendments to the Enabling Act during the formulation of a bill. In the event that the General
Manager proposes further changes to the Enabling Act, the General Manager will return to the Board for
confirmation of the changes.
Prepared by:
Marc Landgraf, External Affairs Manager
Attachment(s): Resolution 15-04 – Authorizing the General Manager to Pursue Amendments to the
Authority’s Enabling Act
Exhibit F -- Proposed Enabling Act Changes February 2015
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Santa Clara County Open Space Authority
RESOLUTION 15-04
RESOLUTION OF THE GOVERNING BOARD OF
THE SANTA CLARA COUNTY OPEN SPACE AUTHORITY
AUTHORIZING GENERAL MANAGER TO PURSUE AMENDMENTS TO THE
AUTHORITY’S ENABLING ACT
WHEREAS, The original Enabling Act of the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority was passed
by the California Legislature in 1992 and became effective in 1993; and
WHEREAS, Amendments modified the original Enabling Act in 2007 (effective 2008) and 2012
(effective 2013); and
WHEREAS, Staff reviewed the Enabling Act and identified amendments that would benefit the
organization’s effectiveness in meeting its mission.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the Board hereby authorizes the General Manager to work
with consultants and members of the California Legislature to pursue amendments to the Santa Clara
County Open Space Authority’s Enabling Act as specified in the attached document (Exhibit F), and
further authorizes the General Manager to propose other amendments to the Enabling Act during the
formulation of a bill on condition that the General Manager return to the Board for confirmation of the
changes before final inclusion in any bill.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the General Manager is hereby authorized and directed, on
behalf of the Authority and in its name, to execute and deliver such other documents and to do such
acts as may be deemed necessary or appropriate to accomplish the intentions of the above resolution.
PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED this 12th day of February, 2015 by the following vote:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTAIN:
Mike Potter, Chairperson
Santa Clara County Open Space Authority
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
ATTEST:
William P. Parkin, Legal Counsel
Kellie Guerra, Acting Clerk of the Board
EXHIBIT F
Proposed Amendments to Santa Clara County Open Space Authority Statute
1. Change name to: Santa Clara Valley Open-Space Agency.
2. Change all references to “Authority” to “Agency”.
3. Amend 35103 to read:
“Authority Agency” means the Santa Clara CountyValley Open-Space AuthorityAgency created
pursuant to this division in the County of Santa Clara.
4. Amend 35120 to read:
The Santa Clara CountyValley Open-Space AuthorityAgency is hereby created on February 1, 1993. The
maximum jurisdiction of theauthorityAgency shall include all areas within the county, except those
areas of the county presently within the boundaries, including the sphere of influence, of the
midpeninsulaMidpeninsula Regional Open-Space District. Each city situated within the maximum
jurisdictional boundaries shall pass a resolution stating its intent to be included within the Agency’s
jurisdiction by January 15, 1993. These resolutions shall be transmitted to the board of supervisors. Any
city which fails to pass that resolution or which formally states its intent to not participate shall be
excluded from the Agency’sjurisdiction. The creation of the authorityAgency is not subject to review by
the Santa Clara County Local Agency Formation Commission.
5. Amend 35152 to read:
The authorityAgency may take by grant, appropriation, purchase, gift, devise, condemnation, or lease,
and may hold, use, enjoy, and lease or dispose of real and personal property of every kind, and rights in
real and personal property, within the authority’s jurisdiction, necessary to the full exercise of its
powers. Real property interestsacquired by the Agency shall be either within the Agency’s jurisdiction,
part of a single property that is both within and adjacent to the Agency’s jurisdiction, or within a
watershed that includes lands within the Agency’s jurisdiction where protection of those watershed
lands outside the Agency’s jurisdiction are necessary to protect conservation values within the
Agency’s jurisdiction. The authorityAgency may accept and hold open-space easements and purchase
development credits wherever the Agency may acquire real property.
Priority for open-space acquisition should be focused on those lands closest, most accessible, and visible
to the urban area. The remote ranchlands east of the westernmost ridgeline of the Diablo Range shall be
acquired as permanent open space only through conservation easement purchases or the granting of
lands or conservation easements by owners to the Agency.
Lands subject to the grant of an open space easement executed and accepted by the Agency in
accordance with this division are enforceably restricted within the meaning of Section 8 of Article XIII of
the California Constitution. An easement or other interest in real property may be dedicated for openspace purposes by the adoption of a resolution by the governing board, and any interest so dedicated
may be conveyed only as provided in this section.
The authorityAgency may not validly convey any interest in any real property actually dedicated and
used for open-space purposes without the consent of a majority of the voters of the authorityAgency
voting at a special election called by the governing board and held for that purpose. Consent need not
first be obtained for a lease of any real property for a period not exceeding 25 years if that real property
remains in open-space or agricultural use for the entire duration of the lease.