City of Big Bear Lake v. Cohen

220 Cal. Rptr. 3d 31, 12 Cal. App. 5th 922, 2017 Cal. App. LEXIS 548
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal, 5th District
DecidedJune 14, 2017
DocketC076576
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 220 Cal. Rptr. 3d 31 (City of Big Bear Lake v. Cohen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal, 5th District primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Big Bear Lake v. Cohen, 220 Cal. Rptr. 3d 31, 12 Cal. App. 5th 922, 2017 Cal. App. LEXIS 548 (Cal. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

NICHOLSON, J.

*925After the Legislature passed the bill to freeze redevelopment activities and eventually dissolve redevelopment agencies but before Governor Brown signed it into law (Assem. Bill No. 26 (2011-2012 1st Ex. Sess.) enacted as Stats. 2011, 1st Ex. Sess.

*342011-2012, ch. 5 (Assembly Bill 1X 26)), City of Big Bear Lake entered into what it called a Cooperation Agreement with its soon-to-be-dissolved redevelopment agency. Under the Cooperation Agreement, City of Big Bear Lake agreed to complete several projects in the city and the former redevelopment agency agreed to pay for the projects. On the same day, City of Big Bear Lake (not the former redevelopment agency) entered into two contracts with private companies for services related to the projects. The next day, Governor Brown signed the Dissolution Law, and it became effective immediately. (Id . at § 16.) On the same day Governor Brown signed the law, the former redevelopment agency entered into a contract with a private company for services related to another project listed in the Cooperation Agreement. Eventually, the former redevelopment agency transferred $2.6 million to City of Big Bear Lake to fund the contracts mentioned.

The Dissolution Law1 (Assembly Bill 1X 26) immediately froze redevelopment (taking from redevelopment agencies the authority to create new enforceable obligations) and provided that only existing enforceable obligations of the former redevelopment agency could be paid from the funds held by the redevelopment agency and from future tax increment revenue. The law provided that any excess after payment of enforceable obligations would be distributed to local taxing entities. Later legislation (Assembly Bill 1484) declared that certain agreements between local municipal governments and their sponsored redevelopment agencies, such as the Cooperation Agreement here, are not enforceable obligations.

In this case, we determine, consistent with the trial court: (1) the contested transactions did not create enforceable obligations of the former redevelopment agency, (2) the Dissolution Law's invalidation of sponsor agreements (agreements between a city and its former redevelopment agency) does not *926violate the California Constitution, and (3) it is irrelevant that City of Big Bear Lake claims it no longer possesses the funds it received from the former redevelopment agency. We also conclude, consistent with our decision in City of Bellflower v. Cohen (2016) 245 Cal.App.4th 438, 199 Cal.Rptr.3d 383 ( Bellflower ), that the statutory remedy of offsetting City of Big Bear Lake's sales, use, and property taxes to capture the $2.6 million is unconstitutional. Therefore, we modify the trial court's judgment to the extent it found the proposed sales, use, and property tax offsets constitutional. And we affirm the judgment as modified.

BACKGROUND

The Dissolution Law directed redevelopment agencies to continue making payments on enforceable obligations ( Health & Saf. Code, § 34169, subd. (a) )2 but prohibited those agencies from incurring additional obligations, freezing all such activities (§ 34162, subd. (a)). A primary goal of the Dissolution Law was "to preserve, to the maximum extent possible, the revenues and assets of redevelopment agencies so that those assets and revenues that are not needed to pay for enforceable obligations may be used by local governments to fund core governmental services including police and fire protection services and *35schools." (§ 34167, subd. (a).) The Legislature expressed the desire "that redevelopment agencies take no actions that would further deplete the corpus of the agencies' funds regardless of their original source."3 (Ibid .)

On June 27, 2011, the day before the Dissolution Law was signed by Governor Brown and became effective, City of Big Bear Lake and its former redevelopment agency, knowing about the imminent change of law and the Legislature's intent, signed the Cooperation Agreement. The agreement stated that the former redevelopment agency "desires to transfer that certain amount of redevelopment tax increment funds, and the Bond Proceeds secured with redevelopment tax increment funds ... to the City, and the City desires to accept such funds for the City to acquire land and construct and install certain public improvements within the Project Areas." Under the terms of the Cooperation Agreement, the former redevelopment agency agreed to transfer to City of Big Bear Lake $23.5 million and the city agreed to undertake specified public improvements.

Also on June 27, 2011, City of Big Bear Lake entered into an agreement with Matich Corporation for street and drainage improvements for about $2.5 *927million. The city also had a 2006 agreement with Wireless Consulting-Joseph A. Cylwik (also referred to as Cylwik Property Management) to provide engineering services on an as-needed basis. Under this contract, Cylwik Property Management provided services related to the Matich Corporation project.

On June 28, 2011, the day the Dissolution Law and its freeze on the activities of redevelopment agencies took effect, the former redevelopment agency entered into an agreement with RRM Design Group for professional services related to several projects. The former redevelopment agency agreed to pay RRM Design Group about $900,000.

The Dissolution Law required redevelopment agencies to prepare an Enforceable Obligation Payment Schedule (EOPS) listing all of its own enforceable obligations. ( § 34169, subds. (g) & (h).) As required by the Dissolution Law, the former redevelopment agency prepared its EOPS, listing its enforceable obligations. The EOPS included City of Big Bear Lake's contracts with Matich Corporation and Cylwik Property Management and the former redevelopment agency's contract with RRM Design Group. But the EOPS did not list the Cooperation Agreement; nor did it reflect that the former redevelopment agency would be transferring $2.6 million to City of Big Bear Lake for payment on the listed contracts. Department of Finance (DOF) reviewed the EOPS and requested documentation on the Matich Corporation contract, but DOF did not return the EOPS to the former redevelopment agency for reconsideration as allowed by the Dissolution Law. ( § 34169, subd. (i).)

Before the former redevelopment agency was dissolved by operation of law on February 1, 2012 ( Matosantos, supra, 53 Cal.4th at p. 275, 135 Cal.Rptr.3d 683, 267 P.3d 580

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
220 Cal. Rptr. 3d 31, 12 Cal. App. 5th 922, 2017 Cal. App. LEXIS 548, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-big-bear-lake-v-cohen-calctapp5d-2017.