LAFCO: Sustainable Growth, Good Governance

Neelima Palacheria
Santa Clara County is one of the fastest growing counties in the state and is projected to add more than half a million new residents in the next 25 years.
What is the best way to accommodate this growth and build communities in ways that allow local governments to provide cost effective services while ensuring that valuable natural resources such as open space and agricultural lands are preserved?
This is a major challenge for local government—and a core concern for the Local Agency Formation Commission of Santa Clara County, more commonly known as LAFCO.
LAFCO is a state-mandated, independent local agency whose purpose is to discourage urban sprawl, preserve open space and agricultural lands and encourage efficient delivery of services.
LAFCO fulfills these goals by regulating the boundaries of cities and special districts and by conducting studies to inform its regulatory duties.
Santa Clara County’s LAFCO has seven members, including two county supervisors, one San Jose City Council member, one council member from any of the other 14 cities in the county, two special district board members and one public member selected by the other six. As LAFCO members, they must act on behalf of the countywide public interest, consistent with locally adopted LAFCO policies and the state mandate.
In the 1950s, California experienced dramatic population growth and economic development. Demand for housing, jobs and services triggered rampant, unplanned, sprawling development that resulted in inefficient public service delivery systems and massive conversion of agricultural and open space to urban use. In response, the State Legislature created LAFCOs in 1963 and gave them responsibility for encouraging orderly growth and development in each county.
Early in the 1970s, Santa Clara LAFCO, the 15 cities and the county jointly adopted policies that call for urban development to only occur within cities. Cities proposed urban service area boundaries that identified lands each intended to annex for future development. Those boundaries were adopted by LAFCO and future expansions became subject to its approval.
Since urban service areas are key to where and when future growth will occur and services will be provided, LAFCO reviews each expansion request very carefully.
One of LAFCO’s first considerations in reviewing an expansion proposal is whether there are infill development opportunities and whether the city has used or underused its existing supply of vacant land before seeking expansion.
Among many other factors, LAFCO also will consider whether the expansion would result in conversion of agricultural or open space lands, whether the services and infrastructure needed to support the proposed growth can be financed and provided without negatively impacting current city services, and whether there is an adequate water supply available.  
The creation of LAFCO and implementation of its policies has slowed the outward spread of urban development in Santa Clara County. This has, in turn, allowed for the preservation of an informal “greenbelt” around the urbanized area that consists of protected open space lands, farmlands and scenic hillsides. Consequently, despite experiencing significant growth over the years, our county remains a very desirable place to live and work.
Today, LAFCO continues to play a vital role in promoting sustainable growth and good governance in Santa Clara County. Through its actions to curb sprawl and preserve open space and agricultural lands, LAFCO can play a key role in addressing emerging issues such as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Neelima Palacherla is Executive Officer of the Local Agency Formation Commission of Santa Clara County. She wrote this column for the Dispatch. For more information about LAFCO, visit, www.santaclaralafco.org.