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Home My WebLink About01 DISCRE'RY APP FEES 03-21-94NO. 1 3-21-94 .)ATE: MARCH 21, 1994 Inter-Com TO: FROM: SUBJECT: WILLIAM A. HUSTON, CITY MANAGER COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT REDUCED DISCRETIONARY APPLICATION FEES RECOMMENDATION It is recommended that the City Council adopt Resclution No. 94-29 modifying certain service charges and planning fees. FISCAL IMPACT Fees are being modified to provide a number of new fee categories which will result in fee savings for certain selected types of Planning applications commensurate with the ccst of providing service. The California Government Code authcrizes such fees provided the fee amounts do not exceed the cost of providing the service. It can be expected that there will be a minor reduction in general fund revenues from development application fees. The actual reduction will be difficult to determine 5his late in the fiscal year but will be more accurately evaluated as part of the 1994-95 Budget preparation process. BACKGROUND On March 7, 1994, the Community Development Department presented a recommendation to the City Council recommending a number of new planning fee categories which would have the result of reducing certain selected planning application fees. A copy of the March 7, 1994, Council report which provides background information, fee reduction justification criteria, payments and evaluation of fee savings, is attached. ~i~ Westfiel~ Assistant Director CommuniEy Development Christine S Assistant City Manager RW: br: feereduc, ccr Attachments: Resolution No. 94-29 City Council Report - March 7, !99A I RESOLUTION NO. 94-29 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 ¸17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TUSTIN, CALIFORNIA, ESTABLISHING A REVISED SCHEDULE FOR PLANNING FEES AND SERVICE CHARGES WITHIN THE PLANNING DIVISION OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT. The City Council of the City of Tustin does hereby resolve as follows: I. The City Council finds and determines as follows: A. The Planning Division of the Community Development Department is responsible for processing certain development and planning applications and providing certain services which result in the Department incurring certain processing, administrative and production costs. Bo California Government Code allows the City to charge applicants reasonable fees not to exceed the amount reasonably necessary to provide the service required for processing of certain development and planning applications. C. Modifications to current Community Development Department - Planning Division service charges and planning fees are now needed for the following reasons: There are certain discretionary planning applications which will be typically routine and represent little if any land use or compatibility conflicts and are less costly to process. . To recognize the actual costs incurred for certain planning applications, the City is creating a number of new application types which will result in overall reduced fees to certain applicants. . Cost of providing service for certain new application types will be borne by the individual receiving benefit from the service. II. The City Council hereby establishes a revised fee schedule for Community Development Department service charges and planning application fees in the Planning Division, as shown in the attached Exhibit A, incorporated herein by reference. Said fee schedule shall supercede previously established Planning Division fees adopted by City Council Resolution 92-103 (Exhibit C-l) and shall be applied uniformly except where, in the discretion of the City Manager, reduced fees are justified by special circumstances. PASSED AND ADOPTED by the City Council of the City of Tustin at a regular meeting held on the 21 st day of March, 1994. JIM POTTS Mayor MARY E. WYNN City Clerk EXHIBIT A REVISED SERVICE CHARGES & PLANNING FEES EXHIBIT A COMMt.-NITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT PLANNING DIVISION REVISED FEE SCHEDULE ANI) SERVICE CHARGES RESOLUTION NO. 94-29 Adopted on March 21, 1994 TYPE OF CHARGE Appeals FEE SCHEDULE FOR PLANNING DIVISION FEES OR SERVICE CHARGE{I} 1/2 Original Fee CC&R Review (1 check and 1 recheck)- Subsequent Reviews-City Attorney Planning Staff $190 $150/hr $50/hr Certificate of Compliance $95 Code Amendment $950 Conditional Use Permits and Amendments ABC License $255 Major $1,270 Minor ~ii!~[:.~ $665 ~i~:'i~ .......... ::::::::::::::::::::::::: ....... .~ ....................... ~.....~ ................... ~:~ ............................ ~::~?~::::::....:::~.....:~:~:..~:~:.....:~*~:~:~.~:~:~...::...........:*~:~....~:~:~...::~:~.....~:...:~:.::~...:..~:~:...*~*~*~*~:~*~ ................ :.. ~~i~::~~:~==================================================================================================== !....~::~~iiiiii!:.[~!i:.:.ii.::-~i[![i.~[~[~[~:.~!~[i!iii~iii!ii}~i~i!~i~i!iii~[~i!~~. ================================================================================== ........ Design Reviews and Amendments Major New $985 Major Remodel $635 Minor New $510 Minor Remodel $350 Sign $65 Development Agreements $2,000 (2) Extraordinary Research (minimum 2 hours) $50/hr Environmental EIR Major EIR Minor Initial Study Negative Declaration Notice of Completion Notice of Determination Notice of Exemption $4,000 (2) $2,500 (2) $95 $125 $50 $25 $25 Exhibit A Resolution No. Page 2 94 -29 General Plan Amendments Land Use Map Major Text Amendment Minor Text Amendment $985 $2,000 (2) $750 Lot Line Adjustment $255 Lot Merger $190 Miscellaneous Documents (3) $190 Temporary Use Permit (TUP) Time extension on TUP's $95 $50 Subdivisions and Amendments Reversion to Acreage Tentative Tract Map (ET Project) Tentative Tract Map (ET Sector) Tentative Tract Map Tentative Parcel Map Final Tract Map- Final Parcel Map Vesting Map Map Fee + $65 $2,730 $5,715 $1,205 $1,205 $1,335 $1,110 Base Map + $65 Use Interpretations $125 Variances and Amendments Major $665 Minor $380 Zone Change $950 Zoning Administrator Action Written Administrative Adjustment/ ~ii~Oji~~ii ~~i~i~i~i~ii~::i~i~iiiii~i::i~i::i::i~i::i~i::iii::i::ii Zoning confirmation or non-conforming status letter $5O Exhibit A Resolution No. Page 3 94 -29 Footnotes (~) (2) (3) (4) Includes cursory review of applications by building staff. Minimum deposit for city staff and city. attorney's office review. Review by city staff to be reimbursed at a rate of $50/hour and review by city attorney's office at a rate of $150/hour. Examples: Parking Agreements, Access A~eements, Deed, Restrictions. An additional $25 filing fee is required by the County Clerk when the City files the Notice of Determination. The applicant will ~ required to provide the City with a cashiers check for $25, payable to the ORANGE COUNTY CLERK within 48 hours fo project approval. Substantial additional fees may be required by the County Clerk when the City files the Notice of Determination, in accordance with AB 3158 as established by the Department of Fish and Game. If additional fees are required, the applicant will be required to provide the Ci~' with a cashiers check for the additional fees, payable to the ORANGE COUNTY CLERK within 48 hours of project approval. (5) (6) (7) See fee for Minor CUP (existing development) See fee for Time Extensions (CUP, Design Review and Subdivision) See fees for Design Reviews see shaded areas for amendments Resolution No. 94-29 supercedes Exhibit Col of City Council Resolution No. 92-103 CITY COUNCIL REPORT MARCH 7, 1994 3-7-94 ATE: MARCH 7, 1994 lnter-Com TO: FROM' SUBJECT: WILLIAM A. HUSTON, CITY MANAGER COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT REDUCED DISCRETIONARY APPLICATION FEES RECOMMENDATION It is recommended that the City Council review the attached fee analysis and provide direction to staff on the reduction of certain planning fees. BACKGROUND Durin~ the- past few months the City Manager and Community Development Department have been requested to provide reduced application fees for a number of minor development projects. The Mayor has also requested that Community Development Department take a close look at the feasibility of reducing application fees for certain projects. The type of projects where reduced fees would apply would be those projects that are typically routine where less staff time is required and where there are no real land use or compatibility issues. Our present fee.structure recognizes such projects as "major" and "minor" conditional use permits, design reviews (new and remodels) and variances. The Director of Community Development has the authority to determine the appropriate fee category which should be applied to a particular project for purposes of establishing the appropriate application fees. Examples of the types of projects which would be included within each of the fee categories is shown as Attachment I. The Director also has the authority to determine the applicable fee category for projects not covered by the examples showm in Attachment I or as may be appropriate based upon the scope of a project. Our application fee schedule reflects reasonable-and equitable cost recovery for services provided. A primary consideration when establishing a fee is its relationship to the cost of providing the service. Within the various city departments different criteria is used to evaluate the level of cost to be recovered from fees and charges. For example, services that benefit the entire community such as street maintenance and police protection are for the public in general and are provided without any direct fees or charges. Services which benefit only the individual property owner or City Council Report Reduced Discretionary~plication Fees March 7, 1994 Page 2 ' business are generally associated with lan~ development prcjects and permits. These applications make up the major part of the Current Planning workload and fees are' sen so as to recover the full cost of the service being provided. Reviewing the number of requests for fee reiuctions or fee waivers recently, it appears tkat the majority of nhese requests are for conditional use permits for uses which do not require an increase in floor area or a change in occupancy or primary use. In addition, our current fee schedule also does not provide a fee for amendments to CUP's, Design Reviews, Subdivisions and Variances. Presently whenever an applicant requests an amendment they must pay the full original application fee. In addition, an applicant requesting a time exnension must also currently pay a full application fee. It is recommended that we amend our fee schedule to include a subcategory under Minor Conditional Use Permits (CUP's) titled: Minor CU?'s (Existing Develc~ment). For an application to qualify under this new subcategory there would be no change of-occupancy or primary use; there would be no expansion of floor area; and the request would not alter the original intent of the project or site. -An example Of the type of proje"- that would fall into the Minor CUP (Existing Development) category is the recent CUP application for 99¢ World where the store operator wished to add packaged food items for sale. In order to accommodate the food items the operator needed to add one additional display rack, probably accounting for less than 5% of the total merchandise area. It is recommended that the fees fcr these type of minor applications for existing development be set at $350 based on the processing steps and estimated staff time shown in Attachment III. . It is recommended that we include a subcategory under CUP, Design Review, Subdivision and Variance actions titled Amendment to Conditions of Approval. Uhe types of cases that would apply under this subcategory would be requests for such things as changes ~o: exterior materials, colors, elevations, hours of operation or any request for an amendment to Conditions of Approval determined by tke Community Development City Council Report Reduced Discretionary Application Fees March 7, 1994 Page 3 Director to be minor in nature and which does not alter the original intent of the project or site. Recent examples of an Amendment to Conditions of Approval included the following applications: a o Dr. Stanford's request to eliminate landscaping, block walls and parking lot curbing that were conditions of a previous CUP. be California Pacific's request to eliminate the condition on a tentative tract approval requiring a signal override for the Fire Department on certain local traffic signals. It is recommended that the fee be set at $350 for Amendments to Conditions of Approval based on primary steps and estimated staff time. ~ It is recommended that we add a subcategory under CUPs, Variances, Sign Reviews and Subdivisions titled Time Extensions. Recommended fees for Time Extensions would be $250 based on the processing steps and estimated staff time shown in Attachment III. The proposed changes recommended above would not necessitate any code amendments since the zoning code does not reference exact fee amounts nor does it make distinctions between minor/major discretionary actions, or the process for amendments to conditions of approval or time extensions. Amendments to the criteria for defining Planning fees are also attached as Attachment II. On February 28, 1994, the Planning Commission reviewed a Draft Ordinance amending City Code Section 9299 related to the Office of the Zoning Administrator. The Draft OrdinanCe establishes the types of Minor Adjustments, Conditional Use Permits and Specified Development applications that would be considered by the Zoning Administrator. As part of the analysis for the preparation of the Draft Ordinance, staff evaluated the time and fee savings that would result from using the Zoning Administrator powers for the recommended applications. The use of a Zoning Administrator could reduce the applicant's application fees between 47 and 85 percent City Council Report Reduced Discretionary Application Fees March 7, 1994 Page 4 depending on the application t~e. Minor Adjustments which are currently categorized as Minor Variances outside of East Tustin and Pacific Center East would have fees reduced from $3~0 to $95 and Soil Remediation which currently requires a minor CC? with a $665 application fee would be reduced to $95. The cost savings would result due to time saved in staff report preparation and noticing. While amendments to the Zoning Code related tc the Zoning Administrator's role will not come before the Cit'.- Council for - another 30-45 days, staff believes that amendments no the City's fees could be made at this time. In order to arrive at the recommended reduced fees nhe Community Development Department examined the actual tasks and anticipated staff time required to process a discretionary application. Fees are based on the direct labor costs and overhead anticipated to be incurred during the review and processing stages of a project. The labor costs utilized for this analysis are $50 per hour and are based on the cost to provide services. As a second step in the analysis, staff estimated the actual average number of productive hours that would be spent' on each specific task (Attachment III). As noted in Attachment III, hours were then multiplied by hourly rates and City overhead costs to determine the justified cost of review and processing of each project type. As with any property or business owners reques[ to waiver or reduce fees, the City Manager's office would continue to retain the ability for unique circumstances to waive or reduce fees where he feels necessary. CONCLUSION If the City Council concurs with the reduction in fees as recommended, staff will prepare the appropriate ncnicing for a public hearing and a Council resolution to mcdify certain identified Planning. Once the legal noticing is completed city staff will bring the matter back to the City Council for their action. A~~ts~stT~ntWe~it~reicetlodr Community Development Department Christine ~ Shin~leton Assistant City Manager RW: kbc\ red fee. mem ATTACHMENT I Criteria for Determining Existing Planning Fees ATTACH/~ENT I CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING EXISTING PLANNING FEES CONDITIONAL USE PERMITS MAJOR CUP: New uses in ccr~ination with new constrzction or existing development in excess of 5,000 square feet of floor area, new auto services or repair relased uses, and new apartment or condominium projects in excess of 3 dwelling units, condominium conversions. MINOR CUP: New uses in ccr~ination with new construction or existing development with 5,000 square feet or less of floor area, new uses within existing st~acsures, expanded or modified existing uses, signs, new apartmen~ or condominium project with 3 dwelling units or less, second single family dwellings. DESIGN REVIEW MAJOR NEW: MINOR NEW: MAJOR REMODEL: MINOR REMODEL: New developmenn in excess of 5,000 square feet of floor area or building relocations. New developmenn with less than 5,000 square feet of floor area. Modifications ~o existing structures or site which include 5n increase in existing floor area in excess of 50%, and/or existing facade or site modifications which constitute a change in 3 or more major design elements on a building eleva5ion or site which result in a complete facade upgrade. Definition of an element include windows, doors, cc!ors, materials, parking lot changes, enc. Modifications -o existing structures which include an increase in existing floor area of 50% or less, and/or existing facade or site modifications which constitute a change in 3 or less major design elements which d~ not result in a csmplete facade upgrade, single family homes not part of a subdivision, residential room additions, and new or modified accessory structures associated with existing develcpment. VARIANCES MAJOR VL_RIANCE: MINOR V~_~.IANCE: New development that deviates from a specific development standard, all existing development which deviates from a standard by more than 10%. Existing development that deviates from a specific development standard by less than 10%, new single family homes not part of a subdivision, or projects where the site will contain less than 3 new apartments or new condominiums. PLEASE NOTE: Where there is a question as to what category a project should be classified, the Director reserves the right to determine the applicable category a project should fall within. ATTACHMENT H Amendment to Criteria for Determining Planning Fees ATTACi~fMENT If AMENDMENT TO CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING PLANNING FEES CONDITIONAL USE PERMITS MAJOR CUP: New uses in combination with new construction or exiszing development in excess of 5,000 square feet of floor area, new auto services or repair related uses, and new apartment or condominium projects in excess of 3 dwelling units, condominium conversions. MINOR CUP: New uses in combination with new construction or existing development with 5,000 square feet or less of floor area, new uses within existing structures, expanded or modified existing uses, signs, new apartment or condominium project with 3 dwelling units or less, second single family dwellings. DESIGN F~EVIEW MAJOR NEW: New development in excess of 5,000 square feet of floor area or building relocations. MINOR NEW: New development with less than 5,000 square feet of =loor area. MAJOR REMODEL: Modifica5ions to existing structures or site which include an increase in existing floor area in excess of 50%, and/or existing facade or site modifications which constitute a change in 3 or more major design elements on a buildinc elevation or site which result in a complete facade upgrade. Definition of an element include windows, doors, colors, materials, parking lot changes, etc. MINOR REMODEL: Modifications to existing structures which include an increase in existing floor area of 50% or less, and/or existing facade or sine modifications which constitute a change in 3 or less major design elements which do not result in a complete facade upgrade, single family homes not part of a subdivisicn, residential room additions, and new or modified accessory structures associated with existing development. VARIANCES MAJOR VARIANCE: New development that deviates from a specific development standard, all existing development which deviates from a standard by more than 10%. MINOR VARIANCE: Existing development that deviates from a specific development standard by less than 10%, new single family homes not part of a subdivision, or projects where the site will contain less than 3 new apartments or new condominiums. SUBDIVISION PLEASE NOTE: Where there is a question as to what catego~~ a project should be classified, the Director reserves the right to determine the applicable category a project should fall within. ATTACHMENT III Review Fee'Analysis ATTACHMENT III Review Fee Analysis The following matrices have been developed based upon an analysis of the identified specific tasks required during the review, evaluation and approval process for certain minor types of discretienary projects: Minor Conditional Use Permits (Existinq Development) Task Man Hours Tasks Preliminary Review Accepting Application Creating Project File Review for Completeness Interdepartmental Reviewing/Routing Meetings/Phone calls with applicant Report Preparation Typing Noticing Hearing Post Hearing Inspecticn .75 .25 .25 .25 .25 .5 3.0 1.0 .25 .25 .25 .25 Cost per Man-hour~ Total Man-Hours $50.00 7.25 Total Estimate of Direct Labor Costs Recommended Minor CUP (Existing Development) Fee $362.50 $350.00 Time Extensions (Conditional Use Permits & Variances) Task Man Hours Tasks Accept Application/Review for Completeness Meetings/Phone calls with applicant Report Preparation Typing Noticing Hearing Post Hearing 1.0 .5 2.0 .75 .25 .25 .25 Cost per Man-hour* Total Man Hours $50.00 5.0 Total Estimate of Direct Labor Costs Recommended Time Extension (CUP & Variance) Fee $250.00 $250.00 Amendment to 3onditions of Approval Task Man Hours Tasks Preliminary Review Accepting Application Creating Project File Review for Completeness Interdepartmental Reviewing/Routing Meetings/Phone calls with a~p!icant Report Preparation Typing Noticing Hearing Post Hearing .75 .25 .25 .25 .25 .5 3.0 1.0 .25 .25 .25 Cost per Man-hour~ Total Man-Hours $50.00 7.0 Total Estimate of Direct Lakor Costs Recommended'Amendment to Conditions of Approval Fee $350.0.0 $350.00 Hourly rate of $50.00 is based on cost to provide service and include Professional and Clerical salaries, benefits, supplies and administrative overhead divided by total staff hours per year. ATTACHMENT IV Service Charges and Planning Fees COM qlTY DEVELOPMENT DEPAl~ gNT SERVICE CHARGES & PLANNING EFFECTIVE , 1994 RESOLUTION NO. 94- As Amended by Resolution 94-29, Exhibit A on , 1994' TYPE OF CHARGE Appeals CC&R Review (1 check and I recheck)- Subsequent Reviews-CiW Attorney Planning Staff Ce~ificate of Co~npliance Code Amendment FEE OR SERVICE CHARGE(Il 1/2 Original Fee $190 $150/hr $50/hr $95 $950 Conditional Use Permits and Amendments ABC License $255 Major $1,270 Minor-'~i $665 :~:.;::'::.8-y~:':~!~:::s.~:::::ssss::s:::::-:-:-:-' ~::'.--:::'~:.:-~:.~!~~ . Design Reviews and Amendments $985 Major New $635 Major Remodel $510 Minor New $350 Minor Remodel $ij5 Sign ~&$.$~::~$:.:.:...~ :.:...:.:.:.::..~.:.~.-::..~:....-..`.:.:.....-~.~...:.:.:.:~:.-.~.:.:.:`~...~.....`.:.`~ .......................... Development Agreements $2,000 (2) Extraordinary Research (minimum 2 hours) $50/hr Environmental EIR Major EIR Minor Initial Study Negative Declaration Notice of Completion Notice of Determination Notice of Exemption $4,0OO (2) $2,5OO (2) $95 $125 $50 $25 $25 General Plan Amendments Land Use Map Major Text Amendment Minor Text Amendment $985 $2,000 (2) $750 Lot Line Adjustment $255 Lot Merger $190 Miscellaneous Documents (3) $190 Temporary Use Permit (TUP) Time extension on TUP's $95 $5O Subdivisions and Amendments ,.. · Reversion to Acreag~ Tentative Tract Map (ET Project) Tentative Tract Map (ET Sector) Tentative Tract Map Tentative Parcel Map Final Tract Map Final Parcel Map Map Fee + $65 $2,730 $5,715 $1,205 $1~05 $1,335 $1,110 Vesting Map Base Map + $65 :.:.:.:..-.- -.-.:.: ~..-.:.:..-.:..-.: ~.:-: :.:.?.:-:.: .-.:.:.'-:%'::.: ..:..~.:...:.:~:.~:..~:.::......-:.:.-...-....--.:-:.:-:.-.-...-..-..:...~+:.:.:.......:.:.:.:.:.:f~$:~~:~ - . ~. Use Interpretations $125 Variances and Amendments Major $665 Minor $380 .... ~..... ..................... :.': ':.'.'.'.'. 4,.': '..~'.'.'.'.'.":.'.".'.'. . . ':~'.~'-'"'"'::'"' ......... .:.:-:~::---..--:-:.:-:.:----:-:~:-:--..:-:---.~.~-:.----~:-~-e.~--::~e-~-:-.~.--~'.''-~ ~: ~-.~-'"::$:"-'::' ' ' ~ ~~ii~i."!~~~:':':' ' :'"': ': ' .... ~":~':~'""'"':"~'-' ' Zone Change $950 Zoning Administrator Action Administrative Adjustment/ ~i~ $95 Written Zoning confirmation or non-conforming status letter $50 Footnotes (1) (2) (3) (4) Includes cursory review of applications by building staff. Minimum deposit for city staff and cit,.' attorney's office review. Review by city staff to be reimbursed at a rate of $50/hour and review by ci~ attorney's office at a rate of $150/hour. Examples: Parking Agreements, Access Agreements, Deed, Restrictions. An additional $25 filing fee is required by the County Clerk when the City files the Notice of Determination. The applicant will be required to provide the City with a cashiers check for $25, payable (4) (s) (6) (?) An azlditional $2 ~g fee is required by the County Cleri 'n the City files the Notice of Determination. Th,. ~,plicant will be required to provide the City ~. ., a cashiers check for $25, payable to the ORANGE COUNTY CLERK within 48 hours fo project approval. Substantial additional fees may be required by the County Clerk when the City files the Notice of Determination, in accordance with AB 3158 as established by the Department of Fish and Game. If additional fees are required, the applicant will be required to provide the City with a cashiers check for the additional fees, payable to the ORANGE COUNTY CLERK within 48 hours of project approval. See fee for Minor CUP (existing development) See fee for Time Extensions (CUP, Design Review and Subdivision) See fees for Design Reviews see shaded areas for amendments