April 12, 2022 - Measure R

COUNTY COUNSEL’S IMPARTIAL ANALYSIS OF MEASURE R

PARADISE RANCH ESTATES PERMANENT ROAD DIVISION

SPECIAL PARCEL TAX MEASURE

This Measure was placed on the ballot by a petition signed by the requisite number of voters of the Paradise Ranch Estates Permanent Road Division and approved by the Board of Supervisors.

If this Measure is approved by two-thirds of the votes cast on this special tax proposal, parcels within Paradise Ranch Estates Permanent Road Division shall pay a parcel tax of $968 per year per assessor’s parcel for a period of ten years beginning July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2032 and $125 per year per assessor’s parcel for a period fifteen years beginning July 1, 2032 and expiring June 30, 2047. The estimated revenue from this Measure will be approximately $153,912 annually for the first ten years and approximately $19,875 annually for the next fifteen years. Beginning on July 1, 2023, the rate of the special tax shall be increased annually based upon the State of California Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers for the previous calendar year.

The stated purposes for the funds raised by this special tax are for improvements and maintenance of the roadways within Paradise Ranch Estates Permanent Road Division.

s/BRIAN E. WASHINGTON
Marin County Counsel

ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF MEASURE R

• Assure safe and reliable access to our properties.
• Improve emergency access routes in and out of our neighborhood.
• Reduce maintenance costs for roads.

This Measure would raise funds needed to repave Drakes View Drive and portions of the side roads in Paradise Ranch Estates (PRE). All roads in PRE are private.

The largest part of the work would be to resurface Drakes View Drive, the two mile long road providing the only access to properties in PRE. It is used by all residents and their guests and was last paved 29 years ago in 1993. Although Drakes View has been maintained and repaired as needed since 1993, the road has now deteriorated and needs to be restored. If this work is not done now, the road’s condition will continue to decline and will require a much more expensive project later. The proposed work is essential to assure that all residents and owners in PRE continue to have safe and reliable access to their homes and emergency access to identified evacuation routes. These improvements will allow PRE properties to retain their real estate values.

Funds from this Measure will also be used for paving or repaving short portions of the side roads in PRE which will improve emergency access and reduce the annual cost of road maintenance. This Measure will also provide funds in coming years for vegetation management – cutting of weeds, brush and fallen trees – along our roads, and for unexpected road maintenance expenses.

For full details go to http://invernessridge.info/ and click on Road Paving Project.

We urge you to support this Measure by voting yes.

TIM STANTON
President, Inverness Ridge Association

MIKE ONGERTH
Chair, Paradise Ranch Estates Road Advisory Board

ANNE BAXTER
Resident, Paradise Ranch Estates

BARBARA JAY
Resident, Paradise Ranch Estates

KEN DREXLER
Chair, IRA – PRERAB Paving Task Force

REBUTTAL TO ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF MEASURE R

PRERAB claims they are making our roads safer with this plan. We agree there are some elements, including working with Marin County Fire on vegetation management, that improve safety. The purpose of our opposition is not to permanently derail this plan. It is to ensure that road safety was assessed by experts and their recommendations adopted.

Below 54 West Robert is an asphalt water bar installed by PRERAB. Every time I leave our home in our Prius to turn around, family members must wait until the person driving crosses over this feature or our car will bottom out. There are five residences above that must cross this obstruction. We have expressed concerns over the safety of this feature to PRERAB—but they have not addressed it. If we had to evacuate in a fire, or if we needed urgent medical attention, this feature, and new speed bumps PRERAB is considering adding, could prove catastrophic. Did PRERAB vet our safety concerns, and the installation of water bars/speed bumps throughout our side roads, with Marin County Fire’s road safety expert—its Fire Marshall? Not according to our information.

While the road paving plan clearly had the involvement of engineers—that is not the same as a safety expert’s review of the dangers posed by water bars/speed bumps in an emergency evacuation or urgent medical response.

If experts and evidence point to safer, cost-effective options to control erosion and speeding, vote no. Let’s prioritize safety in a plan that will benefit us all.

Angelo Anthony Sacheli

Catherine M. Hall

Jasmina Etemovic

Mark Bartolini

ARGUMENT AGAINST MEASURE R

Managing disaster risk is becoming ever more complex. Thus, it was a red flag to learn from a Board Member that PRERAB had not consulted with a road safety expert in developing the plan we are being asked to approve. While there are many good elements to PRERAB’s plan, there are also some serious flaws with respect to safety in particular the use of water bars for erosion control on our side roads.

While some view these as a solution to unsafe driving, there is considerable evidence that speed bumps (which essentially have the same impact as water bars except that the latter are worse because they are designed for high clearance vehicles) present more of a safety hazard than a benefit. Fire departments (including Marin County Fire) and first responders almost universally oppose them.

One study estimates that every speed bump adds 30 seconds in response time. Delays of seconds or minutes can and do lead to fatalities. And then there is the threat they pose to safety during on emergency evacuation. Sunnyside, as it is currently maintained, poses numerous threats to safety as an evacuation route. The New York Times in an article on California wildfires stated “Again and again in California’s battle with wildfires, roads have emerged as a major vulnerability for those escaping.”

We are putting ourselves and our loved ones at greater risk by not making safety our number one priority and enlisting road safety experts and evidence-based practices to inform how we manage and maintain our roads. There are safer options to control erosion than water bars which are designed for forest roads, not residential, that road safety experts recommend. Before we commit to a multidecade long maintenance fee to fund the status quo, we must fix this. Vote No for a safer, professionally vetted plan.

MARK BARTOLINI
Former Director, Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance

REBUTTAL TO ARGUMENT AGAINST MEASURE R

A No vote will result in no plan and no improvements to any PRE roads

Measure R will improve the road system that provides access to all our homes.
It will repave and upgrade Drakes View Drive. It will pave a few currently unpaved, short sections of our side roads to facilitate emergency evacuation and reduce maintenance costs.

Measure R includes funding of fire-safety vegetation management for 25 years.
The Measure R plan was developed over the last four years with ILS Engineering, a professional consulting firm with road safety and engineering experts. The plan has been reviewed by Marin County’s Department of Public Works and by the Marin County Fire Department.

The arguments in opposition to Measure R are misplaced. The plan is unrelated to the use of water bars for erosion control on unpaved side roads.

You can review the plan at http://invernessridge.info/roadrepavingproject.

A No vote will not result in a “safer, professionally vetted plan.”

Please vote yes on Measure R.

TIM STANTON
President, Inverness Ridge Association

MIKE ONGERTH
Chair, Paradise Ranch Estates Road Advisory Board

ANNE BAXTER
Resident, Paradise Ranch Estates

BARBARA JAY
Resident, Paradise Ranch Estates

KEN DREXLER
Chair, IRA – PRERAB Paving Task Force

For a copy of Exhibits A, B, and C referenced below, please contact the
Elections Department at 415-473-6437

FULL TEXT OF MEASURE R

RESOLUTION NO. 2022-01
RESOLUTION OF THE MARIN COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS CALLING FOR A SPECIAL ELECTION TO BE CONSOLIDATED WITH THE SPECIAL ELECTION SCHEDULED ON TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2022 TO IMPOSE A SPECIAL TAX UPON PARCELS WITHIN THE PARADISE RANCH ESTATES PERMANENT ROAD DIVISION FOR THE PURPOSE OF FINANCING IMPROVEMENTS AND ONGOING MAINTENANCE OF ROADWAYS WITHIN THE DIVISION; ADOPTING INTENDED BALLOT LANGUAGE; AND AUTHORIZING THE COUNTY REGISTRAR OF VOTERS TO TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION

WHEREAS, this Board has received a petition signed by a majority of property owners within the Paradise Ranch Estates Permanent Road Division pursuant to Streets and Highways Code Section 1170; and

WHEREAS, the petition recommends certain improvements and maintenance be performed on the roadways within the division and that an election be held on April 12, 2022 on a special tax to pay for the cost of the work; and

WHEREAS, parcels 114-083-07 (12575 Sir Francis Drake Blvd.) and 114-161-01 (12495 Sir Francis Drake Blvd.) will not be benefited by any construction, improvement, or maintenance project proposed to be undertaken by the division and will be excluded from the special tax pursuant to Streets and Highways Code Section 1168.5; and

WHEREAS, the petition proposes to levy a special tax of $968 per parcel per year for 10 years, beginning in Fiscal Year 2022-2023, resulting in a total assessment of approximately $1,539,120. Thereafter, each lot shall be assessed $125 per year for 15 years for ongoing maintenance, with a provision for an annual increase effective July 1 in accordance with the change in the State of California Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers for the previous calendar year; and

WHEREAS, should the tax pass by two-thirds of the votes cast by registered voters in the district, the Paradise Ranch Estates Permanent Road Division may borrow against the projected tax proceeds for the improvement project assessment term in order to fund the roadway work in advance. Loan and financing costs shall be paid for by Paradise Ranch Estates Permanent Road Division tax proceeds; and

WHEREAS, pursuant to Street and Highways Code Section 1173, when a division petitions for a special tax, the Board shall immediately order the election to determine whether such tax will be levied.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED , that this Board of Supervisors hereby orders as follows:

1. Should the tax pass by two-thirds of the votes cast by registered voters in the district, the Paradise Ranch Estates Permanent Road Division may borrow against the projected tax proceeds for the improvement project assessment term in order to fund the roadway work in advance. Loan and financing costs shall be paid for by Paradise Ranch Estates Permanent Road Division tax proceeds.
2. The tax will start beginning Fiscal Year 2022-2023. Assessments will be shown on annual tax bills in two installments with payments due by December 10 and April 10 respectively.
3. That the parcels as indicated on the map in Exhibit A and Exhibit B attached hereto be the parcels boundaries of the Division and that any tax to be levied will be on the parcels set forth in Exhibit A and Exhibit B.
4. That a special election be called, and that the Registrar of Voters conduct said election, and further that the Clerk of the Board post the Notice of Election, attached hereto as Exhibit C, calling for a special election on April 12, 2022, and such notice to be posted and published in the manner provided California Streets and Highways Code Section 1174.
5. That said election shall be consolidated with the Special Election scheduled on Tuesday, April 12, 2022.
6. The Measure to be submitted to the voters shall be in the following form:

MEASURE SUBMITTED TO VOTE OF VOTERS OF PARADISE RANCH ESTATES PERMANENT ROAD DIVISION FOR APPROVAL OF SPECIAL TAX AND LOAN AND ITS REPAYMENT

Shall Paradise Ranch Estates Permanent Road Division impose an immediate special tax on parcels within the Division of $968 per parcel per year for 10 years beginning Fiscal Year 2022- 2023 and thereafter assess on all parcels $125 per year for 15 years for ongoing maintenance, with a provision for an annual increase effective July 1 in accordance with the change in the State of California Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers for the previous calendar year.

PASSED AND ADOPTED at a regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Marin held on this 4th day of January 2022, by the following vote:

AYES: SUPERVISORS
Dennis Rodoni
Judy Arnold
Damon Connoly
Stephanie Moulton-Peters
Katie Rice

NOES: NONE

ABSENT: NONE

s/KATIE RICE
President, Board of Supervisors

ATTEST:

s/MATTHEW H. HYMEL
Clerk