OXNARD : Council to Consider Developer Fee Hike

Oxnard’s City Council today will consider raising developer fees to keep up with inflation and recover indirect costs that were not paid in the past, city officials said.

If approved, the new fee rates would make Oxnard the most expensive city in which to build in Ventura County by a slim margin, City Manager Vern Hazen said.

But city officials could not provide an overall estimate of how much developers would be charged to build in Oxnard.

Several developers contacted Monday said their fees would go up from about $20,000 to about $30,000 for a new house.

Infrastructure fees--for water, waste water, drainage and traffic--would go up by 59% on a typical single-family house, from $8,471 to $13,463, according to city projections. Traffic fees alone would go up by 127%.

The planning and fire departments would also begin charging a series of fees that in the past were paid with taxpayer money, city officials said.

Several area developers have raised concerns that the new fees would price Oxnard out of the real estate market.

“You can raise prices until nobody buys your product,” said Aaron Raznick, a local developer.

“If the city needs more revenue from developer fees, the correct response is to lower them or leave them alone.”