Fees For Impact Could Be Boon

Under proposed fee schedule, libraries and parks could benefit from more than $100 million.

September 2, 2007

CITY HALL — Developers who entice more people into Glendale — either as residents or visitors — with their new homes, offices and shopping centers may soon have to kick in for the added impact on the city’s infrastructure if the City Council on Tuesday approves a new fee schedule.

The new ordinance, now in its final stages, would introduce development impact fees for almost all new projects and could eventually mean more than $100 million for the city’s library and park departments as they seek to expand their services to meet a growing population.

Even now, the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department is tossing around the idea of a new public pool or aquatic park, for which the new fees would help fund.

The quest of library officials to find a suitable location for a new facility in northwest Glendale that would replace two smaller branches as part of a $23-million expansion plan would also benefit from the new cash.

“We have a pretty substantial plan for building and expanding libraries,” said Nancy Hunt-Coffey, director of the city’s libraries. “We can certainly use some money to help us achieve those goals.”

Under the proposed development impact fee schedule, which will find itself before the council for the second time Tuesday night, projects already moving through the city’s planning pipeline would be immediately affected, albeit with reduced fees.

Residential projects now in the pipeline would be required to pay $2,000, while new applicants will face $3,500 in fees, according to a staff report. That fee would surpass $10,000 in 2013.

For all other projects, the fees would be based on the total square footage, with current commercial pipeline projects facing a 76-cent fee per square foot. That fee would rise to 93 cents for office developments and fall to 38 cents for industrial projects, according to the report.

In 2013, most of those fees would rise more than $3 per square foot.

Consultants who were hired to help develop the impact fee model forecast a total take of between $37 million and $111 million for the two departments, which is heavily dependent on the size and number of projects that enter the planning pipeline, something the city has little control over, officials said.

The lion’s share of the development impact fees — or 90% — would go to parks, with the remainder paid to libraries, according to the report.

But how library and parks officials spend those funds will be restricted to expansion-related projects — such as more books, a new building, pool, or park. Still, having a dedicated revenue stream, however unpredictable, for future projects is a welcome addition, said parks Director George Chapjian.

The revenue stream would be further complicated with provisions that offer developers a reduction in fees based on the amount of affordable housing they provide as part of their proposed projects, according to the draft ordinance.

Developers would be completely exempt from paying the fees if 20% of their project is dedicated to low- and moderate-income households. A sliding scale of fee reductions would hit a minimum proportion of 5% affordable housing in exchange for a 25% fee exemption, according to the report.

While she was unfamiliar with the exact details of the ordinance, Natalie Profant Komuro — executive director of PATH Achieve, a nonprofit homeless outreach and low-income housing advocacy group — said addressing the issue of providing options for low-income families should always be part of growth planning.

“It’s very important for cities to look for ways to increase affordable housing,” she said.

Tuesday’s meeting will be the official public hearing for the draft ordinance. Council members may send it back with final directions before formally adopting it.