SIMI VALLEY : New Fees Less Than Developers Feared

Most fees for developers have been raised by the Simi Valley City Council to offset inflation, but not as much as the city had proposed.

The council voted Monday night to approve the revised schedule of development fees, which includes everything from pre-application fees to a General Plan amendment.

Under the new fee schedule, the cost for the city’s planning staff to review a project application will go from $695 to between $276 and $764, depending on the size of the project.

The city had proposed raising the fee to $1,757. The processing of a development permit will increase from $2,431 to $2,662.

It would have been $3,047 under the proposal.

The processing of a General Plan amendment will rise from $2,306 to $2,505, down from $2,784 under the original proposal.

And plan checks and site inspections will go from $1,498 to $1,642, rather than $2,113.

The new fees will become effective April 1.

Paul Tryon, executive director of the Ventura County Chapter of the Building Industry Assn., and Lloyd Boland, president of the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce, said they were pleased with the revised fee schedule. Both had complained that the original schedule would have harmed the city’s economic development by discouraging small businesses from locating here.

“The increases are reasonable, and the cutbacks are well thought out,” Boland said.