Code Enforcement office approved for Fallbrook

Greater Fallbrook projects benefiting from the county’s second-quarter budget adjustments include a satellite Code Enforcement office, various parks and open space preserves, and Fallbrook Community Airpark.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted February 26 to increase 2007-08 appropriations by a net amount of $5,814,376. The changes cancel $1,340,000 of budgeted appropriations while adding $7,154,376 of authorized spending.

The mid-year predictions anticipate a balance of $88.1 million in excess of the planned budget. Although revenues are expected to be $88.3 million less than budgeted, expenditures are now expected to be $176.4 million less than expected.

Some of those savings is due to unspent contingency reserves or savings from departmental operations, and delays in state contracts or reductions in state funding create equal losses in revenue and expenditures.

The county’s Land Use and Environment Group, which includes the Department of Planning and Land Use (DPLU), had a balance following the conclusion of the 2006-07 fiscal year which will fund the Code Enforcement project.

DPLU will be opening four satellite Code Enforcement storefront stations in Fallbrook, Ramona, Spring Valley, and Bonita.

The storefront offices will be staffed one day per week for an eight-hour period, and although Code Enforcement staffing was previously covered in the 2007-08 budget the mid-year adjustments authorize $4,000 so that the offices can have computers.

The funding will also pay for information technology costs necessary for the storefront offices.

The storefront offices are intended to provide a presence in communities which are having increased levels of concerns about code enforcement issues and which have a significant number of incidences of reported zoning and regulatory violations.

The storefront offices will provide citizens with easier assistance and guidance, and a community outreach program will coincide with the opening of the offices.

An operating transfer from the general fund to the Capital Outlay Fund will provide $350,000 to plan and implement park improvements at the Mount Olympus open space preserve, including public access to the 711-acre open space park.

The planning will analyze existing structures and provide hazardous materials testing along with cultural and biological determinations.

The improvements will include rehabilitating an existing road into a pathway, demolishing and removing existing buildings and hazards, construction of a staging area and trailheads, signage, benches, a kiosk, fencing, and gates.

The money will also help fund related public safety and resource conservation activities.

Although the State of California originally approved a Proposition 12 grant, derived from a bond issuance authorized by the state’s voters in the March 2000 election, for planning and development of the San Luis Rey River Park, the state later determined that master plan expenses were not eligible for reimbursement.

The state allowed the substitution of another capital project for the grant, so the February 26 appropriations changes gave that $50,000 grant to the disabled-access ball field project at San Dieguito Park while transferring to the San Luis Rey River Park budget $50,000 of Capital Outlay Fund allocations for the ball field project which had been derived from general fund revenue.

Park Land Dedication Ordinance (PLDO) fees paid by developers to fund park facilities in the development’s community can only be used for active recreation parks and not for open space or trails.

The fees can be used for acquisition of land but not for maintenance or operations, and they can be used for replacement of playground equipment or other renovations but not for restoration of historic structures.

Fees collected in a local park planning area must be spent in that park planning area.

County Service Area No. 81 covers parks in Fallbrook, De Luz, and Rainbow, and a CSA No. 81 advisory board recommends the expenditure of PLDO funds for local park projects.

The Sheriff’s Department indicated a need for increased security measures at Rainbow Park in response to vandalism incidents there, and the supervisors approved $25,000 from the CSA No. 81 fund balance to install security camera equipment and to provide for items such as fencing, lighting, gates, and signage.

The county’s Airport Enterprise Fund is derived from rental income from leases on land at the airports owned and operated by the county.

A mid-year appropriation of $4,699 based on available AEF revenue will provide funding for unexpected airport depreciation costs at Fallbrook Community Airpark and Ramona Airport.

The money will fund a drainage project at Fallbrook Community Airpark and a service road at Ramona Airport.

The mid-year adjustments included $2.4 million for additional erosion control services in response to the October 2007 fires.

The appropriation was derived from the Land Use and Environment Group’s (LUEG) 2006-07 fund balance, although some of that cost may later be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, and the National Resources Conservation Service.

An additional $500,000 from the LUEG 2006-07 balance will fund geographical information systems (GIS) scanning and data conversion for the county’s Department of Public Works, which is also under LUEG.

Flood control asset management will track flood control facilities and decrease response times during periods of heavy rainfall, accident information tracking will provide historical evidence during litigation proceedings, and bikeway facilities asset tracking will enhance striping and signage maintenance.

The 2006-07 LUEG balance will also provide $100,000 to develop a Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easement (PACE) program.

The PACE program will identify agricultural lands which have production, economic, conservation, and community character importance, and the PACE easements will be integrated into the North County Multiple Species Conservation Program.

The 2006-07 LUEG balance will also fund $40,000 of support costs involved with watershed clean-up events.