Cotati City Council
Agenda Staff Report
Item type: CONSENT CALENDAR (ACTION)
To: City Council
Subject: DEVELOPMENT IMPACT FEE STUDY UPDATE
Date: July 9, 2024
Written by: Damien O'Bid, City Manager
Recommendation
It is recommended that the City Council authorize by motion the City Manager to execute an agreement for review and adjustment of development impact fees.
Background
In California, due to the Mitigation Fee Act, new development is required to pay for their proportional impact on future infrastructure that will serve planned growth. This is done through advanced infrastructure planning by the City to determine the future infrastructure needs and the adoption of development impact fees to fund these projects. Additionally, AB 602, which took effect in 2022, created additional requirements for impact fees.
As part of the FY 24-25 workplan, the City committed to updating the City’s development impact fees to meet identified needs and ensure compliance with AB 602.
Analysis/Discussion
In addition to a general update of the impact fees to make them compliant with AB 602, this project is intended to update housing impact fees to move to a square footage approach, rather than a per unit approach. Additionally, some existing impact fees use different inflation escalators, some of which are no longer published, making annual inflation adjustments difficult.
By updating and adopting as a group, the impact fees can be uniform and consistent to meet the City’s future development-driven infrastructure needs and the City’s policy goals.
Financial Considerations
The fee for the proposed work is $42,000, which is included in the adopted FY 24/25 budget.
No additional appropriations are required.
Environmental Issues
The proposed update to the development impact fees will not have any effect on the environment. Where it can be determined with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA review. This general rule can be applied to activities which could be subject to the CEQA process, but which logic dictates should not be subject to CEQA review. Therefore, based on the information provided above, the proposed resolution is exempt from CEQA pursuant to Section 14.03.021 of the CEQA Guidelines in that there is no possibility that the activity may have a significant impact on the environment.