COUNTYWIDE : Traffic Impact Fees for Developers OKd

Traffic impact fees will now be paid by developers to mitigate traffic created by new construction and to pay for road improvements.

All 31 cities in the county have imposed the state-mandated fees in order to collect Measure M funds, the half-cent sales tax that county voters approved in 1990. Measure M is expected to raise more than $3.1 billion for transportation projects over a 20-year period throughout the county.

The fees vary from city to city. Some charge per square foot of development. Others impose fees tied to what area is being developed, while others have different fees for residential and commercial building.

Most cities approved the fees within the past two months, beating the June 30 deadline imposed by the state.

Orange County Transportation Authority officials said the fees will begin between 60 to 90 days after being adopted.

“Developers will be paying for the impact they are creating on the system,” Westminster traffic engineer Marwan Youssef said. “I don’t think the fees will have a backlash on the city because every city in California has to adopt this kind of ordinance, but developers will feel the impact.”

La Habra City Manager Lee Risner said he expects developers to be upset with the new fees. “We’ve had no complaints about the fees so far,” he said. “But I’m sure (developers) will be squealing the first time we charge them.”

Developers said they weren’t pleased with the new charges.

“This is certainly another reminder that local governments are very hard-pressed to pay for things like highway improvements, and levying fees on new development is one of the few avenues they have open to them,” said Bernard Sandalow, manager of corporate communications for Kaufman & Broad, the largest home builder in the state.

“In the long run, these costs get passed along in the form of higher home prices,” he added. “In the short run, we’ll just have to live with it. It’s part of the cost of doing business.”

Many city councils passed the fees because it was necessary but would have preferred not to, officials said.

The Buena Park City Council, which adopted the fees June 21, “felt the timing was very poor because of the financial situation of the state,” Buena Park traffic engineer Herbert Vargas said. Council members “were against having to adopt the (fees), but they understood that it’s required.”