YORBA LINDA : Residents’ Landscaping Rates May Change

The City Council tonight will consider adjusting the rates that residents pay for landscaping on major streets.

Residents on the newer, east side of the city now pay an assessment for landscaping and lighting in their own neighborhoods and the city’s major streets, Councilman Gene Wisner said.

Residents in most areas of the older, west side of the city have generally paid only the cost of lighting, however, and have received landscape improvement and maintenance money from the city’s main operating fund.

“Now it will make it a citywide landscape and lighting district, so it’s fair,” Wisner said. “People on the east side have been paying for landscaping on the west side,” he said, through general city taxes.

The proposed assessment fee would require all residents to pay $37.88 a parcel for landscaping and $15.02 for lighting and traffic signals, said Roy Stephenson, public works director.

West-side residents would pay those citywide fees but would still be exempt from local landscaping assessments, Stephenson said.

Most assessments on the east side would drop from $2 to $20 if the new fee schedule is passed, he said. Combined rates for local and major street landscaping now range from about $112 to $400 per parcel on the east side.

The council will hear comments about the proposed fee changes at a public session during tonight’s regular council meeting. The informational session precedes the formal public hearing and vote set for July 20.