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Supervisors give initial approval to lower TIF rates

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By Joe Naiman

The County of San Diego’s Transportation Impact Fee rates are a second reading and adoption away from being revised to significantly lower rates.

San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to approve the introduction and first reading of the revised TIF rates on Oct. 10. The second reading and adoption is scheduled for Oct. 31.

“After seven years this is what the board and the stakeholders are looking for,” said Rich Crompton, director of the county’s Department of Public Works (DPW).

The revisions reduce TIF rates by an average of 46 percent for residential development, 75 percent for industrial buildings, and 80 percent for commercial structures.

TIF rates are applied in each community by three areas: village core, or town center; village; and non-village. In Ramona, the non-village areas are in the outskirts of town. To see a map of Ramona’s three areas, visit the county website: sdcounty.ca.gov/dpw/land/landpdf/Docs/VillageMaps.pdf.

The new TIF program provides for a 10 percent discount for projects built within a community’s village area and a 20 percent discount for projects in a village core area. The discount reflects reduced traffic in such areas due to proximity to destinations and alternative transportation.

The TIF ordinance complies with San Diego Association of Governments’ TransNet ordinance, which requires jurisdictions to collect a minimum fee for funding Regional Arterial System projects to receive TransNet funding for local streets and roads.

The travel demand unit methodology was based on trips generated per unit or 1,000 square feet, pass-by trip rates, average trip length, and floor-to-area ratio for non-residential buildings. The calculations attribute 14.4 million travel demand units to future development, including nearly 3.9 million in the east region. Because Ramona and Julian are accessed more from East County than from North County, Ramona’s 839,980 future travel demand units and Julian’s 112,762 future units are part of the east region.

The estimated $30.3 million cost of future east region facilities was derived from estimates of $19.9 million for state routes and $10.3 million for Ramona facilities.

The total TIF assessments, including the SANDAG fee, for Ramona are as follows:

Village Core Area

Single-family home: 3,306

Multi-family dwelling: $2,925 per unit

Temporary lodging: $476 per unit

Congregate care facilities: $237 per unit

Village Core, per 1,000 sq. feet

General commercial: $1,988

Furniture store: $272, General industrial: $876, Office: $1,572,

Warehouse and storage facilities: $383

Government or institutional structures: $938

Village area

Single-family homes: $3,449

Multi-family residential: $3,031 per unit

Temporary facilities: $535 per unit

Congregate care facilities: $268 per unit.

Village area, per 1,000 sq. feet

General commercial: $2,237

Furniture store: $306

General industrial: $985

Office: $1,770

Warehousing and storage: $431

Government/institutional building: $1,055

Non-village area

Single-family home: $3,592 (reduced from $11,082)

Multi-family residential: $3,116 per unit

Temporary lodging such as hotels, motels, timeshares, and agricultural labor housing: $595 per unit

Congregate care residential: $297 per unit

Non-village, per 1,000 sq. feet

General commercial: $2,485 (decreased from $17,010)

Furniture store: $340

General industrial: $1,094 (reduced from $6,294)

Office: $1,966

Warehouses and storage facilities, including horse stables, wineries, and wine tasting rooms: $479

Government or institutional buildings for which the county has land use jurisdiction (public schools, military bases, and Indian reservations are exempt from all TIF charges): $1,172

Private schools will be subject to the institutional TIF charge, although churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples are classified as general industrial.

Select Industrial Category

The select industrial category covers uses which generate trips but do not have sufficient structure square footage to cover the traffic impacts. These include quarries and other mining operations, landfills, asphalt batch plants, power generation plants, RV parks and campgrounds, recycling centers, wireless communication facilities, and fuel pumps added to an existing facility. The TIF is based on average daily trips with heavy equipment vehicle trips being converted to passenger vehicle equivalent trips. The select industrial rate in Ramona’s non-village area will be $139 per trip; in the village area, $126 per trip; and in the village core, $111 per trip.

Supervisor Dianne Jacob, whose district includes Ramona, noted the magnitude of the industrial and commercial reductions.

“That is a big deal,” she said. “This definitely is going to help people who want to put in industrial, commercial development.”

In April 2005 the county supervisors adopted a TIF ordinance in order to comply with state law and provide funding for the construction of transportation facilities needed to support the increased traffic generated by new development.

In 2008, the TIF was modified to reflect more accurate regional needs. The economic downturn had not yet started, and concerns had surfaced that businesses were locating in incorporated cities with lower impact fees.

“This was something that we had to get changed,” said Supervisor Ron Roberts. “For four years this hurt us.”

In September 2010, the county began working with a consultant on a comprehensive update. Rather than changing the methodology in 2011, the supervisors and DPW waited until the county’s updated general plan was adopted.

Developers are not required to mitigate for existing roadway deficiencies, but the TIF is intended to pay for road impacts of future development and the update of the general plan’s Circulation Element altered future road improvement costs and thus, a development’s share of the costs.

The general plan update was adopted in August 2011, and the elimination of certain widening plans reduced the costs for the future transportation road network from approximately $912 million to $353 million.

To see the list of rates, visit sdcounty.ca.gov/dpw/land/landpdf/Docs/FeeRates.pdf.

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