Calabasas : Developer Fees Hiked to Aid School Projects

To accommodate future growth in enrollment, the Las Virgenes Unified School District has increased developer fees to help finance new school construction.

The Board of Education voted this week to increase fees beginning April 27 to the limit allowed under state law, $1.84 per square foot for residential construction and 30 cents per square foot for commercial/industrial. Currently, the fees are $1.72 per square foot, and 28 cents per square foot, respectively.

By the year 2010, the district will need two new elementary schools and another middle school, said Donald Zimring, the district’s superintendent of business. It will also need a new administration building and additional classrooms at Calabasas High School and modular classrooms at several campuses, he said.

Projected cost is $25 million, Zimring said, $3 million of which has already been set aside from developer fees. The district expects to be able to raise $8 million, he said, which means it will be $14 million short.

To raise the money, Zimring said, the district may have to initiate a local bond issue. “That’s something our superintendent [John Fitzpatrick] is investigating very carefully right now,” Zimring said.

Dee Zinke, executive officer for the Greater Los Angeles/Ventura chapter of the Building Industry Assn., cautioned that any increases in developer fees will probably be passed on to home buyers and other consumers.

“Most people don’t realize that developers are operating at a 1%-to-5% profit margin,” she said. “There is not that much extra cost that we can swallow.”

She said her organization supports Proposition 203, a $3-billion bond for public education facilities on the March ballot. However, Zimring said it’s unlikely that his district would qualify for funds, which would go to the districts with the most pressing needs.