Vista raises developer fee for traffic improvements
By: CRAIG TENBROECK - Staff Writer | ∞
VISTA -- The city will raise the traffic fee for developers for the first time in 14 years, but to soften the blow, the changes will be phased in over 12 months, City Council members said this week.
The first increase will take place in July, and by the summer of 2008, Vista's traffic fee will be almost 40 percent higher than they are now for residential projects, more than double for industrial projects, and even higher for commercial projects, a city report shows.
The council approved the fee increase in a 4-1 decision late Tuesday night. Money raised through the fee pays for road improvements and new traffic signals.
Before the vote, building industry officials and business advocates warned that a sudden fee hike could have a chilling effect on local development.
In the end, the city's decision to phase in the higher fee over one year, then review the fee every three years, was something of a compromise. The Building Industry Association of San Diego had suggested phasing in the increase over four years; city staff had recommended the increase take effect all at once.
Vista Chamber of Commerce's chief executive, Jim Baumann, said Wednesday that "only time will tell" whether the increase will scare developers away.
Jerry Livingston, staff counsel for the Building industry Association, was more pessimistic.
"On the commercial side, especially retail, the dollar numbers are almost cost-prohibitive," Livingston said Wednesday. "I'm not sure how much more commercial development they're going to get."
City staff members said that by choosing to increase the fee gradually, the city could lose out on some potential revenue. How much depends on how many developers pull permits in the next year.
"You can't predict what's going to come down the pipeline," Community Development Director Robin Putnam said.
Councilman Frank Lopez, who cast the dissenting vote Tuesday, said he wanted the increase phased in over a longer period. He said Vista is now on the road to creating an unfriendly business environment.
"We are going to be sorry that we did this," Lopez said.
But other council members said the hike was a necessary evil and long overdue.
"We continue to put this matter of increasing fees to a later date. ... As a result, we never seem to get it done," Mayor Morris Vance said.
The city's traffic fee is based on the number of "vehicle trips" that a development is expected to generate on surrounding streets. Under the plan approved, the fee for a 6,000-square-foot restaurant will increase from $29,790 to $172,586, according to a city report. For a 40,000-square-foot strip mall, the fee will jump from $79,440 to $460,229.
The higher fee will put Vista closer to other cities along the Highway 78 corridor -- lower than in San Marcos and higher than in Escondido, the city report states.
Developers who had submitted a planning application to the city by July of 2006 will be subject to the old fee, city staff said.
Years ago, city officials thought they could lure attractive projects to Vista by keeping fees artificially low, but instead, the city was stuck in a lose-lose situation, Putnam said.
"We haven't been able to keep up with our road improvements and we haven't attracted the type of quality development that we really were hoping to develop," Putnam said.
The traffic fee is the second in a series of development fees that city staffers plan to revise, officials have said. In summer 2005, the council increased the amount builders pay toward park improvements. Public facility and fire fees should appear on the agenda later this year.
"In some categories, the increase may be drastic, but that's the result of not increasing fees in over 14 years," Deputy City Manager Patrick Johnson said.
-- Contact staff writer Craig TenBroeck at (760) 631-6621 or ctenbroeck@nctimes.com.
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Vista Watchdog wrote on May 10, 2007 8:31 AM:Soften the blow??? The blow to whom: the citizens who have no sidewalks, narrow unsafe roads, and excessive traffic, or the pockets of the City Council members and others in the City Departments receiving their graft from the developers? The City should have raised fess years ago and required developers to fully mitigate any and all impacts. Oh yes, the impact to a road that is too narrow, but flowing just fine with current traffic, is the full cost to widen to current standards to accommodate the extra traffic. All citizens currently using the road prior to the impact of the development have already paid for the existing road, which serves them quite well. Any widening or other improvements required by the development only really serve the development. Anyone believing that enacting such requirements on developers would negatively impact the housing market need only look at the huge increase in housing prices over the last 10 years and realize that when people desire to move somewhere they are willing to pay whatever the price!
To Vista Watchdog wrote on May 10, 2007 12:14 PM:Yes, infrastrucure is a major part of quality of life provided by a city. Police, Fire, and other city services too. If these are all maintained at high levels, then people will want to live in that community. Supply and demand will drive housing prices up, thus making it quite profitable, regardless of the level of fees charges, for a developer to come in and build. ECON101 and GOV100, both courses Vista leadership need to take to hart!
Sue wrote on May 11, 2007 7:09 AM:STOP BUILDING
To Sue wrote on May 11, 2007 3:40 PM:In your dreams! Since 1849 CA ahs been one of the fastest growing areas in the US. The costal areas and areas along major arteries (I-5, I-15, Hwy 78, etc.) are the fastest growing areas in CA. Vista is NOT immune to this growth and current property owners will never agree to the idea of their potential for profit being dictated by NIMBYs. Growth is inevitable, so help to ensure it is planned and managed growth as opposed to the graft that has been the way of things in Vista for so long!
Eric wrote on May 12, 2007 10:21 AM:The problem is that average Joe is upset over the increased traffic and wants to stop developement. Average Joe does not see the fees that are placed on the business community. The problem is that the civil servant pensions are so crazy (many people are making more money retired than they did working)that the cities are desperate for money. The only thing we are getting for our tax dollar is a group of people with a much nicer lifestyle than the people paying for it!
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