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BACKGROUND <br />At its September 11, 2014 meeting, the Alameda Local Agency Formation Commission <br />(LAFCo) considered approval of an OASA submitted by the City of Pleasanton to extend <br />sewer and water services to 6723 Alisal Street (Hall property) located in the <br />unincorporated Happy Valley area. As part of the discussion at that meeting, City staff <br />informed LAFCo that the City had allowed many properties in the unincorporated Happy <br />Valley area to connect to utilities over the years. LAFCo staff informed the Commission <br />and the City that since 2001 the City should have been making applications to LAFCo for <br />OASAs before properties outside the City limits were allowed to connect to City utilities. <br />At the meeting LAFCo staff stated they could not recall any applications being made for <br />properties in the Happy Valley area. The LAFCo board then approved Resolution 2014- <br />15 for the Hall property, but conditioned the approval on City staff researching how many <br />properties in unincorporated Happy Valley are connected to City utilities and how many <br />have OASAs in place. <br />Over the next several months, City staff researched Council reports and utility billing <br />records and determined that none of the connected properties had OASAs in place, and <br />the situation was not limited to Happy Valley, but also included properties in the Remen <br />Tract and unincorporated areas west of Foothill Road. In all, it has been discovered that <br />62 properties have connected to sewer and /or water since 2001 without LAFCo OASAs <br />in place. Although the research on the subject was not exhaustive, the research did find <br />the subject properties had received City Council approval for an out -of -area service <br />connection and had paid the appropriate fees for utility connections, but for some <br />unknown reason applications to LAFCo for OASAs had not be made for any of the <br />properties. On May 28, 2015, City staff met with LAFCo staff and presented the results <br />of the City research. <br />On July 9, 2015, LAFCo staff presented the City's findings to the Commission. At the <br />meeting the Commission stated that these connections must be brought into compliance <br />with the law and be issued OASAs if /as appropriate. LAFCo staff queried the <br />Commission whether the City should submit an application for each connection, one <br />application for each area (Happy Valley, Remen Tract, and west of Foothill), or one <br />application for all of the properties. The Commission stated that the City could submit <br />one application for all of the properties already connected. The Commission also stated <br />that all future connections must receive individual LAFCo OASAs prior to being allowed <br />to connect to City utilities. <br />DISCUSSION <br />Since the July 9, 2015 LAFCo hearing, City staff has continued to refine the information <br />gathered from utility billing records, and has met with LAFCo staff on January 5, 2016 <br />and February 25, 2016, to discuss the City's draft application for an OASA to reconcile <br />properties outside of the City's jurisdictional boundaries that already have service <br />connections to City sewer and /or water services. The purpose of these meetings was to <br />get LAFCo staff comments on the application package before submitting the final <br />application. At this time City and LAFCo staff believe the application package to be ready <br />for submission, the final item necessary being the Resolution adopted by the City Council <br />authorizing staff to proceed with the application to LAFCo. It is recommended that City <br />Council adopt the proposed Resolution authorizing staff to submit the application. <br />Page 2 of 3 <br />