July 17, 2025 CC Meeting | Review and Potential Amendment to the PID Policy Relating to Maintenance Responsibilities for Public Parkland

[Paul Roberts]

Council Members,

I’ve added an item to the July 17 agenda to begin reviewing our PID policy, specifically regarding who should be responsible for maintaining public parkland that is dedicated to the City.

Here’s the core issue:
If a developer dedicates parkland to the City, I believe it should be zoned Primitive and left in its natural state until the City decides to improve or maintain it. The HOA should not be responsible for maintaining City-owned parkland. That’s a public asset, and the maintenance should not fall on a private HOA.

If a developer doesn’t like that option, they can choose to pay the fee in lieu instead and not dedicate parkland at all. That’s always been their choice.

Several residents and subject matter experts have pointed out that our current model shifts both maintenance and long-term capital costs onto HOAs for public parkland. This isn’t fair to HOA members, may not be insurable for their board members, and could create legal issues.

I’m proposing that we:

• Consult bond counsel to verify if we can fully shift maintenance responsibility away from HOAs.
• Consider amending our PID policy to clearly state that the City or PID should maintain public parkland, not the HOA.
• Clarify that developers still have the option to pay the fee in lieu if they do not wish to dedicate parkland under this structure.

I’ve attached the draft agenda item for July 17 for your review. Please let me know if you have any initial thoughts or additional considerations.

Thank you,

Paul