This polygon shapefile depicts the boundary for County Service Area 9 in the County of Santa Cruz, California representing the Residential Lighting District. In unincorporated areas, basic services like water, sewer, police and fire protection are provided by the County. Because Counties often consist of large and diverse geographical areas, providing a consistent and adequate service level across all areas can be difficult. Residents of urban communities may want more services than those residing in rural areas. The County Service Area Law (Government Code §25210.1 et seq.) was created in the 1950’s to provide a means of providing expanded tailored service levels in areas where residents are willing to pay for the extra service. When a County Service Area exists, property owners will pay taxes and fees to the county service area instead of the county for the services provided. The County Service Area 9 boundary can be annexed/detached at the direction of the Santa Cruz County Public Works Department. Unlike other County Service Areas, annexations/detachments to this District do not have to be reviewed by Local Agency Formation Commission or State Board of Equalization unless the annexation/detachment bisects an existing Tax Code Area. This layer is part of a collection of GIS data created for Santa Cruz County, California.The Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Unit falls under the purview of the County of Santa Cruz Information Services Department. The GIS Unit serves all County departments and external customers and provides data on land, features and people of Santa Cruz County. Santa Cruz County encompasses 4 cities and approximately 265,000 people. This coverage can be used for basic applications such as viewing, querying and map output production, or to provide a basemap to support graphical overlays and analyses of geospatial data.