County Calls for New Builder Fees Despite Housing Slump
Despite enduring its worst year for housing construction in a decade, San Diego County officials Tuesday proposed to levy new impact fees on home-building in unincorporated areas to fund law enforcement needs, libraries and animal-control facilities.
The proposed new fees, which would add $161 to $249 to the price of a new home depending on the fee schedule adopted by the Board of Supervisors, are part of a county growth-management strategy adopted in 1989 requiring new development to pay for the government services it requires.
In agreeing to send the proposal out for public comment, supervisors questioned the wisdom of adding to the average $10,000 per home that builders now pay in fees and permit processing costs.
“I have grave reservations about new impact fees at this particular point in time, a time when businesses are having great difficulty,” Supervisor Susan Golding said. “On the other hand, we have all agreed that new development should pay for itself.”
In 1991, the number of homes, apartments and condominiums authorized in unincorporated parts of the county dropped to 1,232, less than half the 2,799 approved in 1990. Construction in the unincorporated area last dropped to these depths in 1982, when just 1,395 new dwelling units were approved.
In contrast, in 1985, when last decade’s building boom peaked, 8,313 new homes were authorized in the same areas.
The fees proposed Tuesday are just a fraction of the cost of additional levies that will be brought before the supervisors in the future. One fee, designed to raise money for bridges and major road construction in unincorporated areas, could add $3,000 to $6,000 to the price of a new home, according to John Seymour, senior legislative analyst for the Construction Industry Federation, a building industry research group.
And “regional impact fees” proposed for jails, regional roads and open space used by all residents of the county could add a sizable, but so far undetermined, additional cost to new homes.
Seymour also criticized any move to increase builders’ costs in the midst of the economic slump. “It’s my forecast that we won’t have any more building permits in 1992 than we did in 1991,” Seymour said.
In 1990, the San Diego City Council approved impact fees on new development to pay for libraries, roads and other public facilities but quickly reversed itself and repealed them.
The county proposal offers the supervisors a choice of two fee schedules. One would provide new sheriff’s substations, book purchases for libraries and animal shelters at the current number per capita. The second would raise more money to construct an optimum number of those facilities.
For example, new library fees of $61 per home would be assessed if the county wants to purchase 1.1 books and other equipment per capita, the current level. To buy two books per resident and additional equipment, the fee would rise to $112 per home.
Animal control fees would range from $41 to $44 per home, to fund new facilities and equipment.
Law enforcement fees, which would pay for more sheriff’s deputies, support staff, vehicles and other needs, would range from $59 to $93 per home, depending on the location of the home and the level of funding adopted by the supervisors.
Fees of 8 cents to 14 cents per square foot would be imposed on commercial, industrial and other types of facilities, which also create additional demand for police protection.
Seymour questioned whether the county could show the required connection between new development and the need for new animal shelters, libraries and police protection in order to impose new fees. Traditionally, such costs are covered by property taxes or license fees, he said.
“The nexus is difficult,” he said “They are charting unnavigated waters.”
But Joan Vokac, chief of facilities planning for the county’s Department of Planning and Land Use, expressed confidence that the county could show that connection.
“There are other jurisdictions which have fees for these types of things,” she said.
