Joint Special
Council/Successor Agency
04/7/26 05:30 PM
City Manager Department
Matthew Summers
Resolution
Doc ID: 6353
AGENDA ITEM
AGENDA MATTER:
SECOND READING OF ORDINANCE NO. 1048-2026 AMENDING CHAPTER 12.40 OF THE
BARSTOW MUNICIPAL CODE, CONCERNING DEVELOPMENT IMPACT FEES EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The proposed amendments to Chapter 12.40 of the Barstow Municipal Code update its language to permit the Council to adopt new development impact fees via resolution without causing potential conflicts or confusion.
DISCUSSION:
The City has authority to impose development impact fees (“DIFs”) to help it fund new facilities and infrastructure to absorb the impacts of new development. DIFs are governed at the state level by the Mitigation Fee Act (Gov. Code, § 66000 et seq.), and at the local level by Chapter 12.40 of the Barstow Municipal Code. Both state law and the City’s code permit the Council to set DIF rates by resolution. (Gov. Code, §§ 66004, 66018; Barstow Muni. Code, § 12.40.040(d).) However, Chapter 12.40 also includes language specific to the City’s current schedule of DIF rates - it is not limited to generally governing the City’s DIF program. For example, it requires rates to adjust annually according to a particular formula in place since 2008. (Barstow Muni. Code, § 12.40.040(f).) And it restricts the kinds of projects the City may support with DIF revenues by limiting the special funds in which that revenue may be held. (Id., §§ 12.40.050(a), 12.40.110.) As components of the City’s Code, these provisions can only be amended by ordinance - not by resolution.
The result is a potential for confusion or even conflict if the Council adopts new DIF rates via resolution, but it does not simultaneously amend Chapter 12.40 via ordinance to edit or eliminate language designed to apply to previous rates. The two most straightforward solutions to this issue are:
Ensure the Council only adjusts DIF rates via an ordinance that also amends Chapter 12.40 as needed, or
Amend Chapter 12.40 to remove language that is specific to any particular rate schedule.
On balance, staff recommend the second option because it eliminates the need to revisit the Code itself each time the Council adjusts DIF rates, and because both the Mitigation Fee Act and an amended Chapter 12.40 provide sufficient guidance and boundaries for those adjustments.
Joint Special
Council/Successor Agency
04/7/26 05:30 PM
City Manager Department
Matthew Summers
Resolution
Doc ID: 6353
AGENDA ITEM
The proposed ordinance attached to this report therefore amends Chapter 12.40 to remove provisions more helpfully included in rate resolution, such as the kinds of DIFs to impose (e.g., police, fire, circulation), their rates, and whether / how they should automatically adjust annually. It retains more general provisions that will apply to any rate structure, such as the process to administratively appeal an allegedly invalid DIF.
The Council conducted its first reading of the proposed ordinance at its meeting on March 17, 2026.
After its second reading tonight, therefore, the Council may adopt the ordinance.
Attachment 1 - Ordinance No. 1048-2026
FISCAL IMPACT:
Adopting the proposed DIFs will increase the City’s revenues available to expand public facilities and infrastructure. Adopting the proposed discounts for residential DIFs will limit that increase, but in the service of promoting residential development. The proposed amendments to Ch. 12.40 do not have any fiscal impact in themselves — any such impact comes from separate actions (like the proposed resolutions) to impose or adjust the fees governed by Ch. 12.40.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt Ordinance No. 1048-2026.