Return to Novato General Plan MenuThis chapter establishes objectives, policies, and programs for the major public services and facilities needed to support the development called for in the General Plan. Many services are provided by public agencies other than the City of Novato: water supply is provided by the North Marin Water District and Marin Municipal Water District; wastewater collection, treatment and disposal and garbage collection are provided by the Novato Sanitary District; flood control is provided by the Marin County Flood Control District; fire protection is provided by the Novato Fire Protection District; schools are provided by the Novato Unified School District; and college is provided by the Marin Community College District. The City provides Police protection, streets and storm drains, street lighting, recreation facilities and services, development services, and other administrative services.
The Land Use Chapter establishes a Growth Management program for managing infrastructure capacity and service levels and requiring new development to pay its fair share of the costs of the facilities and services needed to support it.
The sections below contain information about existing conditions, policies, and programs for each major type of public facility and service.
One of the 13 goals for the General Plan, adopted by the City Council on September 29, 1992, is
| Goal | Manage growth by requiring the coordination of development with adequate infrastructure, public facilities, public services and promoting conservation, reuse and recycling strategies while meeting the needs of the community with the limited land available for development. |
Objectives, policies and programs related to public facilities and services are also found in other parts of the Plan. In the Land Use Chapter, LU Policy 8 and related programs establish requirements for development fees that will require new development to pay its fair share for public facilities and services. Infrastructure for transportation is discussed in the Transportation Chapter. Parks and open space are discussed in the Environment Chapter.
2. BACKGROUND
This section describes the public facilities and services provided by the City of Novato and other public agencies. The City maintains a high level of communication and cooperation with provider agencies, but each of them retains independent decision-making authority. Because the City cannot compel other agencies to take any specific actions or to comply with City policy, the General Plan does not include standards for public services and facilities provided by other agencies.
Water
The North Marin Water District (NMWD) supplies about 95 percent of Novato with potable water. The Marin Municipal Water District (MMWD) supplies an area including Hamilton Field. NMWD receives most of its water from the Russian River, via the North Marin Aqueduct. NMWD has an agreement with the Sonoma County Water Agency that provides an annual entitlement of 12,360 acre-feet (4 billion gallons) of Russian River water. NMWD also receives a small amount of its supply from Stafford Lake, a reservoir on Novato Creek west of the City. MMWD receives its water from reservoirs on Lagunitas Creek in central Marin County, two other reservoirs, and from the Russian River.
The water supply is adequate to meet the demand under General Plan buildout. Water distribution facilities are developed on a site-by-site basis, financed by the developer through agreements with the water agency.
Wastewater Treatment and Disposal
The Novato Sanitary District is responsible for garbage disposal and wastewater collection, treatment and disposal in the Novato area. The district is required to meet standards specified in a permit issued by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board in 1992.
All collection is through gravity sewer mains except for three pumping stations at Bel Marin Keys, Bahia, and Hamilton Field. Treatment is at the Ignacio Treatment Plant and the Novato Treatment Plant. The District must expand the Ignacio Treatment Plant to accommodate buildout growth. Most of the land near the plants is vacant, and much of it is flood plain. There are single-family houses north and west of the Novato plant. Treated wastewater from the two plants is pumped in summer to a reclamation area on both sides of Highway 37 and east of Highway 101. The area includes 820 acres of pasture land, 14 acres of dedicated land for digested sludge disposal, a 10-acre wildlife pond, 53 acres of mitigation area, and two effluent storage ponds. In winter, excess effluent is discharged directly into San Pablo Bay, when allowed by the district's permit.
Developers are responsible for the construction of sewer extensions, which are dedicated to the district after completion. Current projections indicate that the capacity of the wastewater treatment and disposal system is more than adequate for buildout under the General Plan.
Flood Control and Storm Drainage
Novato has experienced periodic flooding, especially along Novato Creek. Flood control along major water courses in Novato is the responsibility of the Marin County Flood Control and Water Conservation District. Following the major flood in January 1982, Novato voters approved a program to fund flood control improvements sufficient to prevent flooding during storms up to the 50-year recurrence interval. Construction is nearly complete; improvements to the remaining 4,000 feet of Novato Creek are expected to start in 1997.
The City of Novato is responsible for storm drainage within the City boundaries. The City participates in the Federal Flood Insurance Program, which specifies the 100-year flood as the standard for urban communities. The City's development regulations stipulate the 25-year storm as the design standard for capacity of surface storm water drainage improvements. In 1989 voters approved Measure "F," which included $4.2 million for storm drains. As of 1995, 13 projects have been completed, and the City's 1995-2000 Capital Improvements Program includes three more. Storm drainage improvements at Hamilton Field are included in the City's 1993 approval of the Hamilton Master Plan.
These improvements have significantly reduced the potential damage from recurrence of a 100-year storm, similar to the one that occurred in January 1982.
Private developers are responsible for construction of storm drainage facilities within their projects. Facilities are dedicated to the City when they are completed and accepted. Developers also pay the City and the Marin County Flood Control and Water Conservation District for storm drainage services.
Schools
In 1995, the Novato Unified School District provided education to 7,775 students at 8 elementary schools, 3 middle schools, 2 high schools, 1 continuation high school, and 1 independent study education school.
The district identifies school capacity and maintenance requirements in its Long-Range Facilities Plan, 1988-1993. This plan was updated in the Draft Facilities Use Report (April, 1995, intended as an appendix to the Long-Range Strategic Plan). District goals and directions are described in the Long-Range Strategic Plan.
The Facilities Use Report states that district schools have capacity for a maximum of 8,446 students. The district's current facility needs relate to the aging of existing schools and the need to provide funding to maintain these facilities. At this time, there is no identified need for new facilities.
The Facilities Use Report describes the status of each campus and includes projected enrollment for each campus. Detailed descriptions of district facilities, enrollment, and goals are in the Existing Conditions Report prepared for the General Plan and the three documents cited above.
Future development consistent with this General Plan could generate as many as 3,601 additional students if this plan were built out to its maximum. District schools have capacity to absorb an additional 661 students. Once existing capacity is filled, the district will have to change schools to a year-round schedule, add relocatable classrooms to existing campuses, place more students in each classroom, construct a new school(s), or some combination of the above.
State law currently authorizes the District to charge $ 1.76 per assessable square foot of new residential development as developer mitigation fees. The Novato School District charges $1.44 assessable square foot The amount generated by these fees in 1995 dollars is sufficient to purchase or lease enough relocatable classrooms to house the students generated by General Plan buildout. However, these additional students would require adding 106 relocatable classrooms to existing campuses. This is not feasible given site and infrastructure constraints on existing campuses.
The developer mitigation fees are not sufficient to cover the costs of constructing new permanent facilities. The district does not have a recent Developer Fee Justification Study, which would typically address this issue. However, a review of Developer Fee Justification Studies prepared within the past two years in other nearby locations indicates that the costs for new school construction for a 600-student elementary school would be $4,000,000-7,000,000, a 900-student middle school would cost $9,000,000-12,000,000, and a 1,500-student high school would cost about $20,000,000-23,000,000. The current developer mitigation fee provides less than 20 percent of the cost of constructing new schools (based on the calculation that a typical unit is 1,500 square feet, which generates a fee of $2,160 and that the average cost per student of constructing new schools is $13,000-15,000).
The district has capacity to meet projected enrollment increases until after the year 2000. The addition of relocatable classrooms, changing to a year-round schedule, and/or allowing more students per classroom would extend existing campus capacity for several more years. Eventually one or more new schools will be required. Currently, the District has no long-range plans for determining where or when these new schools would be built. There is no long-term financing plan for the construction of these schools.
It is likely that the District would have to construct new schools to adequately house the students generated by total buildout under the General Plan. The cost of constructing these schools is not met by current developer fees, and there is no other identified means of financing these improvements. (The district only has $400,000 in the Developer Fee Fund).
It is likely that additional mitigation beyond the developer fees currently collected by the district will be required to house and educate the future student population adequately. Alternatively, the district could seek voter approval of a bond issue to construct new facilities. Voters have previously approved a parcel tax; however, the revenues from this tax can be used only for school operations.
The closing of the Hamilton military base will have a substantial impact on the School District. The District will suffer from declining enrollment and by closure in September of 1996 will have lost approximately 1,000 students. The District will permanently lose a substantial source of Federal revenue in the amount of approximately $1 million. The District is pursuing special legislation to recapture some funds at the State level.
The Indian Valley Campus of the College of Marin is located on 333 acres at the western terminus of Ignacio Boulevard. The developed area covers about 50 acres.
At present, IVC has 2,200 students in both day and evening programs, 1,200 full-time equivalent students. The campus was built for a projected enrollment of 5,000 students. The campus currently uses 45 percent of the available facilities on the average. Current projections show that at present the College District anticipates that IVC facilities will be underutilized through the late 1990s.
Marin Community College enrollment will continue to be subject to a declining population in the "college-age" group and a corresponding decline in local high school graduating classes. The Marin County population is projected to grow by 2-3 percent between 1995 and 2000, with growth in the minorities and in the age group of 55 and older. The college's major drawing pool, younger than 35 years old, will decline in the next five years. High school graduates in Marin dropped from 3,000 (1975) to fewer than 1,500 (1995) and will be constant somewhere between 1,500 and 1,700 in the next five years.
In response to these conditions, the MCCD anticipates that the student population will be older and diversified as the County population ages. These changes will continue the need to provide for traditional and non-traditional college-age students along with community people interested in self-enrichment or industries and businesses in need of employee education.
The College of Marin intends to lease several of the vacant buildings at IVC to multimedia technology-based businesses. The intent of the project is to establish a complex consisting of a collaborative of multimedia technology-based businesses and related technology education. A media research and education center, an information center, and a central meeting facility are proposed to be established in the existing campus library. The small businesses are proposed to be interspersed with classrooms in the existing Miwok building cluster. This project is named Digital Village.
Fire Protection and Emergency Medical Services
Structural fire protection and emergency medical response within the City and Sphere of Influence are provided by the Novato Fire Protection District. The District maintains four fire stations staffed by 72 line personnel (firefighters, captains, engineers, and emergency medical personnel). Details regarding District staffing, equipment, and the history of response to calls for service are described in the Existing Conditions Report as well as the District's Five Year Fire/Life Safety Plan (1994 Edition).
The Five Year Fire/Life Safety Plan (1994 Edition) also contains a complete description of the objectives of the District, including the District's adopted Levels of Service.
The District currently is funded primarily by a portion of property taxes collected in the District and a special tax that allows the District to levy annually up to 4 cents ($0.04) per square foot on residential occupancies and 6 cents ($0.06) per square foot on commercial/industrial occupancies. The District has never levied the maximum. The average special tax levy has been 1.9 cents ($0.019) per square foot on residential development and 3.25 cents ($0.0325) per square foot on commercial/industrial development.
Other Public Facilities
The City is planning a community center/performing arts facility in the Downtown, for which funds are available. The City is considering establishing development impact fees to fund major new recreation facilities. (See Chapter 4, section on Parks and Recreation.) Funds are available for necessary improvements to existing Civic Center buildings at their present location. No expansions to the new Police Department building are required. There are now no plans to expand the Novato Branch of the County Public Library or the facilities of the Novato Fire District.
PF Policy 1 Management of Public Facilities. Manage public facilities in conjunction with new development through continued planning and budgeting for public facilities and coordination with other agencies for the services which the City does not provide.
PF Program 1.1: Continue to prepare and adopt an annual Capital Improvements Program for the City of Novato reflecting City facilities needed to support development in the General Plan.PF Program 1.2: Continue to evaluate the operating and maintenance costs of infrastructure improvements needed to support the development allowed in the General Plan.
PF Program 1.3: Provide General Plan information to other service-providing agencies, and request determination of any capacity needed to accommodate development called for in the General Plan. Service-provider determinations regarding capacity will be used in making the determinations required in LU Program 7.2.
PF Program 1.4: Provide information on development applications to other service-providing agencies, to enable them to assess appropriate fair share impact fees. The City will require proof of payment of these fees before issuing a building permit.
PF Program 1.5: Adopt a Novato Storm Drain Facilities Master Plan as a basis for planning and constructing improvements and for establishing fees.
PF Policy 2 Public Buildings. Ensure that the public buildings in Novato are adequate to provide services for Novato residents under the development provided for in the General Plan.
PF Program 2.1: Establish standards for public buildings and facilities, including City administrative offices, corporation yards, community centers and performing arts centers, in relation to population.Responsibility: Central Administration
PF Program 2.2: Establish impact fees for new development based on City and agency standards for public buildings and facilities.
Responsibility: Central Administration
| PF Objective 2 | Provide Community Facilities to Improve and Enhance Recreational and Cultural Opportunities. |
PF Policy 3 Community Facilities. Continue efforts to provide various community facilities addressing recreational and cultural needs.
PF Program 3.1: Adopt a plan for development of public facilities, including a community center, performing arts facility, gymnastics, gymnasium, and aquatic facilities.Responsibility: Community Services Department
PF Program 3.2: Coordinate plans for community facilities with policies of the Downtown Specific Plan.
Responsibility: Community Services Department
PF Program 3.3: Accommodate expansion of the City History Museum(s).
Responsibility: Community Services Department
PF Program 3.4: Plan for development of sports facilities and community play fields to meet the needs of youth and adult athletic programs.
Responsibility: Community Services Department
| PF Objective 3 | Ensure that public-service providers can continue to provide adequate public services given the additional demand from new development. |
PF Policy 4 Management of Public Services. Work with public service agencies to ensure that those agencies have the means to provide services required by Novato residents and businesses.
PF Program 4.1: Work with the Novato Fire Protection District to ensure that the District can continue to provide adequate fire protection and emergency response. The Novato Fire Protection District maintains its own Level of Service standards to determine adequate protection and response.PF Program 4.2: Work with the Novato Sanitary District to ensure that wastewater is adequately collected, treated, and disposed of.
PF Program 4.3: Work with the North Marin Water District to ensure the provisions of adequate potable water to Novato residents and businesses.
PF Program 4.4: Monitor response history and case load history for the Novato Police Department. Consider adding additional personnel as required to maintain an adequate level of police response. Where a nexus can be demonstrated and State law allows, consider requiring a fee to finance a portion of the costs for increasing police staffing.
PF Program 4.5: The City shall work with the School District to address anticipated deficits between the cost of constructing necessary new schools and the revenues generated by developer fees. Where a clear nexus can be shown between the impacts of a development and the need for new school facilities and there are insufficient revenues to construct the new school, the City shall consider the need for additional project mitigation to be provided by the project sponsor, which may include dedication of school sites, provision of infrastructure improvements to a school site, and/or additional impact fees. These additional mitigations shall be required for new development to the degree that State law allows.
PF Program 4.6: Work with the Novato Unified School District to ensure that future school sites that may be required to serve future development are provided for in the plans for development projects.
PF Program 4.7: As stated in LU Program 8.4, the City will support efforts by other agencies to collect equitable fees required to maintain adequate service levels.
PF Program 4.8: Work with solid and liquid wastewater agencies to ensure compatibility of nearby land uses with their facilities.
PF Program 4.9: Consider policies and programs and work with utilities to encourage the development of utilities particularly telecommunication, video, and data utilities, to accommodate the long-term needs and meet the changes in technology and needs of business and industry.
| PF Objective 4 | Manage the water supply through coordination with providers and water conservation. |
PF Policy 5 Potable Water. Ensure adequate water supply for new and existing development.
PF Program 5.1: Ensure water service agreements for new development are in place which establish a Level of Service in accordance with the regulations and ordinances of the North Marin Water District and Marin Municipal Water District.PF Program 5.2: Require developers to enter into agreements in accordance with the regulations and ordinances of the North Marin Water District and Marin Municipal Water District and pay for the cost of potable water infrastructure required for each project.
PF Policy 6 Water Conservation. Develop and implement water conservation programs for Novato.
PF Program 6.1: Adopt a Water Use Reduction in Landscaping Ordinance. Consider the use of water-saving devices for residential and commercial uses; limits to the amount of turf area in new developments; the use of drip irrigation systems; and other water conserving measures.Potable water is becoming a scarce resource throughout California. The Water Conservation Act adopted by the State in 1990 required cities and counties to adopt a water-efficient landscape ordinance. This ordinance reduces water use for landscaping by limiting turf area, encouraging use of native plants and other vegetation with low water-use requirements, and by requiring water-efficient irrigation systems.
PF Program 6.2: Use treated wastewater for irrigation of City facilities and encourage wastewater irrigation at other public and private facilities, where practicable.
Responsibility: Community Development and Community Services Departments
PF Program 6.3: Support and Encourage reclamation of wastewater for reuse wherever possible in accordance with the regulations and ordinances of the North Marin Water District and Marin Municipal Water District.
PF Program 6.4: Consider developing a plan in conjunction with the Sanitary District and Water Districts to promote and maximize to the extent feasible the reuse of treated wastewater and consider enacting an ordinance to have developments provide wastewater distribution facilities in conformance with the Plan.
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