THOUSAND OAKS : Council Urged to Raise Developer Fees

Convinced that new residential development costs the city more than it contributes, Thousand Oaks Councilwoman Jaime Zukowski has persuaded her colleagues to consider dramatically hiking developer fees.

The council on Tuesday approved a study that will identify costs the city incurs each time new housing is built.

Consultants, working with city managers, will examine how much Thousand Oaks spends to provide new residents with such services as libraries, police patrols, street sweeping and road maintenance. They will then decide whether to impose new developer fees to help fund those services.

City Manager Grant Brimhall said he did not yet know how much the study will cost.

Dee Zinke of the Building Industry Assn. has estimated that developer fees add $20,000 to $30,000 to the price of a single-family home. But the city is considering hiking them still further to pay for unanticipated projects, especially road improvements in the Newbury Park area.

“Whatever costs we absorb are absolutely passed on,” she said. “For people to say we can absorb the costs (by cutting into profits)--well, yes, we can, and we can go out of business, too.”

Despite developers’ firm opposition, however, Zukowski said the city must consider raising fees in order to ensure financial stability as the population grows.