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ADOPT A RESOLUTION APPROVING A REQUEST FOR A TENTATIVE CANCELLATION OF A WILLIAMSON ACT CONTRACT FOR A 43.66-ACRE PARCEL LOCATED AT 4849 CAROLYN WESTON BOULEVARD (APN 166-030-05)
recommended action
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council:
1. Find no further environmental review is required per California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15183 (consistency with the General Plan); and
2. Adopt a Resolution approving the Tentative Cancellation of the Williamson Act Contract for a 43.66-acre parcel located at 4849 Carolyn Weston Boulevard (APN 166-030-05).
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Summary
On January 25, 2024, the Applicant, TTLA Stockton-Asano LLC, (hereafter the “Applicant”) received Planning Commission approval (via Resolution 2024-01-25-0501) of a Tentative Subdivision Map to subdivide a 44.2-acre parcel of land located at 4849 Carolyn Weston Boulevard (APNs 166-030-05 and 166-030-33) into 224 parcels, consisting of 211 parcels for single family residential homes and 13 parcels for common areas including park, open space, drainage basin, and a bike path.
A condition of approval for said project is the cancellation of an existing Williamson Act (WA) contract on the subject parcel. Per SMC Section 16.236.030, the Council shall first conduct a public hearing on the initial tentative cancellation of the WA contract to determine if the required findings can be made in the affirmative, and then, at a later date, confirm that all conditions and contingencies including payment of penalty fees have been satisfied and issue a Final WA certificate of cancellation.
In addition to fulfilling a condition of approval, the request for Tentative Cancellation of the Williamson Act contract for the 43.66-acre parcel located at 4849 Carolyn Weston Boulevard (APN 166-030-05) is consistent with the General Plan and Zoning designation for the proposed Project site and all necessary findings can be made to support approval of a Certificate of Tentative Cancellation of the WA Contract (see proposed Resolution).
DISCUSSION
Background
The Williamson Act (officially, the California Land Conservation Act of 1965) is a California law that provides relief of property tax to owners of farmland and open-space land in exchange for a ten-year agreement that the land will not be developed or otherwise converted to another use. (Government Code Section 51200 et seq.) A new ten-year period is automatically started each year unless an owner files a Notice of Nonrenewal with the State and City to end the automatic initiation of a new ten-year contract term and/or a cancellation request to terminate the contract before the end of the ten-year period.
Early cancellation requires the City Council to approve a Tentative Cancellation request to accept the appraised land value and allow the property owner to work with the California Department of Conservation and the San Joaquin County Assessor’s office to prepare a Final Cancellation request for payment of any remaining taxes.
In July 2022, the Applicant recorded a Notice of Nonrenewal and Cancellation for the subject property (Attachment A). Due to the lengthy process of determining the appropriate Cancellation Value and associated cancellation fee with the County Assessor’s Office, the subdivision entitlement described below was processed separately from the WA cancellation.
In January 2024, the Applicant filed for and received approval of a tentative subdivision map by the Stockton Planning Commission to subdivide and develop a 44.6-acre property at 4849 Carolyn Weston Boulevard. The project site is zoned Residential, Low-Density and proposes 211 single-family homes within the Weston Ranch community area (P21-0999), see location and context map (Attachment B). As evidenced in the location map, this property did not develop when the Weston Ranch community area was developed and is considered an infill project, as streets and utilities are currently stubbed to extend into the site with anticipation of eventual development.
The Applicant’s property is currently under a Williamson Act Contract. On July 13, 2022, the Applicant recorded a notice of nonrenewal with the County in anticipation of developing the 44.6-acre property, which initiated the countdown of the 10-year term (approximately 7.4 years now remaining).
The Applicant filed a new application to cancel the Williamson Act contract earlier to develop the property with housing. Stockton Municipal Code (SMC) Section 16.236.030 provides the two-step process for early contract cancellation described above. The first step is the initial tentative cancellation of the WA contract via public hearing. If approved, the Applicant can pay the early cancellation penalty fees based on the appraised property value to San Joaquin County. The second step in the WA cancellation process requires the City Council to confirm that the penalty fees have been paid to issue a Final WA certificate of cancellation.
Project Description
On January 25, 2024, the subdivision project was approved by the Planning Commission with the WA cancellation as a condition of approval. On January 22, 2025, the San Joaquin County Assessor’s Office determined the cancellation value and associated cancellation fee to be approximately $819,482, allowing the applicant to then proceed with the WA cancellation process with the City (Attachment C).
The proposed Project site includes an existing single-family home, accessory dwelling unit, and farming structures to service the row crops onsite. The site is surrounded to the north, east, and south by existing single-family homes (Weston Ranch) and the San Joaquin River to the west. The site is directly south of George Y. Komure Elementary School. The proposed Project site is one of the few remaining undeveloped properties within the Weston Ranch community.
STAFF ANALYSIS
The Applicant is currently under a WA Contract and filed an application for a Tentative Cancellation of the WA Contract as a condition of the approved development entitlement. The Applicant has received the early cancellation fee from the County Assessor’s Office. The current recommended action enables the Applicant to coordinate payment of the fee with the County and notice the Department of Conservation prior to proceeding with final cancellation request. The recommended action allows the Applicant to develop the intended residential use.
Environmental Clearance
The proposed cancellation request does not require additional environmental review per the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15183, because it is consistent with the development impacts established by a General Plan Environmental Impact Report (“EIR”), and there are not project-specific significant effects specific to the cancellation. The General Plan EIR was prepared and certified by the City Council as part of the Envision Stockton 2040 General Plan process (SCH# 2017052062). The 2040 General Plan envisions the proposed Project site and surrounding areas to include single-family residential use.
The General Plan EIR anticipated cancellation of the WA contract at the Project site among other locations in the City. As shown in General Plan EIR Figure 4.2-4, the proposed Project site was expected to have its WA contract canceled to convert the land from agricultural to residential uses consistent with the existing Low-Density Residential (LDR) General Plan designation (Attachment D). The proposed Project site was also included in the Housing Element for potential housing development toward meeting the City’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA). The WA cancellation request is consistent with the General Plan EIR, and no further environmental review is required per CEQA section 15183.
Tentative Cancellation of Williamson Act Contract
Staff recommends the Council approve the proposed Tentative Cancellation. Removal of the WA contract will allow site development consistent with the General Plan and Housing Element. Therefore, the request for Tentative Cancellation of the Williamson Act contract for the 43.66-acre parcel located at 4849 Carolyn Weston Boulevard (APN 166-030-05) is consistent with the General Plan and Zoning designation for the proposed Project site. As outlined in the proposed Resolution, all necessary findings can be made to support approval of a Certificate of Tentative Cancellation of the WA Contract (Exhibit 1 to the Resolution). Upon approval of the Tentative Cancellation, the applicant will be able to continue the cancellation process as outlined earlier in this report.
Public Comments
Notice for the City Council public hearing for this request was published in The Record on March 21, 2025, and mailed notice was sent to all property owners within a 300-foot radius and all properties with active Williamson Act contracts within one mile of the proposed Project site. As of the writing of this staff report, no written comments have been submitted.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
All required application fees were paid to cover staff time for processing the requested actions. The proposed project will positively affect City Tax General Fund revenues as it would allow the Applicant to develop the property to generate additional taxes via sales of the homes and annual property tax assessment. In addition, utility connections and Public Facilities Fees will be collected when building permits are obtained to construct the Project.
Attachment A - San Joaquin County Assessor’s Office Value Review Notification
Attachment B - Location and Context Map
Attachment C - Notice of Non-renewal Submittal to State
Attachment D - General Plan Land Use and Farmland Conversion Maps