County board reviews impact fee update

San Benito County supervisors are expected at Tuesday’s meeting to review a comprehensive impact fee study from Willdan Financial Services that will provide guidelines on suggested fees for capital improvement, road impacts, fire mitigation and park and recreation impacts for future developments.
The consultants were charged with analyzing what development impact fees would be needed to support future development in San Benito County through 2035. The fees include just the capital costs associated with growth and are not used for operating expenses.
The proposed impact fees include those for law enforcement facilities, fire facilities, road maintenance equipment facilities, and park and recreation facilities. The proposed impact fees for these four categories for a single-family home would be $7,163 or $6,469 for a multifamily homes. The fees are charged per dwelling unit for residential properties or per 1,000 square feet for nonresidential properties.
The current impact fees charged to developers in the county include drainage fees; traffic; road equipment; schools; fire protection; general capital improvement; habitat conservation mitigation; and parks and recreation.
Traffic impact fees were updated in June 2011 and went into effect Aug. 2011.
The fire facilities fee and road maintenance fees would be charged in unincorporated areas. The Parks and Recreation fee would apply to residential properties, not commercial, office or industrial developments.
The fee study looked at the four areas at the request of board members when they approved a contract in December and the consultant gathered information from the sheriff’s department, administration, public works, planning and auditor’s offices as well as other outside agencies to come up with their recommended fee levels.
The impact fee study takes into account potential projects in the county to meet the needs of population growth anticipated at about 10,000 new residents in unincorporated areas by 2035.
The proposed projects for law enforcement include a 60-bed jail expansion and a 30-bed jail expansion; additional public safety building expansion; San Juan-Aromas sheriff substation; South County/Pinnacles sheriff substation; juvenile hall expansion; inmate transport vehicle; probation building expansion; and 911 system upgrades.
The new impact fees would not cover the total cost of any of the proposed projects in the four study areas.
Check back after Tuesday’s meeting for an update on the discussion at the board meeting.