SIMI VALLEY : Council Delays Vote on Developers’ Fees

Unable to agree on who should pay the most for citywide street improvements, the Simi Valley City Council has delayed voting on a plan to charge all developers a fee to help pay for such projects.

Under the proposed transportation plan, commercial, industrial and residential developers would be charged $95.73 for each daily vehicle trip generated by new construction. Thus, if a business generates an average 100 visits a day, it would pay a onetime fee of $9,573. Fees would not be applied to developers who already have permits.

During a public hearing on the issue Monday, council members agreed that a traffic fee is needed but said they are not sure whether all developers should be charged the same rate.

Mayor Greg Stratton and Councilman Bill Davis said they believe residential growth is the primary cause of increased traffic, not commercial or industrial development, so residential developers should pay more in traffic fees.

Lloyd Boland, president of the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce, and representatives of the Building Industry Assn. agreed.

“The additional fees would force an additional economic stress on start-up businesses and could drive away prospective larger businesses from locating here,” depriving the city of jobs and increased tax revenues, Boland said.

After the hearing, the council asked its staff to explore other ways to fund street improvements, including shifting the brunt of the traffic fees to residential developers. They also asked for a study on traffic generated by residential and commercial developments to determine what the differences are.

The staff is scheduled to report back to the council at its meeting Dec. 17.