Pomona : Developer Fees OKd

The City Council approved a plan Monday night to collect an estimated $1.2 million in fees from developers for transportation and safety improvements, freeing up general fund money for additional police and fire services.

The fees can only be used for traffic-signal and control devices, roads and highways, public safety projects and parks, and cannot be used for salaries. Using the fees for those projects will allow the city to allocate more money from the general fund to hire and train 19 police officers, create a new fire engine company for north Pomona and fund a hazardous-materials response team.

The council voted 4 to 1, with Councilman Mark A. T. Nymeyer opposed, to establish the following fees, effective immediately:

* 25 cents per square foot of new construction for public safety improvements.

* $675 per residential unit for park and recreation improvements.

* $5 per trip for projected increase in vehicle traffic to pay for traffic-signal and control devices.

* $5 per trip for road and highway improvements.

The fees, along with taxes on developers, are part of a $2.7-million revenue-generating package approved tentatively approved last month by the council when it passed the $68.3-million budget for the next fiscal year.

The developer taxes--1% on new single-family homes, commercial buildings and industrial facilities and 2% on new apartments and condominiums--are expected to raise $825,000 for the city’s general fund, which the council may spend as it chooses.