County Island Annexations
Policy
Background
Typically, unincorporated islands exist as a result of County and City policies in place in the 1960’s. At that time, the County approved large development projects or new subdivisions of land within their jurisdiction without requiring annexation. Simultaneously, San José was aggressively promoting annexation for willing property owners, resulting in the annexation of many properties far from the City’s original limits. Beginning in the 1970’s, the County began to require that all significant development projects begin with annexation so that they were conducted within the limits of a city. As development has occurred, most unincorporated lands within San José’s sphere of influence have been annexed into the City, but some have not, either because they were already developed under the County’s jurisdiction or they have not yet been developed.
Until recently, State law has limited the ability of cities to annex land by requiring cities to go through a protest process unless 100% of the affected property owners agree to the annexation or go through a general election process to determine that a majority of the affected property will vote for annexation. Because this law discourages cities from initiating annexations, unincorporated pockets are common throughout the State. Recognizing that this leads to inefficiency for local jurisdictions in providing services to these islands, the State legislature temporarily changed State law (for islands of less than 150-acres) until January 1, 2014 (Government Code Section 56375.3). The change allows cities to annex unincorporated islands through a streamlined process that does not require protest proceedings or elections.
County Policies
These annexations are being completed in cooperation with and at the request of the County to reduce the inefficiencies associated with providing services to small areas within the various communities throughout the County.
Please
consult the following websites for additional information on the
Santa
Clara County Urban Pockets Program and the Santa
Clara County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) Island Annexation
Policies.
You can also download the following documents:
Part 4 of the Santa Clara County General Plan addressing "Urban Unincorporated Area Issues and Policies."
LAFCO Publication: Making Your City Whole: Taking Advantage of the Current Opportunity to Annex Urban Unincorporated Pockets
San
José City Council Memos
9/19/06 Memo to City Council re: Public Outreach Plan for Island Annexations
8/18/06 Memo to City Council re: Island Annexations Phasing Plan
4/14/06 Memo to City Council re: Island Annexations, Program Initiation
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