By Mark Rawlins
Have you ever noticed that some San Diego neighborhoods look nicer than ours? Why is there such a difference in the physical beauty and quality of maintenance between Del Cerro and other neighborhoods throughout San Diego? It’s not just the newer developed communities that look nice, but neighborhoods like Talmadge, Tierrasanta, and Scripps Ranch.
The answer may be that many of these communities have established a Maintenance Assessment District (MAD), along with 54 other communities in the city of San Diego.
Over the past 10 years, the Del Cerro Action Council has been evaluating the possibility of establishing a MAD in our community. The feedback received so far is that residents are interested. However, they want to learn more.
Here are the frequently asked questions about MADs:
Q. What exactly is a Maintenance Assessment District (MAD)?
A. An MAD is a legal mechanism by which property owners can vote to assess themselves to pay and receive services above and beyond what the city normally provides. This above-and-beyond service level is called a “special benefit.” What the city normally provides is called a “general benefit.” The maintenance that Del Cerro is currently receiving is the city’s standard “general benefit.”
Q. How will it benefit Del Cerro to establish a MAD?
A. First, Del Cerro would be able to receive enhanced maintenance as well as the beautification of medians, public right-of-ways (10 feet from the sidewalk), open spaces, canyons, parks, sidewalks as well as many other improvements we may choose for our community.
Secondly, the city would establish a line item in the City Budget for Del Cerro MAD, combining the maintenance money the city already designates for Del Cerro along with the Del Cerro community assessment money. By law, the money in the Del Cerro MAD line item in the City Budget cannot be spent outside of Del Cerro.
Furthermore, the Del Cerro community would have local control of the Del Cerro maintenance budget. With this, we would be able to privatize the community maintenance and beautification projects. This would maximize our investment in our community by stretching every dollar for beautification and maintenance projects.
Q. What is the proposed cost of the Del Cerro community assessment?
A. We are estimating the cost at $7.50 to $12 per month, basically the cost of a movie ticket ($90 to $144/year) per property owner. The city is required to do an analysis to evaluate the actual cost to provide these enhanced benefits. The assessment becomes part of your semi-annual property tax bill.
Q. What projects will be included in the plan to beautify our community?
A. Our preliminary list of proposed enhancements is as follows:
- Landscape College Avenue medians and right of ways with a main focus on the intersection at College Avenue and Del Cerro Boulevard and the entrance median on College Avenue from Interstate 8 to Del Cerro Boulevard.
- Landscape Del Cerro Boulevard, business area; landscape median; install old-style streetlights; and maintain clean streets.
- Enhance the maintenance of Princess Del Cerro Park and the Hearst School joint-use athletic fields.
- Landscape Rockhurst Drive, Elmhurst Drive, and Del Cerro Boulevard east and west medians, including adding water meters to the medians.
- Clean up the canyons (Navajo, and Chaparral Creek) and establish walking/jogging trails.
- Increase sidewalk replacement, tree trimming and new tree planting.
Q. What is the next step to establish a MAD in Del Cerro?
A. The next step is to have 30 percent of the property owners in Del Cerro sign a petition to the city requesting the city establish a MAD in Del Cerro. By signing the petition, you are asking the city to place the proposal to establish a MAD on a ballot for Del Cerro property owners to vote on.
With 850 signatures, the city will pay ($15-$50,000) for the cost of establishing the MAD, which includes ballot mailings, collection, and tallying. Additionally, the city will hire an Assessment Engineer to calculate how much money the city is supposed to spend on our existing median maintenance in our community.
Once the MAD is established, this city-determined amount would be added as the MAD assessment to our property tax bills so that the community can begin the beautification and maintenance projects outlined above.
Q. How do I get more information or how can I help?
A. For more information, view a 14-minute video: youtu.be/K3bqO-buDbM.
If you would like to get involved with the petition drive and help collect signatures, please send your information (name, address, and phone number) to delcerromad@cox.net.
Also, you can call Mark Rawlins at 619-888-9140.
Working together, we can make our community a better place. Let’s close the disparity between Del Cerro and those 57 other communities and make Del Cerro the beautiful community she deserves to be!
—Mark Rawlins is chair of the Del Cerro Action Council. Reach him at delcerromad@cox.net.
