City of Pomona

Project Overview

Phillips Ranch is a master-planned community that began development in the 1970s, with the first homes being completed in 1978. It is located in the triangle area of the City of Pomona between the Pomona Freeway (State Route 60), the Orange Freeway (State Route 57), and the Chino Valley Freeway (State Route 71). Phillips Ranch is approximately four miles southwest of downtown Pomona.

The City of Pomona (the “City”) established a Consolidated Citywide Assessment District (“Consolidated District”) in July of 1990, which was made up of six individual Street Lighting and Landscape Maintenance Districts. The Consolidated District was established to provide a source of funding for the ongoing maintenance of the improvements within the previously established districts. The existing districts became known as Zone A through F of the new Consolidated District, of which Phillips Ranch's area was included in two separate zones, Zones A & B (the “Zones”).

While costs have continued to rise since the creation of the Zones, the assessment has been effectively the same since 1993. An attempt to increase assessment rates in order to maintain then-current maintenance service levels by conducting an assessment increase protest proceeding under the Assessment Law failed in 2008. Since 2008, the infrastructure and landscape have aged and reductions in maintenance levels have been made as a result of the lack of funding.

In April of 2018, the City Council approved the formation of the Phillips Ranch Ad Hoc Committee (the “Committee”) for the purpose of recommending changes to the Zones of the Consolidated District including changes in service levels and proposing an assessment increase to fund the increased levels of service. The Committee is a citizens group and its members meet regularly to develop and implement strategies to maintain and/or improve service levels in the Phillips Ranch Zones of the Consolidated District. The recommendation of the ad hoc committee was to propose that a new assessment district be formed specifically for Phillips Ranch. This recommendation led to the 2019 ballot initiative which gave Phillips Ranch property owners another opportunity to approve an increased assessment rate. This measure was also voted down, leaving the assessment at its existing rate.

The City is looking to replace Zones A & B of the existing Consolidated District with a new Phillips Ranch Landscaping and Lighting Maintenance Assessment District (“Phillips Ranch LLMD”). The Phillips Ranch LLMD would generate enough revenue to fund ongoing landscaping and lighting services.

Some of these services include:

• Maintaining and improving 203 acres of open space and slopes
• Rodents/bees control
• Planting and maintaining 40 acres of turf and 12,000 trees
• Irrigation repairs and improvements
• Wood fencing, monuments, and walls
• Repair and replacement of greenbelt amenities