Friday, Jan. 20, 2012

Los Banos City Council suspends developer fees used for traffic impacts

Charges to developers used to pay for traffic impacts, regionally

Los Banos City Council Wednesday introduced a year suspension of fees on new businesses that pool for projects like the 50-year-old plan for the Los Banos Bypass.

Regional Transportation Impact Fees will not be charged to commercial or industrial developers who pull building permits within the next year. The ordinance was introduced by a 3-2 vote.

Mayor Mike Villalta said the suspension was prudent because businesses will still pay local development fees. He said the regional fees, however, are not guaranteed to come back.

"If they [developers] pay it, we don't see a dime of it," Villalta said. "It automatically leaves our town."

The RTIF money is pooled and controlled by the Merced County Association of Governments.

Councilman Scott Silveira, who voted yes, said there is so little development in Los Banos that City Council needed to try something new.

"If it creates a few more jobs, then it's in the plus for us," Silveira said.

Councilman Joe Sousa, who voted no, said the willingness to give it a try shows a lack of vision.

The RTIF is a fee that developers pay when they build a project in the county that will increase traffic levels. The money collected then goes into a fund to be used for regional traffic projects, such as the Highway 152 bypass, the Merced-Atwater Expressway and the Gustine Truck Route.

Los Banos, after a resolution in 2009, set transportation fees on commercial and industrial buildings between $1,409 and $12,082 per 1,000 square feet. The rate is dependent on the building's size, type and turnover rate. Businesses looking to move into an existing building don't pay any transportation fee.

Without the RTIF, the Wal-Mart Supercenter set to open in 2013 and the joint am-pm and McDonald's site, approved during the same meeting, would not pay an estimated $330,000, according to city staff.

Councilwoman Elizabeth Stone, who voted no, said developers will impact the area in which they build and shouldn't be given a pass.

"When developers don't pay for the impact to the infrastructure that they're creating ... we pay for it sooner or later with a tax," Stone said.

She cited 2004's Measure P as an example of taxpayers picking up the bill for developers. The measure paid for additional police and firefighters in a growing city by way of a half-cent sales tax.

Los Banos in not unique in this venture. Other area jurisdictions with reduced or suspended impact fees include Merced, Sanger, Paso Robles, Hanford and Fresno County.