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Costa Mesa Planning Commission approves developer fee called for by 2016 ballot measure, with reservations

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Another developer fee?

That’s what one member of the Costa Mesa Planning Commission groaned Monday evening as the panel considered voting for a fee intended to contribute to open space and public parks.

Some commissioners’ distaste for the provision showed even in the eventual approval on a 3-1 vote. Commissioner Jenna Tourje was absent and members Kedarious Colbert and Jeffrey Harlan abstained. Chairman Byron de Arakal voted against it.

The ordinance stems from competing local ballot measures in the 2016 election: Measure Y, which requires voter approval of some large development projects, and Measure Z, which would have ratified the city’s existing land-use regulations and not required public votes on developments. However, Z included a fee applying to all new development in town north of the 405 Freeway and west of Fairview Road with the purpose of increasing recreation, open space and public park facilities.

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A majority of local voters supported both measures, but since Measure Y scored a higher number of votes, it canceled out all but two provisions in Measure Z — the development impact fee and an advisory committee to direct the funds.

With Planning Commission approval in hand, the fee will now go to the City Council for review.

Pending a citywide fee study, the levy shall not exceed $1.50 per square foot of new development.

The area where it would apply includes the mixed-use development One Metro West, which is circulating through the city’s review process and would add 1,057 residential units and thousands of square feet of office and retail space just west of South Coast Collection.

The commission’s vote Monday included one provision new to the voter-approved measure — that the fee be collected before any construction, instead of after.

De Arakal called the fee “wholly duplicative” of fees already in place. Though Measure Z was put on the ballot by the City Council majority at the time to counter Measure Y — a growth-control initiative sponsored by activist group Costa Mesa First — it was marketed to voters as a measure for parks and open space, he said.

“It was really kind of a ruse. It was a magic show,” de Arakal said. “I hated Measure Y and still hate Measure Y, and I hated Measure Z as well because it was disingenuous.”

He added that it is unwise to levy another developer fee in the face of a state mandate to accommodate nearly 12,000 more housing units in Costa Mesa over the next 10 years.

Harlan, while abstaining, said he agreed with de Arakal and appreciated the “protest vote.” Still, he called codifying the ballot measure an “administrative matter.”

Colbert said it would be “premature” to vote on the impact fee without hearing more from the city about its plans to accommodate the Regional Housing Needs Assessment released in November.

The City Council is holding a special study session to discuss housing Tuesday evening.

Commissioner Jon Zich also agreed with de Arakal but gave the ordinance a thumbs-up.

“I wouldn’t like to think that we have the power to ignore measures that the residents voted in,” Zich said. “This is what they voted for.”

The Planning Commission is expected to vote at a later date on forming the Measure Z impact fee advisory committee.

Three years ago, the commission and the City Council disagreed about the formation of a committee, which commissioners said was unnecessary because the Parks and Recreation Commission already exists. The council approved the committee on a first reading, but a second reading wasn’t held because of disagreements about the committee’s composition.

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