SAN CLEMENTE : Park Acquisition Fee Compromise Made

In a compromise with local developers, the City Council last week set park acquisition fees at $498,060 per acre, nearly $200,000 per acre less than suggested in a fee schedule proposed in June.

Under the agreement, housing developers will now be required to pay a onetime fee to the city, which will use the money to provide recreational facilities for new residents.

Developers and city officials had clashed on the issue of land values and park acquisition fees in June when the City Council adopted a schedule that set the fees at $659,120 per acre, almost four times the original cost of $169,633 per acre.

City officials at the time said raising the fees was necessary because they had not been revised in more than 10 years and were not reflective of new land values.

But developers complained that the fee schedule did not take into account a drop in land values because of the recession.

In August, the Beaches, Parks and Recreation Commission rejected its staff recommendation to lower the fee to $337,000 per acre. Instead, the commission recommended the $498,060 figure to the City Council, calling it a compromise between the suggested fee and the adopted one.

After lengthy discussion on Wednesday, the council agreed to the $498,060 figure.

Bruce Wegner, acting director of the Beaches, Parks and Recreation Department, said the base fee is “at the bottom end of land-value figures” but called it a good compromise.

“It somewhat takes into consideration the recession and somewhat takes into consideration land values now,” he said.

Don Steffensen, executive vice president of the Lusk Co., a local developer, praised city officials for recognizing the fee proposed in June as “excessive” and making good-faith efforts to find “middle ground.”

Councilman Thomas Lorch cast the sole dissenting vote on the new fee. He said the original $659,120 per acre fee was valid because land values had not declined.

Citing figures that said home values in the county had gone down only 1% in the past year, he questioned the recommendation to lower park land values.

“If the housing prices aren’t changing and the land values are down, something doesn’t fit,” Lorch said.

As a result of the lower fee, the city now owes the Lusk Co. $763,977, the difference between what was paid in June and the new figure.

To avoid the same problem in the future, the council also established a policy to evaluate land values every two years.