SIMI VALLEY : Council to Air Plan for Developer Fee

The Simi Valley City Council has scheduled a public hearing tonight on a plan to charge developers fees to help pay for citywide traffic improvements.

Under the plan, commercial and residential developers would be charged $95.73 for each daily vehicle trip generated by new construction. The city’s transportation planning board, which worked on the plan for two years, estimates that the fees could generate as much as $27.8 million for street improvements.

The traffic fees would not be applied to developers who already have building permits.

Mayor Greg Stratton, who disagrees with some provisions of the plan, said increases in traffic are caused by population growth, not additional commercial development, so residential developers should pay more in traffic fees than commercial developers.

The hearing will be held during the council’s regular meeting, which begins at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.

The council will debate whether Melvin Simon & Associates, the Indiana-based developer that has proposed building a regional mall in the city, should be exempted from the traffic fee.

Kevin Kudlo, project manager for Melvin Simon, said the developer is willing to pay up to $3 million for street improvements to offset increased traffic generated by the mall.

However, he said that plans for the mall might be jeopardized if the developer is forced to pay for citywide street improvements.

“We feel we’re doing our share to mitigate problems we’re causing, and we don’t feel the city should impose any more than that,” Kudlo said.