Development Impact Fee for Library, Comm. Centers, Public Safety, etc. by Liang

From: Better Cupertino
Date: Sat, Oct 17, 2015 at 11:15 PM
Subject: Development Impact Fee for Library, Comm. Centers, Public Safety, etc.
To: City Council <citycouncil@cupertino.org>, David Brandt <davidb@cupertino.org>, planning@cupertino.org

Dear Mayor Sinks, Vice Mayor Chang, Councilmembers and Planning Commissioners,

Cupertino should have a sustainable financing plan to provide basic services for the growing number of residents. This can be achieved by charging Development Impact Fee, as many other cities have done.

These fees help mitigate the aggregated impact of new development projects on basic city services, like parks, library, community centers, public safety needs, city staff and facility needs, sewage and water systems. Every new development should contribute to the Development Impact Fee.

For example, Palo Alto has Development Impact Fee that covers Parks, Community Centers, Libraries, Public Safety Facilities, and General Government Facilities.

Palo Alto Development Impact fee (incl. Park, Comm Ctr, Public Safety) 8-17-15 .pdf

In addition to the Development Impact Fee, Palo Alto also charges a Transportation Impact Fee as Citywide Transportation Impact Fee $3,439 per net new PM peak hour trip. (Also specified in the document above)

Cupertino should have a sustainable financing plan to provide basic services for the residents. Every new development, whether or not it requires GPA, should contribute to the Development Impact fee.

Eventually, such impact fee can help fund additional library branches, community centers, police and fire stations or a new city hall. Other cities have also assessed impact fees for emergency services, sewage and water systems, etc.

Cupertino should not reply on community benefits (or voluntary community amenities) derived from granting exception for the General Plan to pay for basic city services. If we do, there is some flaw with the city's financing structure and it should be fixed.

Note that these fees, if adopted, give the Council negotiation power. When necessary, the Council can always give developers a discount as an incentive to promote a certain type of development in certain areas, as San Jose has done. And when economy is slow, the Council can also suspend the collection of the fee for a short time at your discretion.

 

Please consider adopt the Development Impact Fee to truly mitigate the impact of new development projects on basic city services. With so many projects already built and so many new projects being proposed, Cupertino desperately need to adopt Development Impact Fee to provide basic city services.

 

Sincerely,

Liang Chao