Developer Fees

Developer fees have been increased by 3% as the City Council tries to raise money to pay for streets and sewer and water lines for new developments. The fees hike, which was approved Tuesday, only applies to new residential and commercial developments. Susan Lynn, environmental programs manager, said that six fees make up the developer fees, including those for sewers, annexation to water districts and median beautification.

To accommodate future growth in enrollment, the Las Virgenes Unified School District has increased developer fees to help finance new school construction. The Board of Education voted this week to increase fees beginning April 27 to the limit allowed under state law, $1.84 per square foot for residential construction and 30 cents per square foot for commercial/industrial. Currently, the fees are $1.72 per square foot, and 28 cents per square foot, respectively.

Orange County and its 27 cities do not take a very consistent stance regarding developer fees, says a recent survey for the local building industry. Developer fees are the fees local governments charge developers for the cost of providing roads, sewers and the like to their new subdivisions. The builders frequently complain that the fees are higher than the amount the city actually requires to pave the roads and lay sewer pipe.

Major landowners in Mission Valley, saying they have already committed to pay millions for public improvements, received a break Tuesday when the San Diego City Council voted to excuse them from paying proposed developer fees intended to finance such public amenities as schools and parks.

A move to get roads built before homes go up in southeastern Orange County gained momentum Wednesday when the Board of Supervisors adopted a plan to generate money for construction through developer fees. The supervisors approved a fee schedule ranging from $80 million for the Santa Margarita Co. to as little as $1,560 for an individual property owner wanting to build a home.

Commercial and residential developers would pay for about half of the more than $200 million in traffic improvement projects needed in Long Beach over the next 20 years under a proposal unveiled this week. An advisory committee appointed by the city manager is recommending that the city adopt development fees that would raise a total of $101.4 million over the next two decades.

Development fees in this city, already the highest in Orange County, could be boosted even higher under a new rate structure adopted Wednesday by the City Council. Principal planner Bob Goldin said flat fees charged in advance for planning services often exceeded the real cost, requiring extra staff time to process refunds. The fees are charged to people applying for building permits and a variety of other documents needed to develop their land.

The compromise on developer fees approved Thursday as part of the Legislature's multibillion-dollar bond package brought mostly good news to school districts. Forged after several days of intensely partisan negotiating, the agreement enables districts to continue to impose the fees, established in 1986 to help pay for school construction. But under the compromise, they cannot collect more than a maximum of $1.

Proposals to impose developer fees to help pay for new highway construction will be considered by three city councils in the county this week. The Orange City Council tonight will study a proposal to levy fees based on a development's location. Firms building in a zone directly surrounding the proposed freeway route would be charged $1,295 for a single-family residence, $755 for apartment units and $1.80 per square foot for all non-residential structures.

As it slices through the heart of this city, California 41 laces a decade of gung-ho growth--fig orchards turned into terra cotta mini-malls, subdivisions rimming fake lakes, and a new uptown mushrooming 10 miles north of the dying downtown. But beneath boom's gilt are signs of rot. Air quality is among the worst in the nation, and the unemployment and crime rates rank among the highest in the state.