By Khalida Sarwari
The Campbell City Council took final steps earlier this month toward settling the annexation of the Cambrian 36 county pocket.
The council voted unanimously to adopt several resolutions, including one authorizing the formation of a community facilities district, or CFD, and another one calling for a special landowner election. At the Nov. 5 meeting, the council also voted to introduce an ordinance levying a special tax within the CFD.
The actions followed those the council took on Oct. 2 when it unanimously authorized the completion of the annexation of a 103-acre neighborhood in unincorporated Santa Clara County known as Cambrian 36 to the Campbell by May 1, 2013. At that meeting, the council also approved a resolution of intention to set up a CFD that would provide a mechanism for the newly annexed residents to help pay for a portion of the public service costs in a two-step process.
The first phase, according to a city report, is the formation of the CFD with a single parcel owned by the city. The second phase entails the annexation of the residential and commercial parcels into the CFD and the council introducing an ordinance calling for an election for the affected voters in the area on April 16, 2013, via a mail-in ballot measure requiring a two-thirds majority to pass.
If the measure passes, the special tax would go into effect immediately and would be added to the property tax bills of both the residential and nonresidential parcels in the CFD, says the report.
The city is expected to generate about $145,000 in special tax revenue from the newly annexed parcels.
The final steps in the annexation of the Cambrian 36 county pocket neighborhood are taking place following a seven-year process. San Jose agreed in 2006 to annex all unincorporated areas of the county that are 150 acres or less by April 15, 2011, as part of a lawsuit settlement agreement between that city and the county.
Once effective, the annexation will shift municipal services such as garbage, police and fire from the county to the city. As part of the deal, Campbell will pay San Jose $199,000 every year for five years following the annexation to offset lost revenue, with the process to purchase the land culminating in 40 years.
City council taking the final steps on the annexation of Cambrian 36
