Supervisors approve lien contract amendment, time extension for Live Oak Ranch

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

The San Diego Board of Supervisors approved a lien contract amendment and a time extension for the Live Oak Ranch subdivision.

The supervisors’ 4-0 vote June 29, with Terra Lawson-Remer absent, extends the performance completion date to June 29, 2024, and increases the lien contract security amount. The performance completion date is when road, water, sewer, and other infrastructure improvements must be completed although homes or other lot improvements themselves are not required to be completed by that date.

Live Oak Ranch is on the south side of Live Oak Park Road northeast of Ridge Drive. The subdivision of the 58.03 acres will create 19 single-family residential lots. In September 1991, the county’s Planning and Environmental Review Board (PERB was subsequently abolished in 2004, and the county’s Planning Commission now handles situations which had been under PERB purview) approved the tentative map for the project.

A tentative parcel map becomes a final map after all conditions of the tentative map, other than those for which permits cannot be issued until a final map is recorded, are fulfilled. The Board of Supervisors approved the final map in September 2002.

The conditions of a final map include secured agreements to ensure that the infrastructure will be built and that payment for labor and materials used to build the infrastructure will be made. Improvements identified in a secured agreement are required to be completed within two years of the approval of the final map, although if circumstances prevent the improvements from being completed by the agreement's expiration additional time may be requested to complete the infrastructure.

Existing agreements and their bonding requirements are reviewed by county staff to determine if time extensions are warranted and if the security agreement amounts are still adequate to guarantee completion of the remaining work. The first two-year time extension may be approved administratively, although subsequent time extensions require Board of Supervisors approval and any amendments to the security agreement must also be approved by the county supervisors.

The environmental Negative Declaration for the Live Oak Ranch project was certified in 1991. A final map creates legal lots, but building and grading permits are subject to the requirements at the time the permits are issued including stormwater runoff, drainage, and other environmental standards.

If an application for a time extension is filed prior to its expiration, the owner is not in default if the extension is granted.

The county has the option not to take action in the event of a default, and if county staff review of an extension application filed prior to the expiration date determines that there are no new conditions or increased security which would require an official Board of Supervisors approval no further processing would be necessary. A substitution of parties requires Board of Supervisors approval, so a change of ownership would result in an amended agreement.

The Live Oak Ranch land is owned by LACA Investments, LLC, and JJJD, LLC, which took over ownership in 2006 from JDLC #1, LLC. A time extension was included in the Board of Supervisors' November 2006 approval of an agreement to assume the agreement to improve the subdivision, the lien contract agreement, and the holding agreement. Time extensions were also granted in September 2008, September 2010, September 2012, and September 2014.

In June 2017, the county supervisors extended the performance completion date for the Live Oak Ranch subdivision to June 21, 2021, while increasing the security amount for that subdivision's infrastructure from $1,472,750 to $2,008,450. The previous amount covered $812,300 for improvement of streets and easements, $652,600 to improve the water facilities, and $7,850 for boundary marker monumentation. The updated amount covered $1,150,800 to improve the streets and easements, $770,000 for the water facilities, $7,850 for monumentation, and $79,100 for inspection and laboratory fees.

The new security agreement reflects updated costs to construct the infrastructure improvements. The total amount is now $2,110,050 which covers $1,191,800 for improvement of streets and easements, $827,400 for improvement of water facilities, $83,000 for inspection and laboratory deposits, and $7,850 for final monumentation.

No labor and material security agreement is included in the amendment, although that is typically 50% of the infrastructure amount. When the lien contract is released the estimated costs will be updated and reflected in the security bond which will replace the lien contract.