Multi-Regional Services Municipal Service Review and Sphere of Influence Update - August 2024

Marin Local Agency Formation Commission Municipal Service Review Multi-Regional Services Study ADOPTED AUGUST 2024 Marin LAFCo Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 PREFACE This Municipal Services Review (MSR) documents and analyzes services provided by local governmental agencies that are providing services across multiple regions of Marin County. Specifically, it evaluates the adequacy and efficiency of local government structure and boundaries within the regions and provides a basis for boundary planning decisions by the Marin Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo). Context Marin LAFCo is required to prepare this MSR in accordance with the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000 (Government Code §56000, et seq.), which took effect on January 1, 2001. The MSR reviews services provided by public agencies—cities and special districts—whose boundaries and governance are subject to LAFCo. The analysis and recommendations included herein serve to promote and coordinate the efficient delivery of local government services and encourage the preservation of open space and agricultural lands. Commissioners, Staff, Municipal Services Review Preparers Commissioners Barbara Coler – Chair City Town of Fairfax Dennis Rodoni – Vice Chair County District 4 Supervisor Eric Lucan County District 5 Supervisor Larry Chu Public Commission Lew Kious Special District Almonte Sanitary District Craig Murray Special District Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District Steve Burdo City Town of San Anselmo Roger Smith Public Alternate Commission Cathryn Hilliard Special District Alternate Southern Marin Fire Protection District Stephen Burke City Alternate City of Mill Valley Stephanie Moulton-Peters County Alternate District 3 Supervisor Staff Jason Fried Executive Director Jeren Batchelder-Seibel Deputy Executive Officer Claire Devereux Clerk/Junior Analyst MSR Preparers Jeren Batchelder-Seibel Deputy Executive Officer Marin LAFCo i Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 Table of Contents 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................6 1.1 ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITY OF LAFCO ................................................................................................6 1.2 MUNICIPAL SERVICE REVIEWS ..........................................................................................................7 1.3 MARIN LAFCO COMPOSITION..........................................................................................................8 2.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..............................................................................................................9 2.1 AFFECTED PUBLIC AGENCIES ............................................................................................................9 2.2 PLANS, POLICIES, STUDIES ............................................................................................................. 10 2.3 AGENCY AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION ............................................................................................... 11 2.4 WRITTEN DETERMINATIONS .......................................................................................................... 12 3.0 DETERMINATIONS................................................................................................................... 14 4.0 RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................................................................................. 18 5.0 REGIONAL SETTING ................................................................................................................. 20 6.0 NORTH MARIN WATER DISTRICT ............................................................................................. 21 6.1 OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................................ 21 6.2 FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................................... 21 6.3 DISTRICT BOUNDARY AND SPHERE OF INFLUENCE ................................................................................ 23 6.4 GROWTH AND POPULATION ........................................................................................................... 25 6.5 MUNICIPAL SERVICES ................................................................................................................... 27 6.6 ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE ........................................................................................................... 31 6.7 ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY ............................................................................................. 31 6.8 FINANCIAL OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................. 32 7.0 MARIN COUNTY OPEN SPACE DISTRICT ................................................................................... 36 7.1 OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................................ 36 7.2 FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................................... 36 7.3 DISTRICT BOUNDARY AND SPHERE OF INFLUENCE ................................................................................ 39 7.4 GROWTH AND POPULATION ........................................................................................................... 40 7.5 MUNICIPAL SERVICES ................................................................................................................... 40 7.6 ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE ........................................................................................................... 42 7.7 ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY ............................................................................................. 43 Marin LAFCo ii Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 7.8 FINANCIAL OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................. 43 8.0 MARIN HEALTHCARE DISTRICT ................................................................................................ 45 8.1 OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................................ 45 8.2 FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................................... 45 8.3 DISTRICT BOUNDARY AND SPHERE OF INFLUENCE ................................................................................ 50 8.4 GROWTH AND POPULATION ........................................................................................................... 50 8.5 MUNICIPAL SERVICES ................................................................................................................... 52 8.6 ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY ............................................................................................. 53 8.7 FINANCIAL OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................. 55 9.0 MARIN MUNICIPAL WATER DISTRICT ....................................................................................... 57 9.1 OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................................ 57 9.2 FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................................... 57 9.3 DISTRICT BOUNDARY AND SPHERE OF INFLUENCE ................................................................................ 60 9.4 GROWTH AND POPULATION ........................................................................................................... 61 9.5 MUNICIPAL SERVICES ................................................................................................................... 63 9.6 ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE ........................................................................................................... 67 9.7 ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY ............................................................................................. 67 9.8 FINANCIAL OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................. 68 10.0 COUNTY SERVICE AREA NO. 31 .............................................................................................. 72 10.1 OVERVIEW .............................................................................................................................. 72 10.2 FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................................. 72 10.3 DISTRICT BOUNDARY AND SPHERE OF INFLUENCE .............................................................................. 73 10.4 GROWTH AND POPULATION ......................................................................................................... 74 10.5 MUNICIPAL SERVICES ................................................................................................................. 75 10.6 ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE ......................................................................................................... 76 10.7 ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY ........................................................................................... 76 10.8 FINANCIAL OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................ 77 Marin LAFCo iii Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 List of Figures FIGURE 6-1: NORTH MARIN WATER DISTRICT JURISDICTIONAL BOUNDARY AND SPHERE OF INFLUENCE ............................................ 25 FIGURE 6-2: NMWD POINT REYES STATION SYSTEM OVERVIEW .............................................................................................. 29 FIGURE7-1: MARIN COUNTY OPEN SPACE DISTRICT JURISDICTIONAL BOUNDARY AND SPHERE OF INFLUENCE .................................... 39 FIGURE7-2: MARIN COUNTY OPEN SPACE DISTRICT PRESERVES MAP ........................................................................................ 41 FIGURE 8-1: MARIN HEALTHCARE DISTRICT JURISDICTIONAL BOUNDARY AND SPHERE OF INFLUENCE ............................................... 50 FIGURE 8-2: MARIN HEALTHCARE DISTRICT VOTING DIVISIONS ................................................................................................. 54 FIGURE 8-3: MARIN HEALTHCARE DISTRICT VOTING DIVISIONS (URBAN AREA ZOOM) .................................................................. 55 FIGURE 9-1: MARIN MUNICIPAL WATER DISTRICT JURISDICTIONAL BOUNDARY AND SPHERE OF INFLUENCE ....................................... 61 FIGURE 9-2: MMWD DISTRIBUTION AND STORAGE ............................................................................................................... 65 FIGURE 10-1: MARIN COUNTY SERVICE AREA NO. 31 JURISDICTIONAL BOUNDARY ...................................................................... 74 Marin LAFCo iv Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 List of Tables TABLE 1-1: LAFCO'S REGULATORY POWERS............................................................................................................................ 7 TABLE 1-2: MANDATORY DETERMINATIONS ............................................................................................................................ 8 TABLE 1-3: MARIN LAFCO COMMISSION MEMBERSHIP ............................................................................................................ 8 TABLE 2-1: MULTI-REGIONAL MSR AGENCY NAMES ................................................................................................................ 9 TABLE 2-2: MULTI-REGIONAL MSR AGENCIES' MEETING INFORMATION .................................................................................... 11 TABLE 6-1: NORTH MARIN WATER DISTRICT OVERVIEW ......................................................................................................... 21 TABLE 6-2: MUNICIPALITY AND CENSUS DESIGNATED PLACE POPULATION CHANGE WITHIN NMWD .............................................. 26 TABLE 6-3: NORTH MARIN WATER DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS .......................................................................................... 31 TABLE 6-4: NMWD FINANCIAL INFORMATION ...................................................................................................................... 33 TABLE 7-1:MARIN COUNTY OPEN SPACE DISTRICT OVERVIEW .................................................................................................. 36 TABLE 7-2: MARIN COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ............................................................................................................. 42 TABLE 7-3: MARIN COUNTY PARKS AND OPEN SPACE COMMISSION MEMBERS ........................................................................... 42 TABLE 7-4: OPEN SPACE DISTRICT FUND FINANCIALS .............................................................................................................. 44 TABLE 8-1: MARIN HEALTHCARE DISTRICT OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................. 45 TABLE 8-2: MUNICIPALITY AND CENSUS-DESIGNATED PLACE POPULATION CHANGE WITHIN MHD ................................................. 51 TABLE 8-3: MHD SERVICE STATISTICS .................................................................................................................................. 53 TABLE 8-4: MARIN HEALTHCARE DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS.............................................................................................. 54 TABLE 8-5: MARIN HEALTHCARE DISTRICT FINANCIAL INFORMATION ......................................................................................... 56 TABLE 9-1: MARIN MUNICIPAL WATER DISTRICT OVERVIEW .................................................................................................... 57 TABLE 9-2: MUNICIPALITY AND CENSUS-DESIGNATED PLACE POPULATION CHANGE WITHIN MMWD ............................................ 62 TABLE 9-3: MARIN MUNICIPAL WATER DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS ..................................................................................... 67 TABLE 9-4: MMWD FINANCIAL INFORMATION ..................................................................................................................... 69 TABLE 9-5: MMWD CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM BUDGET ............................................................................................ 70 TABLE 10-1: COUNTY SERVICE AREA 31 OVERVIEW................................................................................................................ 72 TABLE 10-2: MARIN COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ............................................................................................................ 76 TABLE 10-3: MARIN COUNTY SERVICE AREA NO. 31 FINANCIAL OVERVIEW ................................................................................ 77 Marin LAFCo v Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITY OF LAFCO Local Agency Formation Commissions (LAFCos) were established in 1963 and are political subdivisions of the State of California responsible for providing regional growth management oversight in all 58 counties. LAFCos’ authority is currently codified under the Cortese-Knox- Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000 (“CKH”), which specifies regulatory and planning powers delegated by the Legislature to coordinate and oversee the establishment, expansion, and organization of cities and special districts as well as their municipal service areas. Guiding LAFCos’ regulatory and planning powers is to fulfill specific purposes and objectives that collectively construct the Legislature’s regional growth management priorities under Government Code (G.C.) Section 56301. This statute reads: “Among the purposes of the commission are discouraging urban sprawl, preserving open space and prime agricultural lands, efficiently providing governmental services, and encouraging the orderly formation and development of local agencies based upon local conditions and circumstances. One of the objects of the commission is to make studies and to obtain and furnish information which will contribute to the logical and reasonable development of local agencies in each county and to shape the development of local agencies so as to advantageously provide for the present and future needs of each county and its communities.” LAFCo decisions are legislative in nature and not subject to an outside appeal process. LAFCos also have broad powers with respect to conditioning regulatory and planning approvals so long as not establishing terms that directly control land uses, densities, or subdivision requirements. Regulatory Responsibilities LAFCos’ principal regulatory responsibility involves approving or disapproving all jurisdictional changes involving the establishment, expansion, and reorganization of cities and most special districts.1 More recently LAFCos have been tasked with also overseeing the approval process for cities and districts to provide new or extended services beyond their jurisdictional boundaries by existing service. LAFCos generally exercise their regulatory authority in response to applications submitted by the affected agencies, landowners, or registered voters. Recent CKH amendments, however, now authorize and encourage LAFCos to initiate on their own jurisdictional changes to form, consolidate, and dissolve special districts consistent with current and future community needs. LAFCo regulatory powers are described in Table 1.1 below. 1 CKH defines “special district” to mean any agency of the State formed pursuant to general law or special act for the local performance of governmental or proprietary functions within limited boundaries. All special districts in California are subject to LAFCo with the following exceptions: school districts; community college districts; assessment districts; iMmparroinve LmAenFt dCisotr icts; community facilities districts; transp6or tation districts; and aMir puolltliu-tRioeng cioonntraoll dSiestrrvicitcse. s Study August 2024 Table 1-1: LAFCo's Regulatory Powers Regulatory Powers Granted by Government Code (G.C.) Section 56301 • City Incorporations / Disincorporations • City and District Annexations • District Formations / Dissolutions • City and District Detachments • City and District Consolidations • Merge/Establish Subsidiary Districts • City and District Outside Service Extensions • District Service Activations / Divestitures Planning Responsibilities LAFCos inform their regulatory actions through two central planning responsibilities: (a) making sphere of influence (“sphere”) determinations and (b) preparing municipal service reviews. Sphere determinations have been a core planning function of LAFCos since 1971 and effectively serve as the Legislature’s version of “urban growth boundaries” with regard to cumulatively delineating the appropriate interface between urban and non-urban uses within each county. Municipal service reviews, in contrast, are a relatively new planning responsibility enacted as part of CKH and are intended to inform – among other activities – sphere determinations. The Legislature mandates, notably, all sphere changes as of 2001 be accompanied by preceding municipal service reviews to help ensure LAFCos are effectively aligning governmental services with current and anticipated community needs. 1.2 MUNICIPAL SERVICE REVIEWS Municipal service reviews were a centerpiece to CKH’s enactment in 2001 and are comprehensive studies of the availability, range, and performance of governmental services provided within a defined geographic area. LAFCos generally prepare municipal service reviews to explicitly inform subsequent sphere determinations. LAFCos also prepare municipal service reviews irrespective of making any specific sphere determinations in order to obtain and furnish information to contribute to the overall orderly development of local communities. Municipal service reviews vary in scope and can focus on a particular agency or governmental service. LAFCos may use the information generated from municipal service reviews to initiate other actions under their authority, such as forming, consolidating, or dissolving one or more local agencies. All municipal service reviews – regardless of their intended purpose – culminate with LAFCos preparing written statements addressing seven specific service factors listed under G.C. Section 56430. This includes, most notably, infrastructure needs or deficiencies, growth and population trends, and financial standing. The seven mandated service factors are summarized in the following table. Marin LAFCo 7 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 Table 1-2: Mandatory Determinations Mandatory Determinations / Municipal Service Reviews (Government Code Section 56430) 1. Growth and population projections for the affected area. 2. Location and characteristics of any disadvantaged unincorporated communities within or contiguous to affected spheres of influence. 3. Present and planned capacity of public facilities, adequacy of public services, and infrastructure needs or deficiencies. 4. Financial ability of agencies to provide services. 5. Status and opportunities for shared facilities. 6. Accountability for community service needs, including structure and operational efficiencies. 7. Matters relating to effective or efficient service delivery as required by LAFCo policy. 1.3 MARIN LAFCO COMPOSITION Marin LAFCo is governed by a 7-member board comprised of two county supervisors, two city councilmembers, two independent special district members, and one representative of the general public. Each group also gets to appoint one “alternate” member. Each member must exercise their independent judgment, separate from their appointing group, on behalf of the interests of all residents, landowners, and the public. Marin LAFCo is independent of local government and employs its own staff. Marin LAFCo’s current commission membership is provided below in Table 1-3. Table 1-3: Marin LAFCo Commission Membership Name Position Agency Affiliation Lew Kious Special District Almonte Sanitary District Barbara Coler, Chair City Town of Fairfax Eric Lucan County District 5 Supervisor Dennis Rodoni, Vice Chair County District 4 Supervisor Steve Burdo City Town of San Anselmo Craig Murray Special District Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District Larry Chu Public Commission Roger Smith Public Alternate Commission Cathryn Hilliard Special District Alternate Southern Marin Fire Protection District Stephen Burke City Alternate City of Mill Valley Stephanie Moulton-Peters County Alternate District 3 Supervisor Marin LAFCo offices are located at 1401 Los Gamos Drive, Suite 220 in San Rafael. Information on Marin LAFCo’s functions and activities, including reorganization applications, are available by calling (415) 448-5877 by e-mail to staff@marinlafco.org or by visiting www.marinlafco.org. Marin LAFCo 8 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 2.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This study represents Marin LAFCo’s scheduled regional municipal service review of local agencies that provide public services across multiple regions of Marin County. The underlying aim of the study is to produce an independent assessment of the municipal services provided by the agencies over the next five to ten years relative to the Commission’s regional growth management duties and responsibilities. The information generated as part of the study will be directly used by the Commission in (a) guiding subsequent sphere of influence updates, (b) informing future boundary changes, and – if merited – (c) initiating government reorganizations, such as special district formations, consolidations, and/or dissolutions. 2.1 AFFECTED PUBLIC AGENCIES This report focuses on five agencies operating across all regions of Marin County as listed below and shown in Figure 2.1. Table 2-1: Multi-Regional MSR Agencies Multi-Regional MSR Agency Names Marin Municipal Water District North Marin Water District Marin County Open Space District Marin County Service Area #31 Marin Healthcare District Together, these agencies provide a range of municipal services to the communities in which they serve, including: Water Water services include the access to, treatment of, and distribution of water for municipal purposes. An in-depth review of countywide water services was prepared by Marin LAFCo in 2016. Wastewater Wastewater services include the collection, transmission, and treatment of wastewater. Healthcare All of the services outlined in California Health and Safety Code §32121, including (but not limited to) operating hospitals and community-based clinics. Structural Fire Protection Fire protection services consist of firefighting and fire prevention. Marin LAFCo 9 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 Open Space Acquisition and Management Open Space land is commonly set aside for recreation and stormwater management purposes, as well as for natural resource protection, preservation of cultural and historic resources, preservation of scenic vistas, and many other reasons. 2.2 PLANS, POLICIES, STUDIES Key references and information sources for this study were gathered for each agency considered. The references utilized in this study include published reports; review of agency files and databases (agendas, minutes, budgets, contracts, audits, etc.); Master Plans; Capital Improvement Plans; engineering reports; EIRs; finance studies; general plans; and state and regional agency information (permits, reviews, communications, regulatory requirements, etc.). Additionally, the LAFCo Executive Officer and Deputy Executive Officer contacted each agency with requests for information. The study area for this MSR includes eleven cities/towns, multiple census-designated unincorporated communities, as well as a number of unincorporated areas adjacent to the cities. In the areas entirely outside of the cities, Marin County has the primary authority over local land use and development policies (and growth). The eleven respective municipalities have authority over land use and development policies within their distinct jurisdictions. City, County, and Community plans were vital for the collection of baseline and background data for each agency. The following is a list of documents used in the preparation of this MSR: • County General Plans • Specific Plans • Community Plans • Previous municipal service reviews • Agency databases and online archives (agendas, meeting minutes, website information) Marin LAFCo 10 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 2.3 AGENCY AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION Within the approved scope of work, this study has been prepared with an emphasis on soliciting outside public review and comment as well as multiple opportunities for input from the affected agencies. This included an agency startup meeting with Marin LAFCo, information requests sent to individual agencies, draft agency profiles also sent to agencies, and review of the draft report prior to Commission action. This MSR is posted on the Commission’s website (www.marinlafco.org). It may also be reviewed at the LAFCo office located at 1401 Los Gamos Drive, Suite 220 in San Rafael during open hours. Table 2-2: Multi-Regional Services MSR Agencies’ Meeting Information Multi-Regional Services Municipal Service Review – Agency Transparency Agency Governing Meeting Meeting Location Televised/ Website Body Date/Time Streamin g Marin Board of 1st and 3rd MMWD Administration Yes marinwater.org/board- Municipal Directors Tuesday at Building meeting-information Water 6:30 p.m. 220 Nellen Avenue District Corte Madera, CA North Marin Board of 1st and 3rd NMWD Meeting Room No nmwd.com/meetings Water Directors Tuesday at 100 Wood Hollow Dr. District 4:00 p.m. Novato, CA Marin Board of 2nd Tuesday MarinHealth Medical Center No marinhealthcare.org/public- Healthcare Directors 4:00 p.m. 250 Bon Air Road meetings District Greenbrae, CA Marin Board of Scheduled Marin County Civic Center Yes marincounty.gov/department County Open Directors Tuesdays 3501 Civic Center Drive s/board Space 9:00 a.m. San Rafael, CA District Marin Board of Scheduled Marin County Civic Center Yes marincounty.gov/department County Directors Tuesdays 3501 Civic Center Drive s/board Service Area 9:00 a.m. San Rafael, CA #31 Marin LAFCo 11 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 2.4 WRITTEN DETERMINATIONS The Commission is directed to prepare written determinations to address the multiple governance factors enumerated under G.C. Section 56430 anytime it prepares a municipal service review. These determinations are similar to findings and serve as independent statements based on information collected, analyzed, and presented in this study’s subsequent sections. The underlying intent of the determinations is to identify all pertinent issues relating to the planning, delivery, and funding of municipal services as they relate to the Commission’s role and responsibilities. An explanation of these seven determination categories is provided below. 1. Growth and Population This determination evaluates existing and projected population estimates for each of the unincorporated communities within the study area. 2. Location and Characteristics of any Disadvantaged Unincorporated Communities Within or Contiguous to the Sphere of Influence. This determination was added by Senate Bill (SB) 244, which became effective in January 2012. A disadvantaged community is defined as an inhabited community of 12 or more registered voters having a median household income of 80 percent or less than the statewide median household income. 3. Capacity and Infrastructure Also discussed is the adequacy and quality of the services provided by each agency, including whether sufficient infrastructure and capital are in place (or planned for) to accommodate planned future growth and expansions. 4. Financing This determination provides an analysis of the financial structure and health of each service provider, including the consideration of rates and service operations, as well as other factors affecting the financial health and stability of each provider. Other factors considered include those that affect the financing of needed infrastructure improvements and compliance with existing requirements relative to financial reporting and management. 5. Shared Facilities Opportunities for districts to share facilities are described throughout this MSR. Practices and opportunities that may help to reduce or eliminate unnecessary costs are examined, along with cost avoidance measures that are already being utilized. Occurrences of facilities sharing are listed and assessed for more efficient delivery of services. 6. Government Structure and Local Accountability This subsection addresses the adequacy and appropriateness of existing boundaries and spheres of influence and evaluates the ability of each service provider to meet its demands under its existing government structure. Also included is an evaluation of compliance by each provider with public meeting and records laws (Brown Act). Marin LAFCo 12 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 7. Other Matters Related to Effective or Efficient Service Delivery, as Required by Commission Policy Marin LAFCo has specified the sustainability of local agencies as a priority matter for consideration in this MSR. Sustainability is not simply about the environment but can consider the sustainability of an organization and its ability to continue to provide services efficiently for many years to come. Sustainable local governments that take practical steps to protect the environment and our natural resources through land conservation, water recycling and reuse, preservation of open space, and opting to use renewable energy are the key players in determining the sustainability of the region. In addition, other matters for consideration could relate to the potential future SOI determination and/or additional effort to review potential advantages or disadvantages of consolidation or reorganization. A summary of determinations regarding each of the above categories is provided in Chapter 3 of this document and will be considered by Marin LAFCo in assessing potential future changes to an SOI or other reorganization. Marin LAFCo 13 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 3.0 DETERMINATIONS Growth and population projections for the affected area. a) Despite an annual population decline since 2017 of -0.48%, the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) projects the population of Marin County to grow by 12% by 2040 to a total population of 283,000. While the current development potential within the multiple planning areas throughout the County is fairly minimal, ABAG’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation plan has required the addition of 3,569 housing units in unincorporated Marin County, and 9,971 units within all of the incorporated cities and towns throughout the County. Using the baseline of the average persons per household captured by the 2020 Census for Marin County of 2.4, if the full RHNA allocation were to be met, it could reasonably be assumed to add approximately 32,000 people to the current population estimate of 252,959. The location and characteristics of any disadvantaged unincorporated communities within or contiguous to the sphere of influence. a) Two census tract block groups (Tract 1290, Block Group 1; Tract 1121, Block Group 1) that have been designated by Marin LAFCo as a disadvantaged unincorporated community (DUC) based on 2020 U.S. Census Bureau Redistricting Data has been identified within the study area. The block groups are situated within the census-designated place of Marin City, as well as the northern section of the California Park unincorporated island in the San Rafael Area. A disadvantaged community is defined in Water Code Section 7905.5(a) as a community with an annual median household income of less than 80 percent of the statewide median household income. The statutory definition of DUCs comes from Government Code Section 56033.5, which defines DUCs as “inhabited territory” that constitutes all or a portion of a disadvantaged community. “Inhabited territory” may be defined by Government Code Section 56046 as having at least 12 registered voters, or it can be determined by “commission policy”. Per Marin LAFCo’s policy, Marin LAFCo will include considerations of disadvantaged unincorporated communities within a city or district sphere of influence in statements of written determinations of municipal service reviews. Marin LAFCo will prohibit the approval of city annexations greater than 10 acres that are contiguous to a disadvantaged unincorporated community unless the city applies to annex the disadvantaged unincorporated community as well. At this time Marin LAFCo has no applications for annexation for any lands contiguous to the identified DUC. Should LAFCo in the future get such a request then it will work with the community to determine if it is in the best interest of those living within the DUC to be annexed. If it is not in the community's best interest, then they would not be included in that application. Marin LAFCo 14 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 Present and planned capacity of public facilities, adequacy of public services, and infrastructure needs or deficiencies including needs or deficiencies related to sewers, municipal and industrial water, and structural fire protection in any disadvantaged unincorporated communities within or contiguous to the sphere of influence. a) The three agencies within this study that have public facilities (Marin Municipal Water District, North Marin Water District, and the Marin Healthcare District) have each shown that the present capacity of their facilities are sufficient to provide services at their current levels. Both MMWD and NMWD have adopted ambitious capital improvement plans and recently made the necessary adjustments to each of their rate schedules in order to fund the designated infrastructure improvements to both continue to provide services at their current levels as well as taking into account planning for future growth and the increased potential for lean water years. With the recent completion of both a new parking structure as well as the 260,000-square-foot hospital replacement building, the Marin Healthcare District continues to display both the intention and the necessary planning to ensure the MarinHealth Medical Center meets the standards required within SB 1953. Financial ability of agencies to provide services. a) The Marin Municipal Water District, North Marin Water District, Marin Healthcare District, Marin County Open Space District, and County Service Area #31 all prepare annual budgets and financial statements in accordance with established governmental accounting standards. The Boards of Directors, and the County Board of Supervisors, acting as the Board for CSA 31 and the Marin County Open Space District, may amend their budgets by resolution during the fiscal year in order to respond to emerging needs, changes in resources, or shifting priorities. Expenditures may not exceed appropriations at the fund level, which is the legal level of control. b) The special district General Managers and County Administrative Officer are authorized to transfer budgeted amounts between accounts, departments, or funds under certain circumstances, however; the Special District Boards and County Board of Supervisors, acting as the Board for the Marin County Open Space District as well as CSA 31, must approve any increase in the operating expenditures, appropriations for capital projects, and transfers between major funds and reportable fund groups. Audited financial statements are also prepared for each agency by independent certified public accounting firms. c) While additional revenues are needed to provide some services and maintain infrastructure covered in this MSR, each agency meets its financial responsibilities to provide services. In order to complete the second phase of its planned seismic infrastructure upgrades, the Marin Healthcare District will, in all likelihood, necessitate the pursuit of additional revenue bonds. CSA #31 has operated at the same tax rate since its formation 30 Marin LAFCo 15 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 years ago. No attempt has been made to increase the tax since the failed ballot measure in 2010. While costs to provide service as well as simple inflation have significantly risen since that time, the CSA’s tax base has remained the same. While current circumstances such as voter tax fatigue as well as the recent approval of Measure C, which levies a parcel tax specifically for fire protection and prevention services, certainly detract from the chances of the CSA successfully seeking an increase in the current tax in the near term, the possibility should continue to be monitored in order to make the necessary adjustments to the funding mechanism to ensure sufficient revenue supplementation for Marin County Fire in the future. Status of, and opportunities for, shared facilities. a) No opportunities were identified for the sharing specifically of constructed facilities between any of the agencies reviewed within the study. Accountability for community service needs, including governmental structure and operational efficiencies. a) The current jurisdictional boundary for Marin County Service Area #31 includes all of the area of Angel Island State Park that resides within the legal boundary of Marin County. This area of Angel Island also resides within the jurisdictional boundary of the Town of Tiburon. CSA 31 was originally formed as a benefit assessment district in order to provide supplemental tax funding to the Marin County Fire Department for the provision of structure fire protection services. As there are no legally taxable parcels within Angel Island State Park, the inclusion of Angel Island within the jurisdictional boundary of CSA 31 creates no additional benefit for the Marin County Fire Department, as was the intention of the formation of the district. The Marin County Fire Department contracts with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) to provide wildland fire protection and associated fire prevention activities for lands designated as state responsibility areas (SRA). While the area is technically state parkland, CAL FIRE does not include this area as carrying the designation of SRA, but rather as a local responsibility area (LRA)2. LRA is also the designation for all of the other incorporated spaces within Marin County. The Town of Tiburon receives fire protection services from the Tiburon Fire Protection District (TFPD), however, the Tiburon Fire Protection District’s current jurisdictional boundary does not include the area of Angel Island State Park. Despite this, due to the geographic proximity of Tiburon Fire Protection District Station 11 to Angel Island as well as the District’s watercraft giving it access from the Tiburon peninsula to Angel Island, TFPD frequently is the initial responder to calls for service (in particular, emergency medical calls) to Angel Island. At this time, the state of the delivery of fire protection, as well as other emergency services, to Angel Island State Park necessitates the convening of representatives from Marin LAFCo, 2 State Responsibility Area Fire Hazard Severity Zones Marin County Marin LAFCo 16 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 Marin County Fire Department, Tiburon Fire Protection District, the Town of Tiburon, and CAL FIRE/California State Parks in order to explore a more organized and defined structure to the future of this service delivery within this area. b) In the late 1970s through the 1980s, the North Marin Water District initiated LAFCo- approved outside service area agreements for approximately 33 parcels outside of the District’s boundary in southern Sonoma County. The parcels reside within the Sonoma County planning area known as the Petaluma Dairy Belt Area. Rather than continuing in perpetuity with the outside service agreements, representatives from Marin LAFCo, Sonoma LAFCo, North Marin Water District, and the City of Petaluma should convene in order to explore the transfer of these parcels for future service. c) North Marin Water District’s existing jurisdictional boundary entirely overlaps the jurisdictional boundary of the Inverness Public Utilities District. This overlap merits correction as the Commission discourages two agencies providing the same service to have overlapping boundaries. Additionally, NMWD does not provide service within IPUD’s boundary, nor does it plan to in the future. Representatives from NMWD, Marin LAFCo, and IPUD should convene to explore an efficient, organized, and well-communicated manner in which to detach the parcels within the jurisdictional boundary of IPUD from NMWD. Any other matter related to effective or efficient service delivery, as required by commission policy a) Marin Municipal Water District and North Marin Water District have effectively partnered with other local agencies in jointly funding and establishing regional recycled water programs as part of the North Bay Water Reuse Authority. This cooperative arrangement provides a mechanism for MMWD and NMWD to pool resources in securing competitive governmental grants to implement and expand recycled water services in their service areas to help offset potable demands. Marin Municipal Water District should explore the feasibility of further collaboration with wastewater agencies in central and southern Marin County to continue to expand its provision of recycled water throughout other geographic portions of its service area. b) Marin Municipal Water District oversees and maintains a significant amount of public open space lands, with approximately 150 miles of trails and roads within the 22,000 acres of the Mount Tamalpais Watershed. With significant resources dedicated to the continued stewardship of these lands, the District has an opportunity to help expand access to these areas in the same way that the Marin County Open Space District has within its open space preserves. MMWD should explore the feasibility, either by way of current funding mechanisms or through the pursuit of grant monies, of offering to the public free scheduled naturalist-guided hikes/excursions throughout its open space in the same manner that MCOSD has been doing for years. Marin LAFCo 17 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 4.0 RECOMMENDATIONS The following recommendations call for specific action either from the Commission and/or by the affected agencies based on information generated as part of this study. Recommendations for Commission action are dependent on a subsequent directive from the membership and through the adopted work plan. 1. Representatives from Marin LAFCo, Sonoma LAFCo, North Marin Water District, and the City of Petaluma should convene in order to explore the transfer of outside water service parcels that were approved in the late 1970s through the 1980s that are within the jurisdictional boundary of Sonoma County. 2. The staff for Marin LAFCo should work with the contracted GIS consultant from Cinquini and Passarino in order to remove the parcel (APN 166-030-34) in the general vicinity of the unincorporated community of Olema from Marin LAFCo’s GIS mapping system as, after collaboration with staff from NMWD, it has been determined that the parcel was excluded from the annexation of this area in 1967. 3. Representatives from Marin LAFCo, North Marin Water District, and the Inverness Public Utility District should convene to explore an efficient, organized, and well- communicated manner in which to detach the parcels within the jurisdictional boundary of the Inverness Public Utility District from the North Marin Water District. 4. Given that the North Marin Water District serves none of the parcels within its jurisdictional boundary along the east shore of the Tomales Bay in the area of the community of Marshall, has no infrastructure within the area, and does not foresee any situation in which the District would begin to provide service to the area having annexed it decades ago, should the District wish to detach the area from its jurisdictional boundary it should submit an application to Marin LAFCo for the Commission’s consideration. If desired, this application could be included as part of the application to detach the area of the Inverness Public Utilities District. 5. Representatives from Marin LAFCo, Marin County Fire Department (on behalf of County Service Area #31), the Town of Tiburon, the Tiburon Fire Protection District, California State Parks, and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) should convene to explore the current status and future possibilities of the organization and efficiencies of fire protection services for Angel Island State Park, as well as the consideration of the detachment of the area from Marin County Service Area #31 and/or the Town of Tiburon. 6. The Marin Municipal Water District should explore the feasibility of further collaboration with wastewater agencies in central and southern Marin County to continue to expand its provision of recycled water throughout other geographic Marin LAFCo 18 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 portions of its service area. 7. Marin Municipal Water District oversees and maintains a significant amount of public open space lands, with approximately 150 miles of trails and roads within the 22,000 acres of the Mount Tamalpais Watershed. With significant resources dedicated to the continued stewardship of these lands, the District has an opportunity to help expand access to these areas in the same way that the Marin County Open Space District has within its open space preserves. MMWD should explore the feasibility, either by way of current funding mechanisms or through the pursuit of grant monies, of offering to the public free scheduled naturalist-guided hikes/excursions throughout its open space in the same manner that MCOSD has been doing for years.. 8. Throughout the course of this study, there have been several instances of some level of ambiguity surrounding the correct jurisdictional area of the North Marin Water District and the multiple large annexation areas in past decades. In order to ensure current and future accuracy, staff from NMWD should compare current district records with what is currently displayed within the public-facing Marin LAFCo GIS web application and work collaboratively with Marin LAFCo staff to rectify any further instances of boundary discrepancies. Marin LAFCo 19 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 5.0 REGIONAL SETTING The Multi-Regional Municipal Service Review (MSR) study area consists of public agencies that cover significant geographic areas of, and in one instance, the entirety of Marin County. Five public agencies, including one County Service Area (CSA), are reviewed within this document. Many distinct communities lie within and adjacent to the Study Area. These communities are served by a number of municipal service providers that have been established over time to meet local conditions and needs. While jurisdictional boundaries define the geographical extent of an agency’s authority and responsibility to provide services, there are several instances of overlapping boundaries and service responsibilities in the Study Area. These service arrangements and relationships for providing fire protection, municipal water, open space management, and other municipal services within the Study Area are described in this report. Marin LAFCo 20 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 6.0 NORTH MARIN WATER DISTRICT 6.1 OVERVIEW The North Marin Water District (NMWD) was established in 1948 as an independent special district under Sections 30000-33900 of the California Water Code. The NMWD multi-county boundary surrounds just over 100 square miles of northeastern and north-western Marin County, in addition to a portion of southern Sonoma County along the Highway 101 corridor. The district serves a population of approximately 63,9813 persons encompassing three unique service areas: Novato, West Marin, and Oceana Marin. The last Municipal Service Review that included NMWD was conducted in November of 2017 as part of the North Marin Water District Sphere of Influence Update. As a limited-purpose agency, NMWD provides potable water, non-potable water, and wastewater management. The majority of the District’s Novato service area potable water supplies are imported from the Russian River through a contract with the Sonoma County Water Agency, with the remainder of the District’s supplies to this service area drawn locally from Stafford Lake. Potable water supplies for the West Marin service area are drawn from two distinct and separate locations using two separate wells at each location. The potable local sources of supply for the Novato and West Marin Services Areas are not interconnected. The District also provides wastewater collection, treatment, and disposal for the Oceana Marin service area and recycled water in its Novato service area. Table 6-1: North Marin Water District Overview North Marin Water District Primary Contact: Anthony Williams Phone: (415)-897-4133 Main Office: 999 Rush Creek Pl, Novato, CA Formation Date: April 21, 1948 Services Provided: Potable Water, Non-Potable Water, Wastewater Service Area: 64,628 acres Population Served: ≈63,981 6.2 FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT The North Marin Water District’s formation was derived from the transition and development of its primary service area of Novato from agricultural to urban. While signs pointed towards urban development in the late 1800s, the transformation was somewhat impeded for a number of decades due to the sheer profitability of ranching and dairy operations in the area. By the mid- 1920s, the area’s population reached approximately 1,200 and the residents agreed to form the Novato Sanitary District (at that time referred to as Marin County Sanitary District #6) in 1925 and the Novato Fire Protection District (1926). During this time, organized water service in the Novato area was initially established by private utilities for each new subdivision until the 3 Population served calculated through the means given in California Code of Regulations Section 64412 by tallying the most recent Census data using the tract, block group, and block levels. Marin LAFCo 21 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 eventual ownership of these rights by the Novato Water Company. The water was sourced from groundwater wells that were adequate for the slowly growing community. The growth of the area was hastened when in 1935, the Marin County Air Field was converted into the Hamilton Army Air Field. The construction of the new military base resulted in new housing and commercial development in the surrounding area. By 19504, the population of the area had risen to 3,489. The significant growth brought on by the Hamilton Base throughout the 1940s proved to be difficult for the private water system to sustain. This prompted local leaders in 1947 to request that Marin Municipal Water District (MMWD) extend its service north to Novato. MMWD subsequently extended its services to a portion of the Hamilton Base, however, declined to extend its services further north in Novato, and community leaders were forced to pivot towards the establishment of a new public water agency (which MMWD had fairly recently set the road map for) through the purchase of Novato Water Company’s system and the assumption of its service responsibilities. In 1948, Novato area landowners petitioned for the formation of the new water district which would initially be known as the North Marin County Water District. After the Marin Boundary Change Commission5 approved the official service area of the District as what is now the greater Novato area, a successful vote by the residents officially formed the District. Soon after, separate ballot measures were approved to provide the necessary funding for the District to purchase the Novato Water Company and all of its infrastructure. These ballot measures also authorized NMWD to establish a new surface water supply by damming Novato Creek and creating Stafford Lake. The construction of Stafford Dam was completed in 1951, and the resulting Stafford Lake had an initial holding capacity of 1,720 acre-feet.6 The Stafford Water Treatment Plant was constructed and began operation in 1952 with a capacity of 3.75 million gallons per day. With the City of Novato officially incorporated in January of 19607 and a continually expanding population at the time of 17,881, water demands were at an all-time high. In need of increased supplies, in 1960 NMWD entered into an agreement with Sonoma County Flood Control District (later known as the Sonoma County Water Agency) for an annual allocation of 10,000 acre-feet of pretreated water that would be drawn from the Russian River and delivered through an interconnection with the City of Petaluma. The subsequent intertie, known as the North Marin Aqueduct, was constructed in 19618 and consisted of approximately 9.4 miles of 30-inch pipeline to connect NMWD’s system to SCWA’s system in Petaluma along State Highway 101. In the late 1960s and into the 1970s, NMWD annexed a number of unincorporated communities in West Marin at the request of residents within those communities. These communities 4 Earliest available Census data on the area. 5 The County Boundary Commission was a technical governing body tasked with officially designating the jurisdictional boundary of all boundary changes prior to LAFCO’s creation in 1963. The boundary commissions included four distinct members of county government, supervisor chairperson, assessor, auditor, and surveyor. 6 This amount was raised to 4,450 acre-feet in 1954 by modification of the dam’s spillway. 7 Voters approved incorporation on November 3, 1959, but the effective date of incorporation was January 20, 1960. 8 The construction was funded by a voter-approved $3.79 million bond in 1960. Marin LAFCo 22 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 included Oceana Marin (1969), Point Reyes Station/Inverness Park (1970), Olema (1973), Tomales (1975), and Paradise Ranch Estates (1979). The annexations were approved with the expectation of NMWD purchasing and assuming the service responsibilities from the preexisting private utilities that were presently operating. NMWD constructed and operated a community wastewater system for Tomales in 1979. The community eventually formed the Tomales Village Community Service District and, in 1999, the wastewater system was turned over to the newly created district as part of a voter-approved reorganization in which the unincorporated community was detached from NMWD. In 2001, Marin Municipal Water District agreed to a reorganization of its service area with NMWD premised on simplifying the alignment of NMWD’s Novato service area southern boundary to match the City of Novato. This effectively removed the area of the former Hamilton Air Force Base (which was officially closed in 1996) from the Marin Municipal Water District’s boundary. On June 24th, 2002, the agreement became fully effective. In 2006, the Stafford Lake Water Treatment Plant upgrade project was completed. The project cost approximately $16 million and increased daily treatment capacity for the facility to 6 million gallons. This was followed in 2007 by the completion and beginning of operations of the Deer Island Recycled Water Facility. The facility opened with a 500,000-gallon-per-day capacity and provided recycled water for irrigation purposes at Stone Tree Golf Course. NMWD’s recycled water system has subsequently expanded such that NMWD is the distributor of recycled water in central and northern Novato with Novato Sanitary District as the producer. A similar agreement between NMWD and Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District exists for recycled water distribution in southern Novato. As part of a significant multi-year project by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) known as the Marin-Sonoma Narrows project, the District was forced to relocate a large apportionment of its North Marin Aqueduct. In partnership with Caltrans and Marin Municipal Water District, the Aqueduct Energy Efficiency Project was created and completed in 2015. The project enlarged 5 miles of the North Marin Aqueduct’s 30’ diameter pipe with 42” pipeline from South Petaluma, which helped to eliminate the need for the Kastania Pump Station and reduce energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. The total cost of the project was $22 million of which 2/3 was paid by Caltrans and the remaining cost was split between NMWD and MMWD. 6.3 DISTRICT BOUNDARY AND SPHERE OF INFLUENCE North Marin Water District’s service boundary currently encompasses just over 100 square miles and covers 64,628 acres of both incorporated and unincorporated Marin County and Sonoma County. Since LAFCos were created in 1963 and Marin LAFCo assumed responsibility in overseeing the District’s service area, the jurisdictional boundary has grown by approximately 30%, with the most significant additions occurring between 1966 and 1975 during the multiple annexations in West Marin. There have been 19 recorded boundary changes to NMWD since 1963, with the most recent of significant total acreage being the reorganization of 980 acres comprising the former Hamilton Air Force Base from Marin Municipal Water District to North Marin Water District. Marin LAFCo 23 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 The District also maintains outside service agreements for water services to approximately 33 parcels in Sonoma County just south of the City of Petaluma. These parcels all reside within an unincorporated area that Sonoma County has dubbed the Petaluma Dairy Belt. The Petaluma Dairy Belt Area Plan, which helps guide the planning in the area, was most recently updated in September of 2008. The District has provided Marin LAFCo with documentation showing five parcels9 in the District’s service area that are adjacent to the Sonoma/Marin County boundary on the Sonoma County side. Documentation for the parcels on the eastern side of the highway shows that they were added in 1967, while the one on the western side was added in 1962 which would be pre- LAFCo establishment. As opposed to the 33 parcels just to the north of these for which the District maintains outside service agreements, these five parcels were formally annexed to the District. An area of the District’s jurisdictional boundary is coterminous with the boundary of the Inverness Public Utility District (IPUD). NMWD provides no services in this area as IPUD provides potable water services within its jurisdictional boundary. While there is an intertie between the two agencies that would allow for the transfer of potable water, at this time there is no agreement between the two districts for regular supplemental water purchases due to the most recent attempt failing to receive the necessary voter support. NMWD has intimated that it is open to detaching the area from its service boundary. Additionally, there is one parcel within the District’s current jurisdictional boundary outside of the community of Olema that neither the District nor Marin LAFCo has any record of within that particular area’s annexation and, as such, should be removed from the District’s official boundary. The District’s sphere of influence was established by Marin LAFCo as part of two separate actions. The first action occurred in 1982 and established the sphere of influence for the East Marin (Novato) service area. This sphere boundary was entirely coterminous with the jurisdictional boundary in that area at the time. The second action took place in 1984 and established the sphere of influence for the West Marin service area. This sphere of influence was coterminous with the District’s jurisdictional boundary with the exceptions of the exclusion of jurisdictional lands on the east shore of the Tomales Bay (Marshall) as well as the area that comprised the jurisdictional boundary of the Inverness Public Utility District. At the time, the Commission’s explanation for excluding the Marshall area was in anticipation of the County adopting the “East Shore Community Plan”. The sphere of influence received its next update in 2002. The update was a partial update specific to only the East Marin service area in response to the reorganization of the Hamilton Air Force Base reorganization. This update again made the East Marin service area’s sphere of influence to be coterminous with its jurisdictional boundary. The most recent sphere of influence update was performed in October of 2017. This update reaffirmed the East Marin service area sphere as well as amending the sphere in West Marin to add approximately 2,230 acres of unincorporated lands off of State Highway 1 adjacent to the Pt. Reyes Station service 9 Parcel APN #s 019-290-001; 019-280-014; 019-280-012; 019-280-013; 019-280-005 Marin LAFCo 24 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 area and just south of the East Shore jurisdictional lands. This area is made up of 11 parcels, largely under commercial agricultural uses along with 7 residential units (as well as the adjacent right-of-way along State Highway 1). This area was added “…to recognize the existing service commitments to the majority of the affected lands as part of pre-CKH outside service agreements.” A map of NMWD’s jurisdictional lands within Marin County as well as the current sphere of influence for the District can be seen below in Figure 6-1. Figure 6-1: North Marin Water District Jurisdictional Boundary and Sphere of Influence 6.4 GROWTH AND POPULATION The North Marin Water District’s service area includes the City of Novato as well as the census- designated places of Black Point – Green Point, Point Reyes, and Inverness. The service area also includes a number of other smaller unincorporated neighborhoods/communities such as Marshall, Oceana Marin, Bel Marin Keys, Loma Verde, Indian Valley, Olema, Bear Valley, and Paradise Ranch Estates. The eastern portion of the District’s service area makes up Marin LAFCo 25 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 approximately 95% of the total population within its boundaries at 61,31410, while the western service area has a total population of 2,66711. This amount is just under 24% of Marin County’s total population of 262,321.12 Since 2010, the County as a whole has seen a total population growth of 9,912, an increase of 3.9%. The population change data for the cities, towns, and census-designated places within the District’s boundary from 2010 to 2020 can be seen below in Table 6-2. Table 6-2: Municipality and Census-Designated Place Population Change Within NMWD Community Name 2010 2020 City of Novato 51,904 53,225 Point Reyes Station 848 895 Inverness 1,304 1,379 Black Point – Green Point 1,306 1,431 The remaining development potential within each of the planning areas within the District’s boundary (both incorporated and unincorporated), while relatively minimal based upon the number of remaining undeveloped parcels zoned for residential development, has experienced recent changes with Marin County having adopted an updated Housing Element and the City of Novato in the final stages of its Housing Element being reviewed by the State’s Department of Housing and Community Development that included planning for accommodations of the housing mandates from the State. The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) has designated a need for a total of 3,569 additional housing units in unincorporated Marin County by 2031 within the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) plan. This number is 907 units shy of what Marin County had deemed as the total buildout for unincorporated Marin County. Of those 3,569 units, 72013 of those have sites identified for development within the unincorporated spaces in North Marin Water District’s jurisdictional boundary. The additional housing unit mandates for the City of Novato is a total of 2,09014. Assuming that within the District’s service area in both unincorporated and incorporated spaces, the total number of housing units (2,810) was constructed, this would lead to an increase in the population of 6,74415. The District projects a population increase within its Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP) of 6,043 between 2025 and 2045. Utilizing the baseline of the gallons per capita per day that the District reported in 2020 (11916), the projected 6,043 inhabitants in 2045 would add a demand of approximately 586 acre-feet of water annually. If this amount were to be added to 2020’s usage total of 8,194 acre-feet, it would amount to 8,780 10 Total number is based on the sum total of the 14 Census tracts that comprise the District’s eastern service area. 11 Total number is based on the sum total of the 3 census block groups and 7 census blocks that comprise the District’s western service area. 12 Marin County U.S. Census Bureau Data 13 Marin County Housing Element Update 6th Cycle 2023-2031 pg. 104 and 105 14 ABAG Final RHNA Plan 15 Projected population is calculated based on applying the average captured from the 2020 Census for Marin County of 2.4 persons per household to the total estimated in new housing. 16 This number is the amount of both potable and raw water demand. (UWMP pg. 28) Marin LAFCo 26 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 acre-feet, which is 5.65% less than the District’s 10-year average annual demand between 2010 and 2020 of 9,305 acre-feet. 6.5 MUNICIPAL SERVICES Potable Water The North Marin Water District provides retail potable water services through a combination of its own as well as contracted supply, treatment, storage, and distribution facilities, including the importing of water from sources in Sonoma County. As the District’s potable water services are distinctly geographically separated, there are two separate water systems that are managed in Novato and West Marin (including Point Reyes Station). The Novato distribution system spans approximately 317 miles while the West Marin distribution network is approximately 24 miles. Due to the District’s separate water systems, each will be described separately. NMWD’s primary potable water supplies for the Novato system are drawn from the Russian River and secured through an agreement with the Sonoma County Water Agency (SCWA).17 The agreement provides the District with a maximum annual allocation of 14,100 acre-feet of treated potable water drawn from underflow of the Russian River. NMWD is enabled through a cost-sharing arrangement with SCWA and other regional contractors to divert, treat, and convey water from the Russian River through a series of aqueducts, pipelines, and pumps, that span approximately 30 miles before connecting to NMWD’s distribution system. NMWD is authorized to receive upwards of 64.1 acre-feet in a single day. During FY 2022-23, the District received 4,033 acre-feet18 of Russian River water, down from 5,787 acre-feet in FY 2021-22. The Novato system’s additional surface supplies are drawn from Stafford Lake which collects the runoff from the Novato Creek watershed. The lake has a total capacity of 4,450 acre-feet. The District maintains two separate post-1914 appropriative rights to draw water from Novato Creek. These appropriative rights allow NMWD to divert and use up to 8,454 acre-feet annually directly from Novato Creek. The water from Stafford Lake is conveyed to NMWD’s treatment facility, the Stafford Lake Water Treatment Plant (STP), which operates seasonally and most frequently during the summer months to help offset demands on pre-treated water imported from the SCWA. While typically conveyed from Stafford Lake to STP via gravity, pumps are available to assist in moving the water if necessary. The plant’s daily treatment capacity is 18.41 acre-feet. In FY 2022-23, 516 acre-feet of water were produced by the Stafford Lake Water Treatment Plant. The Distribution system for NMWD’s Novato water system consists of approximately 317 miles of mains and overlays four connected pressure zones that jointly cover a 400-foot range in elevation between service connections. The main pressure zone is Zone 1, which covers most of the City of Novato and the area along Highway 101 on both sides of the freeway and contains the majority of the lower elevations. Zone 2 serves elevations between 60 and 200 feet. Zone 3 serves elevations between 200 and 400 feet, and Zone 4 serves elevations above 400 feet. The distribution system relies on gravity pressure for recharge from 31 storage tanks that collectively 17 Agreement runs through 2037. 18 FY 23 CAFR pg. 4 Marin LAFCo 27 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 hold approximately 37.3 million gallons, which is more than three times the peak day use in FY 2022-23. There are 25 pump stations throughout the Novato system with six located in Zone 1, 13 in Zone 2, and 4 in Zone 3. Approximately 90% of the Novato system’s connections are located within Zones 1 and 2. The Novato system has 31 potable water storage tanks that combine for a total of 37,401,500 gallons. The Novato system has a total of 20,853 active water service connections as of the term of this study, with 19,018 of those being residential. There has been a total increase of 101 service connections (0.49%) since 2018. The 10-year average of billed water consumption for the Novato system (FY 13/14 – FY 22/23) is 7,365 acre-feet19. The potable water supplies for the West Marin service area (often referred to as Point Reyes Station system) are primarily drawn from two groundwater well locations that access underflow from Lagunitas Creek. The first and original well location is on land previously owned20 by the United States Coast Guard at 101 Commodore Webster Drive in Point Reyes Station and consists of two active wells. These wells, termed as Coast Guard #2 and Coast Guard #4 (and collectively referred to as Coast Guard Wells), are each drilled to approximately 60 feet and outfitted by 30 horsepower pumps that push water to the nearby Point Reyes Water Treatment Plant. Well #2 has a capacity of 250 gallons per minute and Well #4 has a capacity of 300 gallons per minute. In addition to these two wells, the District also has two additional permitted wells at a location further upstream of Lagunitas Creek located on the Gallagher Ranch. Gallagher Well #1 was drilled in 1993 and Gallagher Well #2 was drilled in 2022 and began fully operating in November of 2022. As opposed to the Coast Guard Wells, the Gallagher Wells are located upstream of typical flooding and tidal reach which keeps them from experiencing the same levels of periodic salinity intrusion. While the addition of Gallagher Well #2 gives the District a source of additional water, it does not increase the amount that it is permitted to draw annually. All of the Point Reyes Station system permit capacities are garnered through post-1914 appropriated rights21. The Point Reyes Station service area had an approximate annual usage of 230 acre-feet over the course of the study window. A map of the vicinities of the wells can be seen below in Figure 6-2. 19 NMWD FY 23-24 Budget; Pg. 3 20 This land was purchased by the County of Marin in 2019 21 NMWD holds three active water rights for underflow from Lagunitas Creek. License No. 4324B allows NMWD to divert 0.67 cubic feet per second (producing a daily max of 1.11 acre-feet) with a maximum annual use of 148.8 acre-feet each year at its well sites between May 1st and November 1st. Permits No. 19724 and No. 19725 are year round allowances, although are classified as junior rights and therefore not available between July and October during dry-years. Permit No. 19724 allows NMWD to divert up to 0.699 cubic feet per second (producing a daily max of 1.15 acre-feet) with a maximum annual use of 212.7 acre-feet. Permit No. 19725 allows NMWD to divert up to 0.961 cubic feet per second (producing a daily max of 1.59 acre-feet) with a maximum annual use of 292.5 acre feet. Together Permits No. 19724 and 19725 allows NMWD to collectively divert an additional divert up to 505.2 acre-feet each year from January 1st to December 31st at its well sites. These latter two permits, however, are conditioned to prohibit diversions between July and October in “dry-years”. Marin LAFCo 28 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 To meet water demand in dry years when water cannot be diverted from Lagunitas Creek, the District uses a water exchange with Marin Municipal Water District (MMWD) as established in the 2014 Intertie Agreement. Under the Intertie Agreement, stored water can be released by MMWD into Lagunitas Creek from Kent Lake in exchange for compensation by NMWD. The existing Intertie Agreement between the two districts runs through 2040 and provides for a maximum of 250 acre-feet to be exchanged annually. Figure 6-2: NMWD Point Reyes Station System Overview All of the raw potable water drawn from the Point Reyes Station System surface source receives treatment at the Point Reyes Treatment Plant. The plant was originally constructed in 1970 and received its most recent significant upgrades in 2007. The treatment plant has a daily treatment capacity maximum total of 2.1 acre-feet. The distribution system for the system is made up of approximately 24 miles of mains and overlays five connected pressure zones: Point Reyes Station, Bear Valley, Inverness Park, Paradise Ranch Estates, and Olema. The Paradise Ranch Estates pressure zone has 3 subzones. These zones cover roughly a 1,000-foot range in elevation between service connections. The distribution system relies on gravity pressure for recharge from storage tanks that collectively hold 3.2 acre-feet. There are a total of 6 pump stations that serve the Olema, Bear Valley, Inverness Park, and Paradise Ranch Estates zones. The well Marin LAFCo 29 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 pumps provide the pressure for the Point Reyes Zone as it is at the lowest elevation. The West Marin service area has a total of 13 storage tanks with a combined capacity of 1,109,500 gallons. Approximately 65% of the Point Reyes Station system’s service connections are located within the Point Reyes Station zone. At the end of fiscal year 2023, the District had a total of 800 service connections in the Point Reyes Station System. 701 of the connections are residential. The system saw an increase of 9 total new connections over the past five years. Over the past 10 fiscal years (FY 13/14 – FY 22/23) the billed water consumption average for the West Marin system was approximately 200 acre feet.22 Recycled Water NMWD began providing tertiary treated recycled water services in 2007 with the construction of its own treatment facility, Deer Island. The treatment facility has a capacity of 500,000 gallons per day and initially provided service to the Stonetree Golf Course in Blackpoint for irrigation purposes. The facility receives secondary treated supplies from the Novato Sanitary District’s wastewater treatment facility before NMWD completes the tertiary process. In 2013, the District increased its supplies with tertiary supplies that directly tie in to the District’s distribution system from the Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District and the Novato Sanitary District. The Novato Sanitary District source is capable of producing up to 1.7 million gallons per day, and the Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District source is capable of producing 600,000 gallons per day. There are three storage tanks for the recycled water system that total 1,500,000 gallons. The recycled water system consists of two distribution systems with a North/Central system that is supplied by the Novato Sanitary District and the South system that is supplied by the Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District. The Deer Island facility can also supply the northern portion of the North/Central system. The south service area has recycled water conveyed from the LGVSD recycled water facility to landscape irrigation customers. The north/central service area has recycled water conveyed from NSD’s Davidson Street treatment plant to private and public landscape irrigation customers, including Stonetree Golf Course, Valley Memorial Park Cemetary, Novato Fire Department, homeowner associations, Marin Country Club, and Vintage Oaks Shopping Center. As of the writing of this study, the District had 102 recycled water service connections and an average annual demand of approximately 236 million gallons over the past 5 years. Wastewater North Marin Water District provides wastewater services Oceana Marin subdivision. The area, originally developed in the 1960s, is now approximately one square mile and is comprised of 251 lots with 235 dwellings. The area resides adjacent to the north of the unincorporated community of Dillon Beach. The potable water within this area of the District is provided by Estero Mutual Water and California Water Service Company. The community’s wastewater facilities consist of approximately 5 miles of gravity sewer pipe and .75 miles of force mains. All sewage is pumped to a wastewater treatment facility consisting of a treatment pond and a storage pond. The treated effluent from these ponds is applied to the land via subsurface disposal. The public sewer mains 22 NMWD FY 23-24 Budget; pg 9 Marin LAFCo 30 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 are comprised of approximately 60% asbestos cement pipes (ACP), which was a common sewer and water pipeline material in the 1960s and 1970s when the development’s construction was completed. The District contracts with Roy’s Sewer Service for system maintenance and sewer system overflow (SSO) response. If Roy’s is unavailable to respond, the District has an agreement with the Novato Sanitary District for supplemental aid. Within the course of the study window, the Oceana Marin wastewater system experienced two SSOs with a total volume of 3,859 gallons.23 6.6 ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE Board of Directors The North Marin Water District has been governed since its formation as an independent special district with registered voters comprising a five-member governing board. This governing board had always been elected on an at-large basis up until 2019 when the District transitioned to a division-based election system in which each board member is elected by a specific division within the District. District elections are held in November of even-numbered years to coincide with the State’s general elections. Elections are staggered with divisions 2, 3, and 4 being held in one year and divisions 1 and 5 two years later. All directors are required to live within and be registered voters in the division that they seek election for. The Board of Directors maintains current certificates for the AB 1234 Ethics Training Compliance that can be viewed on the District’s website. Table 6-3: North Marin Water District Board of Directors Member Position Term Expiration Ken Eichstaedt Director December 2024 Rick Fraites Director December 2026 Jack Baker President December 2024 Michael Joly Vice-President December 2024 Stephen Petterle Director December 2024 Administration The Board of Directors of NMWD appoints a General Manager who serves on an at-will basis to oversee all District activities. The General Manager oversees 58 full-time equivalent employees which are divided into four personnel divisions: Administrative/Finance, Engineering, Construction, and Operations. 6.7 ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY The North Marin Water District provides the public with information and documentation on its website in an effort to maintain high accountability and transparency in all its activities. The NMWD website provides information on Board meetings, financial reports, services, history, 23 NMWD SSMP pg. 101 Marin LAFCo 31 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 water conservation, water rates, and more. At this time the District is meeting all of the requirements by the State of California for a public agency website. Meetings and Agendas The Board of Directors meets regularly on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month at 4:00 p.m. at the NMWD District Headquarters located at 100 Wood Hollow Drive, Suite 300, in Novato. Special meetings are held as needed to go over specific topics that require board discussion/approval outside of the regular meeting schedule. Meeting agendas and minutes can be found on the NMWD website. 6.8 FINANCIAL OVERVIEW Budget and Financials The District’s primary source of annual revenue is water sales, which averaged 68% of total operating revenues throughout the course of this study window. Supplementing the remainder of the annual operating revenues are service charges (27%), sewer service charges (1%), and Other charges and services (2%). The District also receives a small amount of non-operating revenues such as limited property tax24 and investment earnings, among other things. Operating revenues account for approximately 95% of the District’s annual total revenues. On June 20, 2023, NMWD’s Board of Directors approved significant changes to customer water rates, fees, and charges that took effect on July 1, 2023. The rate changes were originally developed in partnership with an independent rate consultant who performed a cost-of-service analysis in 2020. While the study recommended a rate increase of 5% for the fiscal year 2023/24, the District’s Board adopted an increase for the year of 9.5%25 for the Novato system based upon three key assumptions/projections: 1. The anticipation of an increase of 12.5% from Sonoma County Water Agency, the District’s main water supplier, with the expectation of future increases of approximately 11% and a tentatively planned rate increase for FY 2024-25 of 11.74%. 2. The 2020 rate study factored an assumed inflationary rate of 3%, which is significantly lower than is being experienced. 3. Lower water consumption than was anticipated in the study due to significant conservation efforts due to the recent drought has led to a drop in water sales that was not forecasted in the report. The District primarily relies on two main charges billed bi-monthly: service charge and usage charge. The service charge is fixed based on meter size and intended to contribute towards recovering the majority of the District’s fixed costs such as billing, meter reading and maintenance, facility maintenance, and administrative support. The updated rate for the Novato 24 A small portion of the City of Novato’s property tax is allocated to NMWD. NMWD does not receive property tax from any other properties in the NMWD boundary outside of Novato. 25 This increase also included a 5.3% increase for recycled water (rate of inflation at time of budget preparation for FY 23/24) with a recommended increase of 6% for FY 24/25 through FY 27/28. Marin LAFCo 32 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 System service charge assigns a bi-monthly charge of $5126 for the majority of users within the system. This is the realized increase from the prior bi-monthly charge of $46.58. The approved increase equates to an average of $12 per month more for the majority of residential users to their bi-monthly service charges. The usage charge applies tier format to an escalating rate based on consumption in three different elevation zones to cover day-to-day operating costs. Projections for future revenues and expenditures show the necessitation of an additional increase of 8.5% in FY 24/25, 8% in FY 25/26, 7% in FY 26/27, and 7% in FY 27/28.27 At the same meeting (June 20, 2023), the NMWD Board of Directors approved an increase of 6% for water rates for the West Marin system that went into effect on July 1, 2023. The District followed the recommendation proposed in the 2021 West Marin Rate Study and noted that as West Marin is not reliant on the imported water from SCWA, they are not impacted by the increase in costs of the imported water in the same manner that the Novato system users are. The West Marin system also operates with a service charge and usage charge. The majority of customers saw an increase in their service charges from $45.15 to $47.86. The Board also adopted an increase of 6% for the Oceana Marin Sewer system at the June 20, 2023 meeting. The increase added $78 annually for each equivalent dwelling unit, raising the annual charge from $1,296 to $1,374. Projections call for additional 6% increases in each of the following 5 fiscal years. The increases are primarily focused on funding the approximately $2.4 million in capital improvements planned for the system over the next 5 years. The primary annual operating expense for the District comes in the form of imported water supply (approximately 25%), followed by depreciation (22%) general and administrative (18%), water treatment (11%), and water transmission and distribution (14%). The District also maintains a robust Capital Improvement Program that aids in the planning of significant infrastructure improvements over the course of the upcoming five fiscal years. The District’s current plan includes projects with a total cost (both internally funded and loan/grant funded) of $33,885,000. The total projected operating expenditures for the District for FY 2023-24 totaled $20,864,000. The average year-end operating revenues for the NMWD over the past 5 audited years has been $23,756,029. The District realized an average annual increase in Net Position of $3,370,608 over the course of the study window. A breakdown of the past 5 audited years of operating revenues and expenses can be seen below in Table 6-4. Table 6-4: NMWD Financial Information Revenue FY 2018-19 FY 2019-20 FY 2020-21 FY 2021-22 FY 2022-23 Averages Water Consumption $16,337,171 $18,194,168 $19,546,611 $16,405,015 $16,537,824 $17,404,158 Sales Monthly Meter Service $4,810,296 $4,968,620 $5,210,162 $6,517,572 $7,017,426 $5,704,815 Charge Sewer Service $252,720 $264,372 $276,360 $290,460 $304,560 $277,694 Charge 26 Recycled water fixed charge increased to a bi-monthly assessment of $57.71. 27 NMWD Budget FY 23/24 pg. 20 Marin LAFCo 33 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 Other Charges $372,059 $369,761 $345,402 $374,734 $384,901 $277,694 and Services Total $21,772,246 $23,796,921 $25,378,535 $23,587,731 $24,244,711 $23,756,029 Revenues Expenses FY 2018-19 FY 2019-20 FY 2020-21 FY 2021-22 FY 2022-23 Averages Source of $5,492,324 $7,096,645 $8,624,268 $6,450,873 $5,001,982 $6,533,218 Supply Pumping $458,594 $646,366 $642,477 $522,717 $493,027 $552,636 Water Facilities $993,209 $1,176,833 $1,218,090 $1,385,267 $678,573 $1,090,394 Operations Water $2,131,166 $2,647,688 $1,917,786 $2,588,135 $2,353,464 $2,327,648 Treatment Transmission and $3,301,629 $3,560,513 $3,623,201 $4,556,025 $2,913,847 $3,591,043 Distribution Sewage Collection and $127,513 $145,183 $185,533 $219,023 $220,375 $179,525 Treatment Customer $510,341 $534,552 $470,411 $501,005 $386,333 $480,528 Service General and $3,007,301 $3,201,515 $3,658,893 $4,877,009 $3,499,861 $3,648,916 Administrative Water $349,415 $398,010 $396,414 $563,288 $320,597 $405,545 Conservation Depreciation and $3,451,155 $3,366,216 $3,887,096 $4,023,236 $4,523,906 $3,850,322 Amortization Total $19,822,647 $22,773,521 $24,624,169 $25,686,578 $20,391,965 $22,659,775 Debt As of June 30, 2023, NMWD had a total long-term debt outstanding of $45.1 million, which was a decrease of $3.7 million from the prior year. The District’s current debts are as follows: • Enterprise Vehicle Lease – 2023 Balance: $397,580 • 100 Wood Hollow Structure Lease – 2023 Balance: $43,972 • Buck Institute Structure Lease – 2023 Balance: $22,869 • 2004 DWR Loan – 2023 Balance: $5,806,044 • 2011 Bank of Marin Loan – 2023 Balance: $3,490,933 • 2018 JP Morgan Chase Loan – 2023 Balance: $3,275,000 • 2022 Webster Bank Loan – 2023 Balance: $19,120,331 • 2006 SWRCB Loan – 2023 Balance: $1,030,881 • 2011/12 SWRCB Loans – 2023 Balance: $5,259,962 • 2016 SWRCB Loan – 2023 Balance: $6,073,389 • 2012 Bank of Marin Loan – 2023 Balance: $512,431 The second source of debt for the District comes in the form of a pension plan for employees that is part of the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS). CalPERS provides retirement, disability, and death benefits based on the employee’s years of service, age, and final Marin LAFCo 34 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 compensation. As of June 30, 2023, the NMWD Net Pension Liability was $17,178,16028. The NMWD pension-funded ratio was approximately 68.8%29 at that measurement date. In addition to the pension plan, NMWD provides other post-employment benefits (OPEB) to its retirees. As of June 30, 2023, the District carried a Total OPEB Liability total of $4,287,222. The District currently has 91 employees, both active and inactive, in their OPEB plan. Future pension costs for new employees have been reduced by fully implementing the California Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act (PEPRA). As of 2023, the majority of the District’s staff fall under PEPRA requirements. 28 NMWD 2023 ACFR; pg. 54 29 CalPERS Summary of Valuation Results Marin LAFCo 35 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 7.0 MARIN COUNTY OPEN SPACE DISTRICT 7.1 OVERVIEW The Marin County Marin County Open Space District (MCOSD) is a dependent special district that provides open space acquisition and maintenance as set forth in California Public Resources Code §5500. The District’s mission is stated as “To enhance quality of life in Marin through the acquisition, protection, and responsible stewardship of ridgelands, baylands, and environmentally sensitive lands targeted for preservation in the Countywide Plan.” MCOSD has a local advisory board that advises the Marin County Parks Department and the Marin County Board of Supervisors on all matters relating to its services in the District. Table 7-1: Marin County Open Space District Overview Marin County Open Space District Overview Primary Contact: Chris Chamberlain, Assistant Director Main Office: 3501 Civic Center Drive, Suite 260 San Rafael, CA Contact Information: (415)-473-6405 Formation Date: November 7, 1972 Services Provided Open Space Acquisition and Maintenance Population: 256,018 7.2 FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT The formation of the Marin County Open Space District was the culmination of decades of grassroots efforts of Marin County residents to preserve Marin’s unique environmental heritage and beauty. These efforts, while being visible in different forms throughout the County’s history, gained their initial prominence in the late 1920s following the formation of the California State Parks System.30 In 1926, there was a proposal within a county plan to construct a highway across Mount Tamalpais in order to increase access for development in the surrounding areas. A Marin assemblyman submitted a proposal whereby the State would buy and manage parkland if private sponsors could raise two-thirds of the purchase price themselves31. Through a collaborative effort between the Tamalpais Conservation Club, the Sierra Club, the California Alpine Club, and the Contra Costa Hills Club, $33,000 in private donations were secured and 531 acres were purchased for preservation. Additionally, in one of his last acts before passing away, noted conservationist William Kent32 gifted additional land for 30 The California State Parks System was formed in 1927. 31 This raising of funds was a necessary pre-requisite at the time in order for the legislature to consider any land purchase that would beemed to “interfere with progress” in the form of development as conservation at that time was not yet a public goal warranting full provisioning by the State. 32 William Kent was the lead sponsor of legislation in the House of Representatives establishing the National Park Service (1916). Kent was also responsible for the establishment of the Muir Woods National Monument as well as donations of land that led to the creation of the Marin Municipal Water District. Marin LAFCo 36 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 the park. In 1930, the Mt. Tamalpais State Park became one of the first State Parks to be opened after the formation of the State Parks System. While the creation of Mt. Tamalpais State Park had been a significant victory for conservationists in Marin County, the completion of the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937 came with the promise to open up the rural stretches north of the Golden Gate to mass urbanization. Four women, Caroline Livermore, Sepha Evers, Helen van Pelt, and Portia Forbes, all members of the Marin Art and Garden Club, took it upon themselves to preserve local landscapes. After the passage in 1927 of state legislation providing for comprehensive planning, Marin County was still in need of mapping county districts to gather the necessary data for a zoning ordinance. The four ladies formed the Marin Planning Survey Committee, raising the necessary funds to commission the first comprehensive plan of the county by planning consultant Hugh Pomeroy and his technical assistant, Haskins Huntington33. This plan served to identify the areas needed for preservation and public ownership. After a little more than a year of work, the group presented their plan to the County Board of Supervisors and had it adopted as the zoning ordinance. Following the adoption, the group changed its name to the Marin Conservation League (MCL). The group was instrumental in the creation and adoption in 1943 of the first Master Recreation Plan. In the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, the MCL would play a part in adding acreage to Mt. Tamalpais State Park, the purchase of Stinson Beach, the creation of Samuel P. Taylor State Park, the purchase of Shell Beach, and the establishment of the Richardson Bay Foundation to purchase land surrounding the Richardson Bay that would ultimately be leased to the National Audobon Society to be run as the Richardson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. The group was also significantly involved in the creation of Angel Island State Park, which was donated to the state in 1954 and whose tallest peak, Mt. Livermore, is named in honor of Caroline Livermore’s conservation efforts throughout Marin. Between 1940 and 1960, Marin County’s population increased from 50,000 to just under 150,000, nearly tripling, as large-scale development throughout the Highway 101 corridor created significant urban sprawl. While 1960 would mark the height of Marin’s growth rate, the population still rose by 40% through the decade of the 1960s. Despite two large-scale federal conservation projects, the Point Reyes National Seashore and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, there was still a need for increased preservation efforts at the local levels. In the latter stages of 1971, a number of different conservation agencies such as the Marin Audobon, Marin Conservation League, Sierra Club, Tamalpais Conservation Club, and League of Women Voters joined forces to form a coalition known as People for Open Spaces to begin impressing upon Marin County governmental officials that a regional park district in Marin was needed. In that same year, the Marin County Planning Department produced the document titled Can the Last Place Last? Preserving the Environmental Quality of Marin. The document took the recent releases of the Association of Bay Area Government’s Regional Plan34 as well as the People for Open Spaces’ regional open space recommendations and sought to create a 33 Following the adoption of the zoning ordinance, Huntington was retained as the first Marin County Planning Director. 34 ABAG’s 1970-1990 regional Plan sought to designate 52% of the Bay Area’s 3.4 million acres as permanent open space. Marin LAFCo 37 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 comprehensive plan for the County that emphasized the “unique combination of weather, water views, hills, and compact towns in valleys that make it one of the most livable environments in the world.” The plan continued on to declare the objective as changing “the development process so that development and despoliation are no longer interchangeable terms in the minds of the average resident.” The plan split the county into three planning corridors: an eastern city-centered corridor, an inland rural corridor, and a western coastal recreational corridor. The plan emphasized linking development and zoning requirements with the natural characteristics of the land and recommended that within the three main corridors that zoning regulations and building permits be tailored to the requirements of particular “environmental zones”. The focus on natural areas was strong even in the city-centered corridor, where the plan required the preservation of several kinds of open space, including the bay shoreline and the hills and ridges that formed separators between communities. The eastern corridor was also given the highest priority for additional open space land acquisition. The movement ultimately ended up on the ballot on November 7, 1972, in the form of Measure A, which was approved with 65% of the vote creating the Marin County Regional Park and Open Space District35. The intention of the creation of the District was to focus on the priority open space designated in the eastern urbanized corridor of Marin County. In its infancy, the District outlined a clear directive, with the passing of policies in 1973 stating, “All of the District’s resources shall be directed to open space preservation. A minimum of 90% of the District’s expenditures shall be used for open space acquisition and costs incidental thereto until July 1978 when this policy will be publicly re-evaluated.” As stated within those policies, the District moved quickly on land acquisitions in those first five years and by 1980 owned over 6,700 acres outright. Some of the areas acquired during that time include Camino Alto, Blithedale Summit, Mt. Burdell, Baltimore Canyon, and Indian Valley. Despite the introduction of Proposition 13 in 1978 which reduced the District’s property taxes by more than half, the District continued purchases throughout the eastern corridor, and by 1990, it had acquired property for 25 of its public preserves and added approximately 4,000 acres to its previous totals. While the primary funding for District operations and acquisitions came in the form of property taxes as well as state bond money, it was significantly aided in its powers of acquisition by the Buck Open Space Fund of the Marin Community Foundation. The Buck Open Space Fund would provide over $5 million to the Open Space District which supported the purchase of 14 properties between 1988 and 1995. The District acquired more land in 1995 (2,426 acres) than any other year of its existence. By 1997, the Open Space District’s land totaled just over 13,000 acres in 32 preserves. As the District moved into the late 1990s and 2000s, the focus shifted from land acquisition towards stewardship of owned lands and smaller additions to existing open space preserves. As the District’s land holdings have increased, so too has the necessity of its maintenance and 35 This name would be changed in 1974 to the Marin County Open Space District to reflect the agency’s focus on land preservation. Marin LAFCo 38 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 operations budget to increase proportionately, leaving less funds for acquisition. In 2012 the voters of Marin County adopted a new Measure A (Marin County Ordinance 3586) which levies a one-quarter cent sales tax throughout Marin County. This tax was reapproved 10 years later in 2022, and includes the following goals for the funding to both the District and Marin County Parks: • Preserve the quality of life and maintain open space, parks, and farmland with money that cannot be taken by the state from Marin County. • Protect streams, baylands, natural areas, and wildlife habitat. • Manage vegetation to preserve biodiversity and reduce wildfire risk. • Repair and replace deteriorating park facilities. • Maintain and enhance walking, hiking, biking, and equestrian trails. 7.3 DISTRICT BOUNDARY AND SPHERE OF INFLUENCE Marin County Open Space District’s jurisdictional boundary is coterminous with the jurisdictional boundary of the County of Marin, and totals 606 square miles (lands and water). The District’s sphere of influence is coterminous with its jurisdictional boundary. The sphere of influence was originally established on June 7th, 1983, by Marin LAFCo and has not been amended since that time. A map of the District’s jurisdictional boundary and sphere of influence can be seen below in Figure 7-1. Figure 7-1: Marin County Open Space District Jurisdictional Boundary and Sphere of Influence Marin LAFCo 39 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 7.4 GROWTH AND POPULATION The jurisdictional boundary of the Marin County Open Space District is coterminous with the established legal boundary of the County of Marin. The total population of Marin County is 252,95936. This total population figure is a decrease of 2,511 residents from the prior year. The County has realized population decreases annually since 2017 with the average annual percentage change during that time being -0.48%. Despite this trend, the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) projects the population of Marin County to grow by 12% by 2040 to a total population of 283,000. 7.5 MUNICIPAL SERVICES The Marin County Open Space District provides the services of open space acquisition and management. The District currently owns and manages approximately 16,000 acres of land that include 34 open space preserves that are accessed through unpaved roads and trails from over 300 formal trailheads. The District also holds conservation easements on approximately 3,000 acres of private lands. The preserves range in size from 8 acres to over 1,600 acres. The District breaks the preserves down into 6 regions across the county for planning purposes. Each region, with its corresponding preserves, are listed below: • Region 1: Alto Bowl, Baltimore Canyon, Blithedale Summit, Camino Alto, Horse Hill, King Mountain • Region 2: Cascade Canyon, French Ranch, Gary Giacomini, Loma Alta, Maurice Thorner Memorial, Roy’s Redwoods, White Hill • Region 3: Ignacio Valley, Indian Valley, Loma Verde, Lucas Valley, Pacheco Valley • Region 4: Deer Island, Indian Tree, Little Mountain, Mount Burdell, Rush Creek, Verissimo Hills • Region 5: Bald Hill, San Pedro Mountain, Santa Margarita Island, Santa Venetia Marsh, Terra Linda/Sleepy Hollow Divide • Region 6: Bolinas Lagoon, Bothin Marsh, Old Saint Hilary’s, Ring Mountain, Tiburon Ridge A map of the preserved in each region can be seen below in Figure 7-2. 36 California Department of Finance Population and Housing Estimate January 1, 2023. Marin LAFCo 40 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 Figure 7-2: Marin County Open Space District Preserves Map Marin LAFCo 41 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 Through the County of Marin, the District employs approximately 40 full-time employees and 18 seasonal employees. The Director of the Marin County Parks Department also serves as the General Manager of the District. These staff members provide the resource management and maintenance of the District’s lands while also having the responsibility of planning for and acquiring new land, conservation easements, and trail easements. They also provide nature interpretation services, primarily through a schedule of over 100 free, naturalist-guided walks annually. Additional land management services provided through the District include vegetation and fire fuels management, road and trail system management, and scientific research. 7.6 ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE Board of Supervisors and Parks and Open Space Commission As a dependent special district, the Marin County Board of Supervisors serves as the District’s governing body. The five-member Board of Supervisors meets on scheduled Tuesdays every month at 9:00 am in the County of Marin Civic Building located at 3501 Civic Center Drive, Suite 260 in San Rafael. The Board of Supervisors determines policy, adopts annual budgets, fixes salaries, and is responsible for overseeing mandated district functions as carried out by various county departments. The District also has a local advisory board, the Parks and Open Space Commission. The Board of Supervisors appointed Advisory Board consists of seven members serving two-year terms. The Parks and Open Space Commission acts in an advisory capacity to the Board of Supervisors on matters relating to parks and open space policy and conducts public hearings on parks and open space matters considered for recommendation to the Board of Supervisors. The Advisory board typically meets every other month, unless there is a need to schedule a special meeting for more urgent matters. Advisory Board meetings are typically held at the Marin County Planning Chambers, Room 328, at the Marin County Civic Center. Table 7-2: Marin County Board of Supervisors Member Position Term Expiration Dennis Rodoni President January 2, 2027 Eric Lucan 2nd Vice President January 2, 2027 Mary Sackett Vice President January 2, 2027 Katie Rice Director January 2, 2025 Stephanie Moulton-Peters Director January 2, 2025 Table 7-3: Marin County Parks and Open Space Commission Member Position Term Expiration Carolyn Lown Member June 30, 2024 Erika Lovejoy Member June 30, 2025 Joe Burns Second Vice-Chair June 30, 2025 Joe Meylan Member June 30, 2025 Michael Dyett Chair June 30, 2024 Pat O’Brien Member June 30, 2025 Yolanda Oviedo Vice-Chair June 30, 2024 Marin LAFCo 42 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 Staffing and District Operations As a dependent district of the County, all administrative services are provided by County departments, including legal counsel and compilation of financial transaction reports for the State Controller’s Office required under Government Code Section 53891. Marin County Open Space District is provided general oversight and management by the Marin County Parks Department with input and project guidance from the Marin County Parks and Open Space Commission. 7.7 ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY When conducting service reviews, LAFCo considers an agency’s accountability for community service needs, including governmental structure, operational efficiencies, financial resources, and promoting public access. Currently, Marin County Open Space District offers information about its services, meetings, finances, and the decision-making processes, with the Parks and Open Space Commission serving as the primary conduit between the community, Marin County Parks staff, and the Board of Supervisors. The advisory board has a dedicated webpage on the Marin County Parks website where current and past agendas and minutes, current board membership, and contact information are posted in accordance with the Brown Act. In addition, meetings are properly noticed and time is provided for public comment at each meeting. 7.8 FINANCIAL OVERVIEW Almost all of the annual revenue for the Marin County Open Space District comes from property taxes. The District receives just under 1% of every dollar of property tax received by Marin County. Property tax revenues for the Open Space District, as a separate legal entity from the County of Marin, bypass the General Fund and come directly to the District, as do revenues for other special districts and County Service Areas. Property tax revenues support the basic operations but, in general, are insufficient on a year-to-year basis to enable the District to pursue significant land acquisitions. Grant funding is pursued when a possible acquisition has been identified. At the end of FY 21-22, the Marin Open Space District Board had designated a $6 million contribution toward the proposed acquisition of the Martha Co. property in Tiburon and $1.85 million toward the acquisition of the Smith Property at Buck’s Landing in San Rafael. The District is hopeful the Martha Co. property acquisition could be completed by the end of 2024. Within the District’s annual budgets, over the course of the study window (past 5 fiscal years) the most significant budgeted expenditures are road and trail management, vegetation management and fire fuel reduction, public engagement and equity, and administration. The approved expenditure budget for the District for FY 2023-24 is $10,992,969. The audited financial statements for the Open Space District Fund can be found in the County’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR). The most recent ACFR for the County is for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2022. The District had an end-of-year fund balance at the time of $10,979,661. A breakdown of the District’s financial statements can be seen below in Table 7-4. The anomalously large Capital Outlay expenditure seen in FY 2019-20 was for the acquisition of Marin LAFCo 43 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 242.16 acres of the Bowman Canyon Ranch on the western boundary of the Mount Burdell Preserve. Table 7-4: Open Space District Fund Financials Fiscal Year 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 Revenues Taxes $7,510,488 $7,989,298 $8,312,340 $8,712,277 $9,326,320 Licenses and Permits - $7,731 $4,441 $7,783 $4,727 Intergovernmental $50,839 $168,178 $33,878 $33,526 $33,293 Charges for Services $3,968 $1,030 - $1,269 $13,422 From Use of Money $103,625 $236,374 $199,584 $29,641 ($77,575) and Property Miscellaneous $74,389 $130,344 $348,228 $246,466 $179,008 Total Revenues $7,743,309 $8,532,955 $8,898,471 $9,030,962 $9,479,195 Expenditures General Government $461,862 $431,700 $420,034 $268,383 $293,499 Recreation and $6,695,431 $7,024,964 $7,849,591 $8,139,928 $7,819,021 Cultural Services Capital Outlay $260,248 $225,972 $3,642,344 $313,948 $157,298 Total Expenditures $7,417,541 $7,677,928 $11,911,969 $8,722,259 $8,269,818 Excess (Deficiency) of Revenues Over $325,768 $855,027 ($3,013,498) $308,703 $1,209,377 (Under) Expenditures Marin LAFCo 44 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 8.0 MARIN HEALTHCARE DISTRICT 8.1 OVERVIEW The Marin Healthcare District37 (MHD) was established in December of 1946 as an independent special district under The Healthcare District Principal Act, which is the Local Health Care District Law (Government Code §32000, et seq.). It is currently one of 74 healthcare districts in the State of California. The District’s jurisdictional boundary encompasses just under 446 square miles, which makes up all of the land area of Marin County excluding the greater Novato area. The last municipal service review that included Marin Healthcare District was conducted in 2011. While healthcare districts meet the definition of “special district” subject to LAFCo authority, LAFCo’s authority in relation to healthcare services is seldom necessitated. The only tangible connection would be employed under a worst-case scenario in which Marin Healthcare District was to be dissolved. As such, the inclusion of the District in this report is primarily to summarize and describe the institutional context in which Marin Healthcare District provides its services and to comply with the study and determination mandates of the Cortese-Knox- Hertzberg Act. Table 8-1: Marin Healthcare District Overview Marin Healthcare District Primary Contact: David Klein, M.D. Phone: (415)-464-2090 Mailing Address: 100-B Drake’s Landing Road, Suite 250, Greenbrae, CA 94904 Formation Date: December 9, 1946 Services Provided: Healthcare Services Service Area: 285,380 acres Population Served: ≈256,018 8.2 FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT The provision of organized public healthcare in Marin County can be traced back to the late 19th century, long before the Marin Healthcare District’s enabling legislation had even been authored. From approximately 1850 to 1880, Marin County had no public hospital. During this time, the only publicly supported hospital in Marin was at San Quentin State Prison. The facility served the inmates but was not typically available to the general public. As such, Marin residents relied on limited local private medical services or headed to San Francisco for more specialized levels of care. At this juncture, the Marin County budget included a hospital fund to be used by indigents in need of medical services. The authenticity of each individual’s hardship and the funding to be awarded was decided by a vote of the Board of Supervisors on a case-by-case basis. 37 Originally established as the Marin County Hospital District Marin LAFCo 45 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 In 1880, the Marin County Board of Supervisors voted to establish a county farm to house and care for the ill as well as the indigent elderly. The facility, known as the Marin County Hospital and Poor Farm38, was constructed in Lucas Valley on the site of what is now the Marin County Juvenile Hall and County Parks Field Office. While the hospital served its most basic purpose, its location came under scrutiny in the early 1900s being a good distance away from the main urban hub of San Rafael. In 1905, three doctors founded the non-profit San Rafael Cottage Hospital located at the intersection of 5th street and what is now Lincoln Avenue.39 Originally known as the Cottage Hospital, the facility was renamed the San Rafael General Hospital in 194740 and when initially opened, was the picture of a modern medicinal institution. Discussion continued for several years on the need for a centrally located county hospital, however, up until the 1940s the Board of Supervisors maintained that it was not the right time for the county to invest in buildings to house a county hospital.41 Meanwhile, across the western part of the United States, rapid industrialization was creating more employment opportunities and more attractive job markets, with many family members moving to employment outside the home and consequently not so readily available to care for the sick. Despite this, the number of hospital beds was not growing at the same rate as the population. This shortage of facilities was exacerbated by the return of thousands of U.S. soldiers in need of regular medical treatment and hospitalization following World War II service. To respond to the inadequacy of acute care services in the non-urban areas of the state, the California legislature exacted the Local Hospital District Law (section 32000 et seq. Of the Health and Safety Code) in 1945. The intent of the law was to give rural, low-income areas without ready access to hospital facilities a source of tax income that could be used to construct and operate community hospitals and healthcare institutions, as well as recruit physicians and support their practices in medically underserved areas. At the November election in 1946, the voters of Marin County approved the formation of the Marin County Hospital District. The following month, the District would officially be formed when the Marin County Board of Supervisors appointed the original five Board of Directors for the District, with one member residing in each of the five supervisorial districts. In 1949, Marin County was awarded a $1.346 million federal grant contingent on the County raising an additional $800,000. An election for a bond to raise these funds was successful and was used in part to purchase the site for the future Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae. On June 11, 1950, ground was broken on Bon Air Hill for the new hospital, and on May 25, 1952, Marin General Hospital opened as a four-story, 104-bed acute care facility. The District initially included all of Marin County until 1959 when the voters of the greater Novato area voted to withdraw from the District. 38 The facility wad deemed to need reinforcement to remain earthquake safe in the mid 1950s. After two efforts in the early 1960s to pass bond measures failed, the patients were transferred and the unused buildings were eventually torn down. 39 At the time, Lincoln Avenue was known as Petaluma Avenue. 40 San Rafael General Hospital would close in 1966. 41 The Sausalito News:, June 1, 1939. Marin LAFCo 46 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 In 1961, the first major addition to Marin General Hospital was completed adding space for 116 additional beds. In 1965, the Marin General Hospital Foundation was formed42. The Foundation is a nonprofit organization responsible for securing charitable donations for capital investments, programs, services, and new technologies. In 1981, the District issued a government obligation bond to build a new wing for the hospital43, which would add 78 beds. It would be completed and open in 1986. In December of 1985, the District executed a 30-year lease with Marin General Hospital Corporation (MGH Corp.), which was organized as a private, non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation. Under the agreement, MGH Corp. controlled all hospital operations, including patient care, finances, and administration. The District functioned as a landlord, retaining ownership of land and buildings. The District Board of Directors no longer had a direct role in the operation of the hospital. Under the terms of the lease, the Marin General Hospital Corporation received the hospital’s cash, accounts receivables, and a lease of the premises for the lease term in return for an annual lease payment equal to $1.5 million. Shortly after entering into the lease, Marin General Hospital Corporation affiliated with California Healthcare Systems. In 1996, California Healthcare Systems and Sutter Health merged, giving Sutter Health control of Marin General Hospital Corporation. Relations between the District and Sutter Health quickly proved dysfunctional with lawsuits challenging the lease as well as the affiliation with Sutter. District Board members faced recall elections due to public distrust. The issues between the two entities came to a head in 2006 with a dispute over which agency should bear the responsibility to retrofit Marin General Hospital to comply with seismic standards. Sutter offered to build a new wing to the hospital that would comply with seismic standards, but only upon the renewal of the 30-year lease. The stance of the District’s Board was that the current lease required Sutter to comply with the seismic standards without an extension. After competing lawsuits were filed, a settlement and transfer agreement was reached whereby Sutter agreed to terminate the lease no later than July 1, 2010, and the District agreed to bear all of the retrofit obligations. Control of the Marin General Hospital was returned to the Marin Healthcare District44 Board on June 30, 2010. Upon the transfer, the District’s Board updated its bylaws stating the following: “The District will assume the role of sole corporate member of MGH Corporation effective June 30, 2010, and will thereupon enter into a relationship with MGH Corporation based on the parent/affiliate relationship established by corporate membership and new bylaws to be adopted by MGH Corporation. The Healthcare District is therefore committed to fulfilling its role with regard to MGH both as corporate parent and facility owner. It is the policy of the District, however, to confer no authority or powers of the District inherent in the District’s public agency status to MGH Corporation, and the District retains all of those powers and authorities granted to 42 Now known as MarinHealth Foundation. 43 This wing is now Cedar Pavilion. 44 In 1993, the State Legislature amended hospital district enabling legislation renaming hospital districts “healthcare districts” and expanding the definition of healthcare facilities to reflect changes in medical practice in which healthcare was taking place more and more as an outpatient service. Marin LAFCo 47 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 the District by the State by reason of its status as a political subdivision of the State of California. The District is committed to exercise its oversight authority as both corporate parent and facility owner consistent with the best interests of the healthcare needs of the residents of the District and consistent with the need for long term successful operations of MGH and other healthcare pursuits of the District.” Following the transfer of control, a single management team (including Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Fund and Business Development Officer, and Chief Human Resources Officer) assumed staff responsibilities for both boards. Under the new bylaws, the District board gained oversight authority on fundamental hospital issues and required MGH Corp to provide regular public reporting on a range of operational issues. District Board approval was required for hospital-related actions that primarily affect hospital ownership status, while the MGH Corp Board retained responsibility for overseeing the hospital’s operations, patient safety, patient/physician/employee satisfaction, and strategic planning. MGH Corp is governed by a fifteen-member board of professionals in medicine, business, finance, healthcare administration, or other related field. At the time of the transfer, the Board was eleven-members who were appointed by the Healthcare District Board of Directors in July of 2010. Following these initial appointments, the Board of the MGH Corp nominates and approves its own directors, subject to additional, approval by the District Board. The principle advantage to this form of governance is to assure professional expertise in business, medicine, finance, and other relevant fields as well as diversity of representation for guidance of complex hospital operations. A five-member board elected at large would be unlikely to embody this range of knowledge and experience. The MGH Corp Board is accountable to the District Board and the District Board is accountable to the public The intent is to assure both political accountability and broad technical expertise in the District’s governance with both components necessary to maintain public confidence. Following the transfer, the District was faced with the sizeable task of seismic retrofitting for the hospital. While the initial principal advantage of a district hospital was its ability to levy taxes without a vote of the people, that advantage was lost with the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978 along with later laws limiting taxation without super-majority approval. In 2013, the District sent Measure F to the ballot in hopes of having the voters approve the issuance of $394 million in bonds earmarked for a 300,000-square-foot replacement building with two wings in order to address the State’s seismic requirements, as well as a 100,000 square foot ambulatory services building, two new parking structures with 919 spaces, and a 662 square foot additional building structure on the hospital campus. The measure received 68.4% of the vote at the November 5, 2013 election and was approved. As an additional layer of public transparency, the District created a Citizens Bond Oversight Committee that was comprised of six members for the purpose of informing the public about expenditures of Measure F bond funds and ensuring that proceeds were expended for the purposes described in Measure F. Following this vote, in November of 2014, a renewal of the lease agreement between the District and MGH Corp went to the voters in the form of Measure R, and received 79% of the vote and was approved for an annual lease of $500,000. The 30-year lease agreement runs through 2045. Marin LAFCo 48 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 The bond funds would be issued in two separate installments. The first, issued in November of 2015 for $170 million, was used for the construction of the parking structure and for design and site improvements preparatory to the commencement of the construction of the new hospital facility. The second issuance was in September of 2017 for $224 million and was dedicated to the construction of the new hospital facility. On July 28, 2016, following the completion of the hospital’s new 5-level parking structure, ground was officially broken for the new 260,000- square-foot hospital replacement building. The new building, known as Oak Pavilion, was completed and opened in September of 2020. In early 2018, Marin General Hospital and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) announced the agreement of a 10-year strategic alliance. Both parties were very clear in stating that the agreement was neither a merger nor an acquisition of any sort, but rather the broadening of an already growing collaboration between the two entities with the two having already engaged in the collaborative relationships of a neonatal intensive care unit, neurosurgery, pediatric care, and cardiac surgery. While the bonds that had been approved for Marin Healthcare District in 2013 had provided a significant amount of the necessary funding for the planned facility renovations, there remained a funding gap for the final piece of the renovation plan in the ambulatory services building and second parking structure. While no direct mention was ever made of financial assistance in this matter from UCSF, a Marin Healthcare District Board Member did state that the strategic alliance would make Marin General appear more creditworthy to lenders should the time come to pursue revenue bonds.4546 In July of 2019, Marin General Hospital rebranded as MarinHealth Medical Center, and its affiliated Prima Medical Foundation and the Marin General Hospital Foundation rebranded as MarinHealth Medical Network and MarinHealth Foundation, respectively. 45 Marin Independent Journal, March 23, 2018; Marin General Hospital forges alliance with UCSF 46 As required by the MarinHealth Medical Center’s bylaws, Section 10.1(d), the issuance of revenue bonds requires the approval the Marin Healthcare District Board. In 2018, the District approved the issuance of $159 million in revenue bonds by MarinHealth Medical Center. In 2023, the District Board approved another round of revenue bonds by MarinHealth Medical Center totaling $100 million. Marin LAFCo 49 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 Figure 8-1: Marin Healthcare District Jurisdictional Boundary and Sphere of Influence 8.3 DISTRICT BOUNDARY AND SPHERE OF INFLUENCE The Marin Healthcare District’s jurisdictional boundary encompasses approximately 446 square miles of both incorporated and unincorporated Marin County. The District’s boundary includes all of Marin County except for the area that comprises the boundary of the Novato Fire Protection District as the voters in this area removed themselves from the District in 1959. The District’s sphere of influence was established by Marin LAFCo in 1984 as being coterminous with it’s jurisdictional boundary. The sphere was last reaffirmed in 2011. 8.4 GROWTH AND POPULATION The Marin Healthcare District’s boundary includes ten of the eleven incorporated towns/cities in Marin County (Belvedere, Fairfax, Corte Madera, Larkspur, Mill Valley, Ross, San Anselmo, San Rafael, San Anselmo, Sausalito, Tiburon) as well as all of the unincorporated census- designated place communities with the exception of Black Point – Green Point. While the greater Novato area is not technically within the boundary of the Marin Healthcare District, the Marin LAFCo 50 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 residents in that area still take part in the services that the District provides and, as such, the whole of Marin County will be given consideration in this section for the District. The U.S. Census Bureau gives a current population estimate for Marin County of 262,321. Since 2010, the County as a whole has seen a total population growth of 9,912, an increase of 3.9%. The population change data for the cities, towns, and census-designated places within the District’s boundary from 2010 to 2020 can be seen below in Table 8-2. Table 8-2: Municipality and Census-Designated Place Population Change Within MHD Community Name 2010 2020 City of Novato 51,904 53,225 City of Belvedere 2,068 2,126 Town of Corte Madera 9,253 10,222 Town of Fairfax 7,441 7,605 City of Larkspur 11,962 13,064 City of Mill Valley 13,903 14,231 Town of Ross 2,415 2,338 Town of San Anselmo 12,336 12,830 City of San Rafael 57,713 61,271 City of Sausalito 7,061 7,269 Town of Tiburon 8,962 9,146 The remaining development potential within each of the planning areas within the District’s boundary (both incorporated and unincorporated), while relatively minimal based upon the number of remaining undeveloped parcels zoned for residential development, has experienced recent changes with the majority of the Cities/Towns as well as Marin County itself having adopted updated housing elements that included planning for accommodations of the housing mandates from the State. The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) has designated a need for a total of 3,569 additional housing units in unincorporated Marin County by 2031 within the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) plan. This number is 907 units shy of what Marin County had deemed as the total buildout for unincorporated Marin County. Meanwhile, the additional housing unit mandates for each of the incorporated spaces within the District’s boundary create a sum total of 9,97147 and are as follows: • City of Belvedere – 160 • Town of Corte Madera – 725 • Town of Fairfax – 490 • City of Larkspur – 979 • Town of San Anselmo – 833 • Town of Ross – 111 • City of San Rafael – 3,220 • City of Sausalito – 724 • Town of Tiburon – 639 47 ABAG Final RHNA Plan Marin LAFCo 51 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 • City of Novato – 2,090 • City of Mill Valley - 865 Assuming that in both unincorporated and incorporated spaces, the total number of housing units (13,540) was constructed, this would theoretically lead to an increase in the population of 32,49648. 8.5 MUNICIPAL SERVICES Healthcare The Marin Healthcare District is the owner of the hospital known as MarinHealth Medical Center. The facility is the only full-service, acute care hospital in Marin County. The District is granted all of the powers outlined in California Health and Safety Code §32000 - §32492. MarinHealth Medical Center and its affiliate MarinHealth Medical Network provide a wide array of medical services including (but not limited to): • Pregnancy and Childbirth (the only maternity ward in Marin County) • Level III Trauma Center and Emergency Department • Internal Medicine • Pulmonology • Stroke Care • Cancer Care • Cardiovascular Medicine • Behavioral Health • Pediatric Care • Neurosurgery • Imaging and Radiology • Family Medicine • OB/GYN • Orthopedics 48 Projected population is calculated based on applying the average captured from the 2020 Census for Marin County of 2.4 persons per household to the total estimated in new housing. Marin LAFCo 52 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 Table 8-3 below outlines MarinHealth Medical Center’s key service volume statistics for 2018- 2022. Service 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Acute 9,229 8,658 7,446 8,664 9,578 Discharges Acute Patient 42,917 42,084 37,204 43,247 49,345 Days Average 4.65 4.86 5.00 4.99 5.15 Length of Stay Emergency Department 35,165 36,526 28,786 33,801 37,084 Visits Inpatient 1,899 1,645 1,393 1,573 1,592 Surgeries Outpatient 3,427 3,585 3,306 4,317 5,745 Surgeries Newborns 1,217 1,233 1,221 1,438 1,506 8.6 ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY The Marin Healthcare District makes a concerted effort to maintain high accountability and transparency in all its activities. The District website (marinhealthcare.org) provides documentation on board meeting agendas and minutes as well as financial reports, services, history, as well as multiple connections to the MarinHealth website for services. Overall the District operates in a transparent manner and is in compliance with applicable State law relative to the posting of meeting agendas and website requirements.49 Board of Directors The Marin Healthcare District receives oversight and policy direction by way of a five-member board that is elected to staggered four-year terms with election cycles held in even-numbered years. On March 4, 2022, the District Board adopted Resolution 2022-01 which transitioned the District’s election process from at-large to division-based election, with the first such election taking place in November of 2022. Maps of the District’s electoral divisions can be seen below in Figures 8-2 and 8-3. 49 Marin LAFCo staff makes a concerted effort to review the majority of the content on the websites of agencies being reviewed, however, does not make any concrete determination on the ADA compliance of all of the documents each agency posts. Transparency reviews are in relation the requirements of public agencies found within the language of Senate Bill 929 (2018), Senate Bill 272 (2015), and specifically in the case of healthcare districts, AB 1728 (2018). Marin LAFCo 53 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 Table 8-4: Marin Healthcare District Board of Directors Member Position Term Expiration Edward Alfrey, M.D. Chair December 2024 Ann Sparkman, J.D. Vice-Chair December 2024 Jennifer Rienks, Ph.D. Secretary December 2026 Brian Su, M.D. Director December 2026 Samantha Ramirez Director December 2026 Figure 8-2: Marin Healthcare District Voting Divisions50 50 The northeast area of Division 4 on the map that appears to spill outside of the District’s boundary includes for census blocks that are partially in and partially out of the District. For these census blocks, only the individuals in the shaded area to the west of the boundary line are included in District elections. Marin LAFCo 54 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 Figure 8-3: Marin Healthcare District Voting Divisions (Urban Area Zoom) Meeting and Agendas The Marin Healthcare District Board of Directors meets regularly on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. in the MarinHealth Medical Center Conference Center at 250 Bon Air Road in Greenbrae. Special meetings are held as needed to go over specific topics. Meeting agendas and minutes can be found on the District’s website (marinhealthcare.org/public-meetings). 8.7 FINANCIAL OVERVIEW The majority of the District’s operating revenues are comprised of rental revenue earned from MarinHealth Medical Center (MHMC), with a minimal amount of other revenues. The base rent is $500,000 annually, plus an annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase. Additional rent is conditional on MHMC achieving certain financial benchmarks. The District receives what is considered nonoperating revenues by way of property tax assessments by Marin County on Marin LAFCo 55 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 District property owners, which is used to make bond interest and principal payments. Property tax assessments are based upon expected debt service for the following year and vary depending on scheduled bond principal and interest payment amounts. Operating expenses for the District are primarily incurred through the conducting of programs such as community healthcare education and support for hospital programs.51 Table 8-5 below shows the condensed statement of revenue, expenses, and changes in net position for 2019-202252, which are the most recently audited financial statements available. The only debt the District carries is the general obligation bonds previously outlined in this document. Table 8-5: Marin Healthcare District Financial Information Operating FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 Averages Operating $531,124 $582,339 $956,814 $953,945 $756,056 Revenues Operating $1,764,623 $5,020,327 $14,890,290 $12,471,684 $8,536,731 Expenses Operating Loss ($1,233,499) ($4,437,988) ($13,933,476) ($11,517,739) ($7,780,676) Nonoperating FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 Averages Tax Revenue $11,647,284 $16,497,711 $16,616,446 $16,395,037 $15,289,120 Interest and Investment 160,244 $212,374 ($56,252) ($449,822) ($33,364) (loss) income Bond Interest - ($3,577,456) ($14,305,346) ($14,290,575) ($10,724,459) Expense Total Nonoperating $11,807,528 $13,132,629 $2,254,848 $1,654,640 $7,212,411 revenues FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 Averages Change in Net $10,289,201 $8,694,641 ($11,678,628) ($9,863,099) ($639,471) Position 51 For the years ending December 31, 2022, 2021, and 2020, operating losses were primarily due to the depreciation incurred by the District. 52 The District operates on a January 1 – December 31 fiscal year. While typically 5 years of financial data are shown, MHD made a significant accounting change after FY 2017-18 to no longer include revenues and expenses (both operating and nonoperating) from MHMC. Marin LAFCo 56 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 9.0 MARIN MUNICIPAL WATER DISTRICT 9.1 OVERVIEW The Marin Municipal Water District53 (MMWD) was established in 1912 as an independent special district under Sections 30000-33900 of the California Water Code. The MMWD boundary surrounds just over 147 square miles of central and southern Marin County. The district serves a population of approximately 206,49254 persons. The last Municipal Service Review that included MMWD was conducted in January of 2016 as part of the Countywide Water Municipal Service Review. As a limited-purpose agency, MMWD provides potable water, non-potable water, and public recreation (primarily dedicated to watershed/open space management). The District’s potable water supplies are collected locally from reservoirs that are primarily filled by diverting flows from Lagunitas, Nicasio, and Arroyo Sausal Creeks, with the remainder of the District’s supplies imported from Sonoma County. Table 9-1: Marin Municipal Water District Overview Marin Municipal Water District Primary Contact: Ben Horenstein Phone: (415)-945-1455 Main Office: 220 Nellen Avenue, Corte Madera, CA Formation Date: April 25, 1912 Services Provided: Potable Water, Non-Potable Water, Public Recreation Service Area: 94,080 acres Population Served: ≈206,492 9.2 FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT The Marin Municipal Water District’s history in Marin County reaches all the way back to the mid-19th century. With its initial and primary service area of San Rafael’s burgeoning development in the late 1850s due to the connection of the community to San Francisco by way of ferry and railroad service of San Quentin Point, the purchase and subdivision of approximately 1,100 acres to the east of Mission San Rafael necessitated an adequate water supply for the development of the area. The predecessor to Marin Municipal Water District, the Marin County Water Company (MCWC), was formed to meet this need in 1871. MCWC’s initial water source was a spring site located northeast of Mission San Rafael and was accessed after the purchase of the neighboring San Rafael Water Company that served the downtown San 53 In 2020, Marin Municipal Water District adopted the new name “Marin Water”. The change was strictly for marketing purposes and no official name change as would be required by Water Code Section 71598 was ever officially adopted by the board. As such, this report will use the more commonly known “Marin Municipal Water District” or “MMWD”. 54 Population served calculated through the means given in California Code of Regulations Section 64412 by multiplying the number of service connections by 3.3 Marin LAFCo 57 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 Rafael Area. The spring produced an estimated 44.8 acre-feet annually. Simultaneously, MCWC was working to establish new and more reliable water sources from Lagunitas Creek in the Mount Tamalpais watershed to accommodate both the growth of the San Rafael community as well as the San Quentin State Prison which opened in 1854. In 1873, MCWC55 initiated the service of Lake Lagunitas with the completion of an earth-filled dam and the placement of an eight-inch water main spanning six miles to San Rafael and ten miles to San Quentin. Conceived with the thinking that it alone could sustain the growing water demands of San Rafael, Lake Lagunitas' initial storage capacity was 460 acre-feet. With MCWC’s continual expansion of its service area into the developing Ross Valley, however, the supplies being drawn from Lake Lagunitas were becoming severely taxed by the turn of the century. The emergency of seasonal outages combined with perceived inequities in rate setting led to a series of inquiries by the San Rafael City Council and other community groups and pushed local leaders to consider legislation to allow the public to purchase and assume MCWC’s water system56. This public pressure prompted MCWC to develop two additional reservoirs to capture water from Mount Tamalpais’ watersheds: Moore Lake and Phoenix Lake57. Despite the additions, local sentiment towards MCWC remained soured and after being elected to the California State Assembly, George Harlan led the creation and passing of the Municipal Water District Act of 1911, which specifically allowed for the creation of public agencies spanning both incorporated and unincorporated areas to provide potable water service. Shortly after the passage of the Municipal Water District Act of 1911, local landowners petitioned the State Legislature for the formation of a new municipal water provider and in November of 1911, voters approved the formation of a new water district. In April of 1912, with a jurisdictional boundary that spanned approximately from San Rafael to Sausalito, the Marin Municipal Water District officially began operations. The District established a 13-member Board of Directors divided between five elected members and eight appointed members from the seven incorporated communities (Belvedere, Larkspur, Ross, Mill Valley, San Anselmo, San Rafael, and Sausalito) and the County of Marin. In August of 1915, an election was held wherein the voters approved the sale of up to $3 million in bonds which were subsequently used to purchase MCWC, which had been renamed as the Marin Water and Power Company (MWPC) in August of 1908, as well as the North Coast Water Company – the service provider to Mill Valley – along with approximately 5,500 acres of watershed on Mount Tamalpais. With the addition of this large swath of land, MMWD established a park ranger program in 1917 in order to enforce rules and regulations with respect to public access and uses within District-owned lands. 55 Information on the establishment and subsequent development of the MCWC and its water supplies is drawn from two complimentary sources: (a) “Mount Tamalpais and the Marin Municipal Water District” by Jack Gibson and (b) “The Old Company: The History of Water Development in South Central Marin County,” by Robert W. Lethbridge. 56 At this time, State law did not allow a public utility to operate water services in both incorporated and unincorporated areas. 57 Moore Reservoir was taken offline by MMWD in the 1960s. Phoenix Reservoir remains online with its original holding capacity of 411 acre-feet and used as one of two MMWD emergency reservoirs due to high pumping costs. Marin LAFCo 58 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 In 1919, the District completed the construction of the Alpine Dam off of Lagunitas Creek that created Alpine Lake. Alpine Lakes' initial capacity was 3,121 acre-feet. The lake was enlarged in 1941 to the capacity of 8,891 acre-feet at which it remains today. Later that same decade, the District completed the construction on the Bon Tempe Dam and Reservoir off of Lagunitas Creek (1948). The reservoir has a storage capacity of 4,107 acre-feet. In 1952, MMWD purchased and assumed the water service responsibilities for the San Geronimo Valley Water Company along with the rights to Nicasio Creek. In November of 1956, local voters approved a $12.6 million bond to provide funding for several projects, most notably the construction of the Nicasio Dam off of Nicasio Creek. The resulting Nicasio Reservoir was initially filled in 1960 and has a current capacity of 22,430 acre-feet. The bond measure would also go on to fund the construction of water treatment plants at San Geronimo and Bon Tempe as well as the construction of the MMWD administrative offices in Corte Madera. In 1953 the District also completed the construction of Peters Dam off of Lagunitas Creek which created Kent Lake. Kent Lake would go on to be enlarged in 1982 to a capacity of 32,895 acre-feet, making it the largest reservoir in MMWD. In 1975, MMWD entered into an agreement with the Sonoma County Water Agency for the transmission of off-peak water supplies from the Russian River. The agreement, as well as the update in 1996, provides MMWD an annual allocation of up to 14,300 acre-feet. In 1976, Marin County would be impacted by one of the most notable droughts in its recorded history, lasting well through 1977. In response, MMWD would reach an agreement with outside agencies to receive up to 10,000 acre-feet of emergency supplies from the State Water Project. The District would also construct a temporary 24-inch transmission line across the San Rafael-Richmond Bridge and receive approximately 5,000 acre-feet of water between June and December 1977. The transmission line would be removed the following year. Feeling the impacts of the recent drought, the District completed the construction of an additional dam and reservoir, the Soulajule Dam/Reservoir, in 1979 as an emergency supply through diversions from Walker Creek. The holding capacity of Soulajule Reservoir is 10,572 acre-feet. With an eye toward conservation and stewardship, MMWD would adopt a formal policy in 1995 to guide the management of the District’s watershed resources on Mount Tamalpais. The document, Mount Tamalpais Vegetation Management Plan, would be fully updated in 2008. Additionally, in 2005, the District created and adopted the Mount Tamalpais Watershed Road and Trail Management plan as a guiding document to manage all of the Watershed’s roads and trails. In early 2001, MMWD would undertake studies to evaluate the application of desalination as a possibility to supplement the District’s water supply. A preferred desalination plant alternative was ultimately identified through the studies that would provide up to 15 million gallons per day from the San Rafael Bay. MMWD would adopt an environmental impact report for the potential project in December of 2008. The board would ultimately put the project on hold in April of 2010. In August of 2010, the board placed Ordinance 418 on the ballot for the November election. The ordinance, titled on the Ballot as Measure S, stated that the district would require voter approval before District Board could approve the construction or the financing for Marin LAFCo 59 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 construction of any desalination facility. The measure passed with 77% support. Discussions surrounding desalination remained fairly dormant until Marin County faced another significant drought in 2021, as District reservoirs dropped near 10% of total storage capacity. Winter of 2021 would provide a significant reprieve from the drought conditions, filling Marin’s reservoirs to capacity, and once again putting the necessitation of a temporary emergency desalination facility on hold. The District states that it continues to investigate the possibility of a permanent desalination facility both as a facility just serving MMWD, as well as a possible partnership with other agencies that would ultimately be a regional facility58. 9.3 DISTRICT BOUNDARY AND SPHERE OF INFLUENCE Marin Municipal Water District’s service boundary currently encompasses just over 147 square miles and covers 94,080 acres of both incorporated and unincorporated Marin County. This total acreage equates to approximately one-fifth of Marin County’s total jurisdiction. The lands within the District’s boundary are approximately 40% incorporated and 60% unincorporated territory. Since LAFCos were created in 1963 and Marin LAFCo assumed responsibility in overseeing the District’s service area, the jurisdictional boundary has grown by approximately 10%. There have been 24 recorded boundary changes to MMWD in this timeframe, with the most significant as far as total acreage is concerned being the detachment of 980 acres comprising the former Hamilton Air Force Field from the district as part of a negotiated reorganization with North Marin Water District in 2002. The District’s current jurisdictional boundary surrounds two census tract block groups (Tract 1290, Block Group 1, and Tract 1121, Block Group 1) which encompass the general areas of the unincorporated community of Marin City and the northern portion of the California Park area that have both been designated by Marin LAFCo as disadvantaged unincorporated communities (DUC) based on 2020 U.S. Census Bureau Redistricting Data. A disadvantaged community is defined in Water Code Section 7905.5(a) as a community with an annual median household income of less than 80 percent of the statewide median household income. The statutory definition of DUCs comes from Government Code Section 56033.5, which defines DUCs as “inhabited territory” that constitutes all or a portion of a disadvantaged community. “Inhabited territory” may be defined by Government Code Section 56046 as having at least 12 registered voters, or it can be determined by “commission policy”. The District’s sphere of influence was established by Marin LAFCo in December of 1983. The sphere of influence is approximately 98% coterminous with its jurisdictional boundary. The sphere includes approximately 500 acres of non-jurisdictional lands in the two unincorporated communities of Homestead Valley and Upper Lucas Valley. The sphere of influence was most recently updated in October 2016 and was amended at that time to remove the Hamilton Field area from the sphere to reflect the detachment of the area from the jurisdictional boundary that took place in 2002. 58 Marin Water Desalination Overview Marin LAFCo 60 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 Figure 9-1: Marin Municipal Water District Jurisdictional Boundary and Sphere of Influence 9.4 GROWTH AND POPULATION The Marin Municipal Water District provides service to ten of the eleven incorporated towns/cities in Marin County (Belvedere, Fairfax, Corte Madera, Larkspur, Mill Valley, Ross, San Anselmo, San Rafael, Sausalito, Tiburon) as well as eleven census-designated place communities (Alto, Kentfield, Lagunitas-Forest Knolls, Lucas Valley-Marinwood, Marin City, San Geronimo, Santa Venetia, Sleepy Hollow, Strawberry, Tamalpais-Homestead Valley, Woodacre) and the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center. As of the beginning of 2024, the District had a total of 61,470 service connections. California Code of Regulations Section 64412 identifies three methods to calculate the number of persons served by a public water system: census data, service connections multiplied by 3.3, or living units multiplied by 2.8. Marin LAFCo chose to use the formula of the number of service connections multiplied by 3.3 which gives the District a current population estimate within its service boundary of 202,851. In addition to this, the District also provides service to the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center which, as of September of 2023, had a total population of 3,64159, bringing the District’s total 59 San Quentin State Prison Population Data Marin LAFCo 61 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 service area population to 206,492. This amount is just under 80% of Marin County’s total population of 262,321.60 Since 2010, the County as a whole has seen a total population growth of 9,912, an increase of 3.9%. The population change data for the cities, towns, and census- designated places within the District’s boundary from 2010 to 2020 can be seen below in Table 9-2. Table 9-2: Municipality and Census-Designated Place Population Change Within MMWD Community Name 2010 2020 Alto 711 732 Kentfield 6,485 6,808 Lagunitas-Forest Knolls 1,819 1,924 Lucas Valley – Marinwood 6,094 6,259 Marin City 2,666 2,993 San Geronimo 446 510 Santa Venetia 4,292 4,289 Sleepy Hollow 2,384 2,401 Strawberry 5,393 5,447 Tamalpais-Homestead Valley 10,735 11,492 Woodacre 1,348 1,410 City of Belvedere 2,068 2,126 Town of Corte Madera 9,253 10,222 Town of Fairfax 7,441 7,605 City of Larkspur 11,962 13,064 City of Mill Valley 13,903 14,231 Town of Ross 2,415 2,338 Town of San Anselmo 12,336 12,830 City of San Rafael 57,713 61,271 City of Sausalito 7,061 7,269 Town of Tiburon 8,962 9,146 The remaining development potential within each of the planning areas within the District’s boundary (both incorporated and unincorporated), while relatively minimal based upon the number of remaining undeveloped parcels zoned for residential development, has experienced recent changes with the majority of the Cities/Towns as well as Marin County itself having adopted updated housing elements that included planning for accommodations of the housing mandates from the State. The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) has designated a need for a total of 3,569 additional housing units in unincorporated Marin County by 2031 within the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) plan. This number is 907 units shy of what Marin County had deemed as the total buildout for unincorporated Marin County. Of those 3,569 units, 2,71261 of those have identified sites for development within the unincorporated spaces in Marin Municipal Water District’s jurisdictional boundary. Meanwhile, the additional 60 Marin County U.S. Census Bureau Data 61 Marin County Housing Element Update 6th Cycle 2023-2031 pg. 103 Marin LAFCo 62 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 housing unit mandates for each of the incorporated spaces within the District’s boundary create a sum total of 7,88162 and are as follows: • City of Belvedere – 160 • Town of Corte Madera – 725 • Town of Fairfax – 490 • City of Larkspur – 979 • Town of San Anselmo – 833 • Town of Ross – 111 • City of San Rafael – 3,220 • City of Sausalito – 724 • Town of Tiburon – 639 Assuming that within the District’s service area in both unincorporated and incorporated spaces, the total number of housing units (10,593) was constructed, this would lead to an increase in the population of 25,42363. The District projects a population increase within its Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP) of 28,486 between 2025 and 2045. Utilizing the baseline of the gallons per capita per day that the District reported in 2023 (98.2), the projected 28,486 inhabitants in 2045 would add a demand of 3,133 acre-feet of water annually. If this amount were to be added to 2023’s usage total of 21,620 acre-feet, it would amount to 24,753 acre-feet, which is near the District’s 10-year average annual demand over the past decade of 24,668 acre- feet. 9.5 MUNICIPAL SERVICES Potable Water The Marin Municipal Water District provides retail potable water services through a combination of its own as well as contracted supply, treatment, storage, and distribution facilities, including the importing of water from sources in Sonoma County. The distribution system spans approximately 900 miles with the original service lines of the system having been laid as far back as 1880. The District’s water supplies are secured from a combination of local and imported sources with the local sources typically accounting for approximately 75% of annual usage. MMWD’s total reservoir capacity for its local sources equates to 79,566 acre-feet. The District’s average annual yield of those sources is approximately 25,300 acre-feet. MMWD’s primary potable water supplies are generated from watershed runoff and diverted from three local creeks: Lagunitas Creek, Nicasio Creek, and Arroyo Sausal Creek. The water is secured through a combination of pre (unrestricted) and post (restricted) 1914 appropriated rights with the State Water Resources Control Board. 64Lagunitas Creek provides the most 62 ABAG Final RHNA Plan 63 Projected population is calculated based on applying the average captured from the 2020 Census for Marin County of 2.4 persons per household to the total estimated in new housing. 64 An appropriative water right is water taken for use on non-riparian land or water that would not be there under natural conditions on riparian land. Water right permits and licenses issued by the State Water Board are appropriative rights. Marin LAFCo 63 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 significant local supply source and resides on the southwest side of Mount Tamalpais within the 38-square-mile watershed. The District’s rights to Lagunitas Creek are utilized through multiple diversion points that direct water into one of four man-made reservoirs that are all within 6 miles of one another along the waterway. These reservoirs65 collectively provide 46,153 acre-feet in total storage capacity. The District’s additional surface supply sources are obtained through post-1914 appropriated rights to divert water from the Nicasio and Arroyo Sausal Creeks. The water flows from Nicasio Creek are generated from runoff within the 37 square-mile watershed (Nicasio) and diverted into the Nicasio Reservoir, which has a 22,430 acre-foot holding capacity. Water flows from the Arroyo Sausal Creek are generated from runoff in a 78 square-mile watershed (Walker) and are diverted66 into Soulajule Reservoir which has a 10,572 acre-foot holding capacity. The secondary potable supply source for the District is imported from Sonoma County through an agreement with the Sonoma County Water Agency (SCWA). The agreement allocates annually up to 14,300 acre-feet of treated potable water drawn from the Russian River through specialized filtering wells near Forestville in Sonoma County. The agreement enables MMWD through a cost-sharing arrangement with SCWA to divert, treat, and convey water from the Russian River through a series of aqueducts and pumps that ultimately span nearly 40 miles before connecting to the District’s distribution system through an intertie with the North Marin Water District. Over the course of the study period, the average annual deliveries from SCWA were approximately 5,300 acre-feet and accounted for just over one-fifth of all MMWD supply production. MMWD treats all raw water received from its local surface sources at one of two water treatment plants that apply nearly identical processes before finished water enters the distribution system. The Bon Tempe water treatment plant lies northwest of the Town of Ross and operates year- round and can process all water drawn from the Lagunitas Creek and held at Alpine, Bon Tempe, Kent, Lagunitas, and Phoenix Reservoirs. The treatment plant’s capacity is 18 million gallons (55.2 acre-feet) per day. This daily treatment capacity equates to 70.1% of the 78.7 acre-feet of water that can be drawn on a given day from Lagunitas Creek. The San Geronimo water treatment plant resides in the unincorporated community of Woodacre and operates year-round processing water drawn from Nicasio and Arroyo Sausal Creeks held at the Nicasio and Soulajule Reservoirs as well as water drawn from Lagunitas Creek and held at Kent Lake67. This treatment plant has a daily treatment capacity of 76.7 acre-feet. This amount equates to 70% of the 112.8 acre-feet of water that can be drawn daily from Nicasio and Arroyo Sausal Creeks. The District’s imported water supplies from SCWA are delivered pretreated with respect to having been filtered and disinfected. The contracted water from SCWA is received by MMWD 65 Lagunitas Creek reservoirs in order of their original service dates: Lagunitas, Phoenix, Bon Tempe, and Kent 66 Gravity provides diversion and conveyance of raw-water to all seven reservoirs with pumping required out of the reservoirs to their assigned treatment facilities. 67 The San Geronimo WTP can also treat water from Lagunitas, Bon Tempe, Alpine, and Kent reservoirs if needed. Marin LAFCo 64 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 at its Ignacio Water Quality Station where the district completes a supplemental treatment process before the finished water enters the distribution system. The Ignacio facility has a daily maximum capacity of 49.1 acre-feet, which generously exceeds the 39 acre-feet allocation MMWD is under contract to receive for a given day from SCWA. The distribution system for MMWD contains approximately 886 miles68 worth of water mains and overlays 21 service areas with 142 separate pressure zones that cover over a 1000-foot range in elevation between service connections. The distribution chiefly relies on gravity pressure for recharge from 123 storage tanks that range in service date from 1902 to 2013 and collectively hold 250.9 acre-feet, which is just under three times the amount of the peak day water demand in 2023. There are also 95 pump stations connected to the distribution system conveying water from lower to higher service areas and individual zones. These pumps are triggered when operating storage falls below a designated level. A graphical overview of MMWD’s domestic water system can be seen below in Figure 9-2. Figure 9-2: MMWD Distribution and Storage 68 MMWD UWMP; Pg. 20 Marin LAFCo 65 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 The fully treated (finished) water enters MMWD’s distribution system at three separate locations from the District’s water treatment plants through 42-inch transmission mains into nine connected low-lying gravity zones. Total transmission capacity to the distribution system from all three water treatment plants equates to 176.7 acre feet. MMWD serves 61,470 service connections as of the writing of this study. This number is an increase of 79 total connections over the course of the last 10 years. Of these connections, 55,780 (90%) are residential and 5,690 (10%) are non-residential (commercial, agricultural, and other). Despite this modest increase, the actual metered water demand in 2023 was 21% lower than that almost a decade earlier in 2014, dropping from 27,689 acre-feet to 21,620 acre-feet. This significant decrease was heavily influenced by the historic drought conditions, mandatory state-wide restrictions on urban water use imposed by the California State Water Resources Control Board, and local drought response. Recycled Water MMWD began providing secondary treated recycled water services in 1977 with the construction of its own treatment facility located on leased land owned by Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District (LGVSD). The treatment facility was significantly upgraded in 1998 and expanded capacity from 1.0 to 2.0 million gallons daily. On April 1, 2017, the District entered into an agreement with LGVSD to decommission MMWD’s Las Gallinas Reclamation Plant and pay 10.5% of the final actual cost of the Recycled Water Treatment Facility to be constructed69. The contract grants MMWD access to 1.87 million gallons per day of recycled water through 2047. The decommissioning of the existing plant and construction of the new plant caused the non-potable recycled water distribution to be interrupted in 2019 and 2020, however, during this time the water demands by the recycled water system were met with potable water70. The upgrades were completed in April 2021 and increased the treatment capacity to approximately 5 million gallons daily. MMWD’s recycled water service area is confined to the northern portion of its service area and includes Terra Linda, Marinwood, Smith Ranch, Santa Venetia, and the Marin County Civic Center. The District receives secondary treated wastewater from LGVSD and treats these supplies to tertiary through a chemical and filtration process that removes the rest of the solids and gives the water clarity. The recycled water is then treated to adjust its pH levels and disinfected before entering MMWD’s recycled water distribution system. The water is distributed by way of three pump stations at Frietas Parkway, Channing Way, and Quail Hill through approximately 25 miles of pipeline. The treatment facility operates seven months per year on average during the dryer seasons to coincide with the seasonal demand for recycled water. Recycled water demands are primarily associated with outdoor irrigation and therefore are highest between the months of April and October. The District had a total of 218 recycled water service connections in 2023. Annual recycled water use represents approximately 3% of 69 Costs currently estimated at $41,000,000. 70 This usage of potable water to meet the demands of the recycled water system resulted in an increased potable water use by 661 acre-feet in 2019 and 748 acre-feet in 2020. (MMWD UWMP Pg. 26) Marin LAFCo 66 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 total water use within the District, averaging 638 acre-feet between 2016 and 2020. This amount is projected to increase to 750 acre-feet (15%) by 2045. 9.6 ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE Board of Directors The initial composition of the MMWD governing board was 13 members and was divided between five elected members and eight appointed members from the then seven incorporated communities and the county of Marin. The composition was amended to its current five-member board that is elected to four-year terms through electoral district elections. All directors are required to live within the District’s jurisdictional boundary. The Board of Directors maintains current certificates for the AB 1234 Ethics Training Compliance that can be viewed on the District’s website. Table 9-3: Marin Municipal Water District Board of Directors Member Position Term Expiration Monty Schmitt Director December 2024 Jed Smith Director December 2026 Ranjiv Khush President December 2026 Matthew Samson Vice-President December 2026 Larry Russell Director December 2024 Administration The Board of Directors of MMWD appoints a General Manager who serves on an at-will basis to oversee all District activities. The General Manager oversees 243 full-time equivalent employees which are divided into seven personnel divisions: Administrative Services, Engineering, Legal, General Manager71, Watershed, Water Resources, and Operations. In addition to the General Manager, the Board also appoints the General Counsel, Board Secretary, Finance Director/Treasurer, and Consulting Auditor. 9.7 ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY The Marin Municipal Water District offers an extensive array of information and documentation on its website in an effort to maintain high accountability and transparency in all its activities. The MMWD website provides information on Board meetings, financial reports, services, history, water conservation, water rates, and more. At this time the District is meeting all of the requirements by the State of California for a public agency website. Meetings and Agendas The Board of Directors meets regularly on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at the MMWD Board Room located at 220 Nellen Avenue in Corte Madera. Special meetings are held as needed to go over specific topics that require board discussion/approval outside of the regular meeting schedule. Meeting agendas and minutes can be found on the MMWD website. 71 General Manager’s division includes Human resources and Public Communications. Marin LAFCo 67 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 9.8 FINANCIAL OVERVIEW Budget and Financials The District manages its finances through the utilization of a biennial budgetary process that includes the operating and capital programs reflecting the costs necessary to provide services as well as forecasting anticipated revenue for both fiscal years encompassed. Prior to the start of the second year of the two-year budget on July 1, the Board receives a financial update with projections for the upcoming fiscal year which allows for financial flexibility. The District’s primary source of annual revenue is water sales, which averaged 60% of total revenues throughout the course of this study window. Supplementing the remainder of the annual revenue are Service Charges (16%), Capital Maintenance Fees (12%), Watershed Management Fee (4%) Fire Flow Fees (3%), and Other Revenues (4%). The District characterizes Water Sales, Service Charge, Watershed Management Fee, and Capital Maintenance Fee all as “Rate Revenue”, which allots for 90% of the District’s annual revenues paid by customers. On May 16, 2023, MMWD’s Board of Directors approved significant changes to customer water rates, fees, and charges that will be implemented over the course of the following four fiscal years. The new rates took effect on July 1, 2023. The rate changes were developed in partnership with an independent rate consultant who performed a cost-of-service analysis. MMWD primarily relies on four main charges billed bi-monthly: service charge, usage charge, watershed management fee, and capital maintenance fee. The service charge is fixed based on meter size and intended to contribute towards recovering the majority of the District’s fixed costs such as billing, meter reading and maintenance, facility maintenance, and administrative support. The usage charge applies an escalating charge for higher consumption, adjusts seasonally between December and May (lower demand) as well as between June and November (higher demand), and is intended to cover operating costs and related improvements involving supplies, distribution, and treatment. The watershed management fee is a volumetric rate (incurred at a specific rate per 100 cubic feet of water) that is designed to offset an apportionment of the watershed maintenance and vegetation management costs. The capital maintenance fee is a per- meter charge based on meter size. Revenues realized through the capital maintenance fee go directly to MMWD’s Capital Improvement Program. Finally, the District has also implemented a temporary drought/water shortage surcharge that becomes effective when water storage levels meet specific thresholds (beginning at 70,000 acre-feet). The majority of single-family residential customers in MMWD’s service area use a 5/8’ size water meter and average approximately 8,228 gallons of water usage per bi-monthly billing cycle. Based on those circumstances, this average customer saw an increase on their bi-monthly bill of approximately 23% after the implementation of the new rates in July of 2023. This same customer can expect to see a total increase of approximately 57% in 2026 at the end of the updated rate schedule. The primary annual expense for the District comes in the form of staff salary and benefits (approximately 40%), followed by Other Operating Costs (27%) Capital Projects (23%), Debt Service (7%) and Reserve Contributions (3%). The total projected expenses for the District for Marin LAFCo 68 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 FY 2024-25 totaled $163,798,389. The average year-end operating revenues for the MMWD over the past 5 audited years has been $93,234,486. The District realized an average annual increase in Net Position of $9,958,814 over the course of the study window. A breakdown of the past 5 audited years of operating revenues and expenses can be seen below in Table 9-4 Table 9-4: MMWD Financial Information Revenue FY 2018-19 FY 2019-20 FY 2020-21 FY 2021-22 FY 2022-23 Averages Water Sales and Service $71,541,075 $76,806,241 $81,632,469 $68,060,107 $72,006,764 $74,009,331 Charges Connection $1,178,784 $810,182 $912,312 $540,349 $1,678,395 $1,024,004 Charges Capital Maintenance $0 $14,301,460 $15,509,355 $16,444,158 $17,161,227 $12,683,240 Fee Watershed Management $4,350,066 $4,545,973 $4,572,006 $4,899,012 $5,113,736 $4,696,159 Fee Other $923,221 $807,338 $802,258 $808,396 $767,548 $821,752 Revenues Total $77,993,146 $97,271,194 $103,434,538 $90,745,884 $96,727,670 $93,234,486 Revenues Expenses FY 2018-19 FY 2019-20 FY 2020-21 FY 2021-22 FY 2022-23 Averages Water $6,966,684 $7,313,211 $10,260,284 $12,139,318 $8,406,309 $9,017,161 Purchases Watershed $6,167,936 $4,905,934 $5,949,405 $6,995,749 $6,506,909 $6,105,187 Maintenance Water $10,551,829 $11,693,750 $11,136,667 $11,089,440 $12,897,893 $11,473,916 Treatment Pumping $3,051,386 $3,707,450 $4,031,063 $3,489,334 $3,538,544 $3,563,555 Transmission and $22,501,682 $25,876,763 $24,185,190 $24,485,389 $23,762,349 $24,162,275 Distribution Customer Service and $3,888,932 $4,378,528 $5,783,583 $3,020,064 $4,769,165 $4,368,054 Meter Operation Water $2,470,477 $1,907,387 $2,209,236 $3,697,128 $2,006,668 $2,458,179 Conservation Administrative $12,530,404 $17,403,259 $15,996,241 $3,851,416 $15,225,436 $13,001,351 and General Depreciation $12,108,529 $12,256,812 $12,960,365 $14,347,879 $14,342,393 $13,203,195 Total Expenses $80,237,859 $89,443,194 $92,512,034 $83,115,717 $91,455,666 $87,352,894 Debt As of June 30, 2023, MMWD had a total-long-term debt outstanding of $148.7 million, which was a decrease of $6.3 million from the prior year. The District’s current debts are as follows: • 2016 Refunding Revenue Bonds – Principal Balance: $31,380,000 • 2017 Subordinate Revenue Bonds – Principal Balance: $32,815,000 • 2022 Refunding Revenue Bonds – Principal Balance: $64,210,000 • Clean Renewable Energy Bonds – Principal Balance: $122,250 Marin LAFCo 69 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 • LGVSD Recycled Water Buy-In Obligation – Principal Balance: $4,153,057 • Aqueduct Energy Efficiency Project Obligation – Principal Balance: $1,624,354 The second source of debt for the District comes in the form of a pension plan for employees that is part of the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS). CalPERS provides retirement, disability, and death benefits based on the employee’s years of service, age, and final compensation. As of June 30, 2022, the MMWD Net Pension Liability was $110,772,877. The MMWD pension-funded ratio was approximately 63% at that measurement date. The District’s pension plan currently has a total of 716 active and inactive beneficiaries. In addition to the pension plan, MMWD provides other post-employment benefits (OPEB) to its retirees. As of June 30, 2023, the District carried a Net OPEB Liability total of $17,399,877. The District currently has 527 employees, both active and inactive, in their OPEB plan. Capital Improvement MMWD’s Capital Improvement Program is managed concurrently in 2 ways, with the biennial budget projecting/capturing anticipated costs for identified projects within that budget’s 2-year window, and the five-year Capital Improvement plan. The five-year plan aids in project prioritization and scheduling as well as creating the road map for the projects’ funding sources along the way. The current five-year capital improvement plan's total projected expenditures amount is $249,160,70072. The first two years of the plan (and the current biennial budget cycle), FY 2023/24 and FY 2024/25, carry a total CIP budget of $82,432,000. This amount is an increase of 65% over the prior budget. The significant increase to capital investments is a reflection of the Board’s efforts to increase supplies as well as ensuring aging infrastructure is updated. A high-level overview of the District’s Capital Improvement Plan expenditures and funding can be seen below in Table 9-5 Table 9-5: MMWD Capital Improvement Program Budget Expenditures FY 2023/24 FY 2024/25 Total Pipelines $12,010,000 $15,276,000 $27,286,000 Pump Stations $1,385,000 $4,420,000 $5,805,000 Storage Tanks $5,700,000 $6,860,000 $12,560,000 Treatment Plants $2,420,000 $1,620,000 $4,040,000 Watershed $4,890,000 $5,224,000 $10,114,000 System Improvements $3,826,000 $6,851,000 $10,677,000 Water Supply $2,750,000 $9,200,000 $11,950,000 Total $32,981,000 $49,451,000 $82,432,000 72 CIP Budget, Pg. 65 Marin LAFCo 70 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 Funding FY 2023/24 FY 2024/25 Total Capital Maintenance Fee $17,118,698 $17,974,633 $35,093,331 Connection Fees $600,000 $600,000 $1,200,000 Fire Flow Fee $4,500,000 $4,500,000 $9,000,000 Grant Funding $2,134,500 $4,400,000 $7,635,000 Rate Revenue $8,598,302 $21,951,367 $30,758,269 Interest $30,000 $25,000 $55,000 Total $32,981,000 $49,451,600 $82,432,000 Marin LAFCo 71 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 10.0 COUNTY SERVICE AREA NO. 31 10.1 OVERVIEW Marin County Service Area #31 (CSA 31) is a dependent special district that provides funding for structural fire protection throughout the areas of unincorporated Marin County that are not otherwise provided fire services by an independent special district, city, joint powers authority, or another dependent special district providing fire service. The CSA has been funded by a special assessment approved by the voters within the District’s boundary in 1994. The assessment aids in offsetting the costs incurred in providing year-round 24-hour structural fire protection. The service area includes the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center as well as Angel Island73 except for the area of Quarry Point which resides in San Francisco County. Table 10-1: County Service Area 31 Overview County Service Area 31 Overview Primary Contact: Chief Jason Weber Phone: (415) 473-6717 Formation Date: June, 1994 Services Provided: Structure Fire Protection Service Area: 445 square miles Population Served: ≈12,324 10.2 FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT In 1982, the state legislature enacted the Benefit Assessment Act that allowed cities, counties, and special districts the ability to finance a variety of improvements. Following this, fire suppression-specific assessments were added to the State Government Code (§50078), stating “Any local agency which provides fire suppression services directly or by contract with the state or a local agency may, by ordinance or by resolution adopted after notice and hearing, determine and levy an assessment for fire suppression services pursuant to this article. The assessment may be made for the purpose of obtaining, furnishing, operating, and maintaining fire suppression equipment or apparatus or for the purpose of paying the salaries and benefits of firefighting personnel, or both, whether or not fire suppression services are actually used by or upon a parcel, improvement, or property.” A fire suppression assessment is considered a benefit assessment because it is directly related to the benefit a property receives from fire suppression. On October 12, 1993, the County of Marin Board of Supervisors approved resolution 92-268, approving the application to Marin LAFCo for the creation of a fire services county service area (CSA). The request came before the Board of Supervisors as then Fire Chief Harold Rowland imparted to the Supervisors that the Marin County Fire Department was operating at capacity with minimum staff levels. He explained that the department had been particularly hard hit by the State’s shift in property tax allocations and that without additional funding it could result in 73 Angel Island is also within the jurisdictional boundary of the Town of Tiburon, as well as being designated as a California State Park Marin LAFCo 72 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 the necessitation of closing one or more fire stations as well as staffing reduction due to the looming 9% budget shortfall. The application was received by Marin LAFCo on November 4, 1993, and, following a public hearing, Marin LAFCo resolution 93-15 was approved for the formation of County Service Area #31 on December 2, 1993. On March 15, 1994, the Marin County Board of Supervisors approved Resolution 94-61 approving the proposal of CSA 31 as a ballot measure for the June 7th election. The proposed benefit assessment to go to the voters for CSA 31 was to be “… up to $76 per living unit, $38 per unimproved parcel, and $114 per improved commercial and/or industrial parcel.” The item was included on the June 7th election ballot as Measure R and was approved with 63% of the vote (only requiring a simple majority). There was no effort to amend the amount being assessed for 16 years. In November of 2010, Measure N was put on the ballot to increase the amounts to $114 per living unit, $57 per unimproved parcel, and $171 per improved commercial/industrial parcel. Despite receiving 62% of the vote, Measure N failed to pass as it required a two-thirds vote (66.67%) for approval. There has not been another attempt since that time to increase the assessment. 10.3 DISTRICT BOUNDARY AND SPHERE OF INFLUENCE Marin County Service Area 31’s service boundary, which currently encompasses just over 284,830 acres, includes coverage for the unincorporated communities of Marin City, Muir Beach, Woodacre, San Geronimo, Lagunitas, Nicasio, Olema, Point Reyes Station, Inverness Park, Marshall, Dillon Beach, Tomales, the Greenbrae Boardwalk Area and Muir Woods Park. The District includes the small unincorporated neighborhoods of Oak Manor to the northeast of the Town of Fairfax, the Deer Creek Court/Baywood Canyon Road/Hunter Creek Road subdivisions to the northwest of the Town of Fairfax, and the San Francisco Boulevard/Sacramento Avenue subdivisions on the northeast side of the Town of San Anselmo. The area also encompasses privately and publicly owned parklands including portions of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Mount Tamalpais State Park, China Camp State Park, Point Reyes National Seashore, and Angel Island State Park. Marin LAFCo has no record of a sphere of influence ever being formally adopted for CSA 31. An Executive Officer’s Report on the formation of CSA 31 from November 24, 1993, made the recommendation that the “… Sphere of Influence study be completed if the funding mechanism is approved by the voters.” Marin LAFCo staff can find no record of the afore-mentioned sphere of influence study ever being performed, nor any resolution establishing a sphere of influence for the District. As the majority of county service areas have spheres of influence that are coterminous with their jurisdictional boundaries, there is a strong likelihood that in the seven months that passed between Marin LAFCo adopting the resolution approving the formation of CSA 31 in December of 1993 and the vote by the residents within the boundary in June of 1994, Marin LAFCo 73 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 that the recommendation for a sphere of influence study was simply forgotten and there has always been the assumption that the sphere is coterminous with the boundary.74 Figure 10-1: Marin County Service Area No. 31 Jurisdictional Boundary 10.4 GROWTH AND POPULATION CSA 31 encompasses a majority of the land that makes up what the County of Marin has designated as the West Marin Planning Area with the exception of the areas of the Inverness Public Utility District, Stinson Beach Fire Protection District, and Bolinas Fire Protection 74 This school of thought is reinforced by the language within the San Rafael Service Review and Sphere of Influence Update (January 2006) which states, “The existing spheres of influence of CSAs #13 and #31 are coterminous with their current boundaries as established by LAFCo in 1983.” This would not be possible as CSA #31 was not formed until 1994. Marin LAFCo 74 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 District. The planning area is comprised of five census tracts: 132275, 132176, 1130, 1311, and 1330. According to 2022 American Community Survey Data, the population of the planning area less the aforementioned special district areas is 9,331, which is less than a 4% increase from the 2010 population number 9,011. The District boundary also includes the Census-Designated Place of Marin City, which has a current population of 2,993. This amount is a 12% increase from 2010 when the population tally was 2,666. 10.5 MUNICIPAL SERVICES CSA 31 provides funding to the Marin County Fire Department to supplement the costs the Department incurs in providing year-round and round-the-clock structure fire protection services throughout unincorporated Marin County. The CSA’s revenue, which is accrued by way of a voter-approved tax measure, is transferred to the Marin County Fire Department which provides the service throughout the area. Marin County Fire is responsible for fire suppression and prevention, wildfire response, vegetation management and education, emergency medical services and paramedic services, urban search and rescue and planning for emergency evacuations, as well as hazardous materials response. The Department works with community and county partners to manage an emergency operations center that provides emergency response coordination and community outreach during emergencies, as well as planning and disaster preparations. A significant amount of the land area77 of CSA 31 is comprised of federally-owned land, known as federal responsibility areas (FRA), and state-owned land, known as state responsibility areas (SRA). In many cases, federally-owned land receives fire protection by way of local contracts and collaborations. In Marin County, the Marin County Fire Department has entered into a contract with the National Park Service to provide initial attack for fires within park boundaries. This includes approximately 100,000 acres of federally-owned lands in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the Muir Woods National Monument, and the Point Reyes National Seashore. In state responsibility areas, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) typically provides fire protection. In Marin County, however, CAL FIRE contracts with the Marin County Fire Department to provide wildland fire protection and associated fire prevention activities for lands designated as SRA. Marin is one of six counties in the state that contracts to protect SRA. The Marin County Fire Department is Responsible for the protection of approximately 200,000 acres of State land. There are 17,128 parcels and 14,697 living units located within Marin County's SRA. 75 Census tract 1322 is comprised of 3 Census Block Groups. Block Group 1 within Census Tract 1322 has a boundary that is coterminous with the Inverness Public Utility District. This area has a population of 683. This amount will be removed from the total population figures for CSA 31. 76 Census Tract 1321’s area is coterminous with the jurisdictional boundaries of the Stinson Beach Fire Protection District and the Bolinas Fire Protection District and therefore will not be factored into the population data. 77 Approximately 99% Marin LAFCo 75 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 10.6 ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE Board of Supervisors As a dependent special district, the Marin County Board of Supervisors serves as the CSA’s governing body. The five-member Board of Supervisors meets on scheduled Tuesdays every month at 9:00am in the County of Marin Civic Building located at 3501 Civic Center Drive, Suite 330 in San Rafael. The Board of Supervisors determines policy, adopts annual budgets, fixes salaries, and is responsible for overseeing mandated district functions as carried out by various county departments. Table 10-2: Marin County Board of Supervisors Member Position Term Expiration Dennis Rodoni President January 2, 2025 Mary Sackett Vice President January 2, 2027 Eric Lucan 2nd Vice President January 2, 2027 Katie Rice Director January 2, 2025 Stephanie Moulton-Peters Director January 2, 2027 Staffing and District Operations As a dependent district of the County, all administrative services are provided by County departments, including legal counsel and compilation of financial transaction reports for the State Controller’s Office required under Government Code Section 53891. CSA 31 is primarily managed by the Marin County Fire Department which oversees staffing and calls for service. 10.7 ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY Meeting and Agendas The Board of Supervisors meeting agendas, minutes, and recordings can be viewed on the Marin County website. Board documents such as resolutions and ordinances can also be found on the Board of Supervisors page of Marin County’s website. Annual Budget Review The County of Marin contracts with an independent financial auditor, Clifton Larson Allen, to conduct an annual financial report. CSA 31 is included in the report under Budgetary Comparison Schedule for County Service Areas Fund. The latest audit was prepared for the year ending June 30, 2022. Every year the Marin County Fire Department develops a proposed budget for CSA 31 and presents it to the Board of Supervisors for review and approval. It is based on the prior year’s expenses and projected parcel tax revenue for the upcoming fiscal year. Marin LAFCo 76 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024 10.8 FINANCIAL OVERVIEW CSA 31 provides funding to the Marin County Fire Department by way of a voter-approved tax measure creating a benefit assessment district that was initially passed in 1994. The approved tax measure, Measure R, was adopted with no sunset date or escalators. The tax measure as it currently stands levies a charge in the amount of $76 per living unit, $38 per unimproved parcel, and $114 for each commercial/industrial parcel. The tax is the CSA’s only form of revenue. For FY 2022-23 the CSA realized $511,173 of revenue and $508,142 in expenditures. The CSA’s average annual revenues over the past 5 years of $520,225 account for approximately 1.5% of Marin County Fire Department’s total annual revenues which, in fiscal year 2023-24, is an estimated $33,174,716. While the CSA has shown recent occurrences of expenditures outpacing revenues for the fiscal year, in each instance the balance of the added expenditures was covered by a fund balance that was carried over from the prior fiscal year. A breakdown of the district’s finances over the past 5 fiscal years can be seen below in Table 10-3. Table 10-3: Marin County Service Area No. 31 Financial Overview Revenues Expenditures Net FY 2017-18 $524,511 $548,000 ($23,489) FY 2018-19 $523,593 $514,535 $9,058 FY 2019-20 $523,460 $531,746 ($8,286) FY 2020-21 $522,358 $513,878 $8,480 FY 2021-22 $507,204 $514,747 ($7,543) Marin LAFCo 77 Multi-Regional Services Study August 2024