SIMI VALLEY : Law Firm to Review Developer Fees
Simi Valley officials have hired an outside law firm to determine whether developer fees the city charges are justified based on the impacts of development.
The City Council this week agreed to retain the firm of Freilich, Kaufman, Fox and Sohagi to conduct the review, which is budgeted at $50,000, officials said.
Mayor Greg Stratton said a new state law requires cities to do a more detailed review on how the fees charged to developers correspond to the actual impact of their work.
“You either have to hire an attorney to make sure your fees are justified or an attorney will sue you and say they’re not,” Stratton said Friday. “If you don’t do this, you are liable to be sued.”
Stratton said the city decided to hire the outside firm because it has experience in reviewing developer fees rather than handling the matter in-house.
“It does take a lot of legal work,” he said. “We’re hiring a firm that has done this for a number of other cities and hopefully we won’t have to reinvent the wheel.”
The mayor said the work, which will result in a proposed city ordinance governing the charging of developer fees, should be completed in about six months.
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