IRVINE : Hearings to Be Held on Tax, Fee Districts

Property owners in two sections of the city will have several chances beginning this month to hear and comment on a proposed tax to pay for a freeway interchange at Bake Parkway and a proposed fee that would raise money to build a fire station.

If approved, the tax would be added to commercial properties in a small portion of the Irvine Spectrum. The fee would be assessed to developers as they build homes in the Westpark II community and commercial properties in the nearby portion of the Irvine Business Complex, said Richard Monroe, a city engineer.

The City Council will hold two public hearings on the proposed tax and fee districts before either goes into effect.

The first hearing, at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 23, will be a public meeting to allow affected Spectrum property owners to object to the amount of the tax or for being included in the tax district. The council has scheduled a second hearing on March 23 to consider final protests and whether to create the tax district.

The property tax assessment district would raise about $1.5 million over 20 years from owners in a roughly half-mile-square area southwest of the James A. Musick Branch Jail. Property owners already have agreed to pay a “fair share” of the freeway interchange as a condition for building in the area, Monroe said. The cost of the freeway project is estimated at $30 million.

Collecting money to build the fire station will be easier, Monroe said. Since none of the 3,850 homes in Westpark II have been built, he said, the city can add the fee to the building permit costs paid by developers. Westpark II is between Harvard Avenue on the west, Culver Drive on the east, Irvine Center Drive on the north and Barranca Parkway on the south.

The City Council will hold a public meeting to consider the fire-station fees at 6:30 p.m. March 23 and a final public hearing April 23.