Burbank officials discuss and maintain appeal fees
Despite pressure from disgruntled residents who say fees charged for appealing Planning Board rulings are too high, the Burbank City Council this week decided to continue following its existing fee structure for those actions.
Council members voted 4-0 on Tuesday (Mayor Will Rogers was absent due to illness and passed away two days later) to maintain the status quo. The decision allows the city to continue operating under a fiscal policy established to recover some of the money lost when city staff spend time working on appeal cases.
The increase in the city’s appeals fees is fairly recent and, although the boost was significant, the totals charged are less than those required by other area municipalities. In June 2017 the city of Burbank appeal fee went from a flat rate of $130 per appeal to $1,241 if the permit is appealed to the Planning Board — roughly an 855% increase — and was raised to $1,044 if it is appealed to the City Council — about a 703% increase.
Under the current policy, the city has the option of recovering between 20% and 80% on important services that benefit the public and individual residents. The Community Development Department opted to be on the low end of that recovery spectrum, according to Fred Ramirez, Burbank’s assistant community development director.
Ramirez told the council the $1,241 appeal fee recoups about 24% of the estimated $5,132 it costs the city to prepare an appeal to the Planning Board.
Similarly, the $1,044 that appellants are required to pay for an appeal to the City Council recovers about 20% of the $5,309 it costs the city.
“We’re not just cutting and pasting a report, we’re actually looking back [at the application] because there’s additional findings that we are making,” Ramirez said. “That process is labor-intensive and that’s why you see the jump in dollar amount.”
Ramirez pointed out that Glendale charges its residents $2,000 for an appeal and La Cañada Flintridge has its rates set at $1,620 per appeal.
Resident Jim Casey, a member of a resident group called Preserve Burbank, told council members the city is wasting staff time and money on single-family home or hillside development projects that should not have been approved.
Another resident, Mike Moynahan, concurred with Casey, adding that city staff needs to be more thorough when reviewing the permit applications.
“If the Community Development Department would do their job and enforce city codes when receiving and reviewing plans for new development, there’d be a lot fewer appeals,” Moynahan said.
Resident Mike Elman complained the fee increases implemented last year were a way to “stifle speech and democracy.”
anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com
Twitter: @acocarpio
