Higher developers fees will mean more parks

Paul Clinton

To help pay for the high cost of maintaining and adding to Surf City’s

playgrounds and parks, the City Council raised park fees charged to

developers.

The fees, known as “in lieu” because many home builders don’t offer up

park land, will now be based on the assessed value of a parcel instead of

a flat fee. Wealthier landowners, under the new plan, would end up paying

more.

The council’s approval of the fees came on the heels of a full-scale

assessment of the conditions of the parks, fields and recreational areas

in the city.

That study, presented by a consultant, pinpointed 27 projects that

would either add new parks or refurbish existing ones in the city. The

projects would all be launched between now and 2010.

Costs associated with the projects were estimated at $102.8 million, a figure that includes the purchasing of four new parcels for the

development of parks.

Councilman Ralph Bauer lobbied hard for the increased fees as a way to

meet that burden. Bauer, recounting a City Council meeting 40 years ago

in which the same topic was discussed, said the fee hike should not be

put off any longer.

The fee increase passed after two council members tried to pass an

alternative plan that would have eased the cost to wealthier developers.

“To water this thing down is to do what we’ve done over the last 40

years,” Bauer said. “We’ve got to have parks.”

Four other council members joined Bauer in supporting the move. Mayor

Debbie Cook and Councilwoman Pam Julien Houchen voted against the plan.

Cook and Houchen backed a slightly different formula that would have

determined the fee based on an average of property prices in the city.

“This is the fairest way to deal with this issue,” Councilwoman

Shirley Dettloff said about the new fees.

The city currently has a deficit of 48.3 acres of park land, according

to the survey, which was completed by Tom Tucker of Pulse Marketing.

To remedy the situation, Tucker advised the city to purchase park land

owned by Southern California Edison, two closed school sites and the

“Encyclopedia lots” in Central Park.