Dublin Townhall » Impact Fees

Reduced East Dublin Development Fees

John M. Zukoski — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 02:37:00 +0000

The Dublin City Council met this past Tuesday and voted unanimously to decrease the fees that developers pay to acquire land, construct roads, and make other improvements to minimize traffic impacts in east Dublin. The previous impact fee schedule was established in 2004 and needed to be updated to reflect the drastically lower cost of land, changes in land use (i.e., higher density than expected), and higher construction costs. With this approval, the traffic impact fees for residential projects will decrease by a combined 11% and non-residential fees will decrease by 3% effective June 7th. This should help to encourage development in Dublin.

The calculation of impact fees is based on the estimated number of “trips” generated by building new projects (e.g., trips to the grocery store, trips to/from home). The most significant reason for the decrease in fees is that Dublin has built at a higher density than what was initially forecast. Higher density means more people will be generating more car trips. With fixed traffic costs and more people than expected, the cost per “trip” has been less than expected.

In addition to a 24% decrease in traffic impact fees for residential development near the east Dublin BART station, the developers for Avalon and Metropolitan lobbied hard for additional fee reductions based on their argument that there is less traffic on a per-person basis in transit centers because more people walk and take BART. No data was provided to support this assertion.

When it became apparent that the Council would not support an additional fee reduction for Avalon and Metropolitan without having hard data to look at, the Council chambers began to sound like the floor of the British House of Commons as the developers’ representatives began to chuckle and make sounds of disgust off-camera to show their disapproval to the Council.

At the end of their deliberation, the Council directed City Staff to conduct a study to evaluate whether or not further fee reductions are warranted for Avalon and Metropolitan. If further reductions are approved at the transit center, then the remaining developers in east Dublin will need to pay higher traffic impact fees for their projects to make up the difference.

John M. Zukoski is the publisher of the Around Dublin Blog and a regular contributor on Dublin Townhall. He can be reached at john.zukoski@gmail.com.

Striking the Right Balance in Residential Density

Community Benefit Payment

John M. Zukoski — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 08:00:00 +0000

Community Benefit Payments are sizable contributions made by developers to cities in addition to the standard building and impact fees required by new development. Developers usually make these payments to compensate the cities for making exceptions to the General or Specific plan guidelines, city ordinances, as well as other design policies for specific projects.
Community benefit payments should be used to improve the areas surrounding the new developments that generated the payments, as illustrated by the Schaeffer Ranch community benefit payment plan, where $1.5M was dedicated for improvements at the nearby Dublin Historic Park. Additionally, the developers of Schaeffer Ranch committed funding to build the new School of Imagination building.

Following that example, the City should use the Wallis Ranch community benefit payment to fund the completion of Emerald Glen Park and the astro turfs at Fallon Sports Park. The previous City Council had voted to fund the astro turfs at Fallon Sports Park through a surplus in the general fund. Instead of pulling money directly from the general fund, that popular optional upgrade can be more appropriately subsidized through a community benefit payment generated by a project in the vicinity like Wallis Ranch.

John M. Zukoski is the publisher of the Around Dublin Blog and a regular contributor on Dublin Townhall. He can be reached at john.zukoski@gmail.com.

Striking the Right Balance in Residential Density

John M. Zukoski — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 18:30:00 +0000

Although higher density residential projects may seem like a cost-effective way for Dublin to become an Entitlement Community at first, the accounting method used to justify this growth strategy often overlooks the impact higher density housing has on surrounding neighborhoods and underestimates the true cost of higher density to current residents. The increase in revenue generated by the initial burst of one-time impact fees from more units sold may be offset over time by the depreciation in property values from nearby homes and the slower appreciation rate of the high-density products themselves. The cost to provide the same level of service to a greater number of residents brought in by the higher density will continue to rise at a rate consistent with inflation, yet the City will have to contend with meeting the higher demand on a lower overall property tax base.

Dublin has done an outstanding job of bringing in first-time home buyers from all walks of life as it started to implement the Eastern Dublin Specific Plan. Many of these first-time home owners have outgrown their higher density units and are looking for opportunities to move into traditional single-family residences near their current neighborhoods. If we do not build homes of lower density to meet market demands, we will be forfeiting the greater sales and property tax base associated with the home owners Dublin had worked so hard to cultivate since the beginning of this decade to neighboring cities that do provide the housing types they desire.

Dublin can reach the population size required to qualify for the Federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program in a way that respects longtime residents and fortifies our projected property tax revenue stream. By following the tried-and true development pattern of balancing the lower density housing in areas away from major transit centers with higher density housing near the major transit centers, we will have a city we can all be proud of at build-out.

John M. Zukoski is the publisher of the Around Dublin Blog and a regular contributor on Dublin Townhall. He can be reached at john.zukoski@gmail.com.