Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Suspension of Development Fees Considered in Chula Vista

An ordinance to suspend development-impact fees in redevelopment-project areas for a period of five years was before the Chula Vista City Council on Tuesday, January 11. Impact fees, often paid by the new developer, assist with infrastructure needs created by the project. At issue was whether the suspension should apply to both residential and retail impact fees.

Many residents and entrepreneurs spoke in favor of the full suspension, emphasizing the need for retail revenues and the need for creating incentives for business.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Mayor Cheryl Cox and councilmember Pamela Bensoussan also favored suspending both fees. Bensoussan worried that Chula Vista had priced itself out of the market. She referred to a consultant study that showed “We’re more expensive in our residential component [fees] than Del Mar; we’re right up there with the most expensive city in the county.”

However, newly elected councilmember Patricia Aguilar said she could not support the suspension of retail impact fees. Aguilar asked, “Is it a good thing to use taxpayer money to subsidize private development?” If impact fees are suspended, redevelopment-tax-increment monies are used for infrastructure. She argued that tax-increment money comes from property tax.

Assistant city manager Gary Halpert responded, “It’s not a subsidy because the reality is you don’t have to build the infrastructure at all.”

Aguilar pointed out that tables in the same consultant study referred to by Bensoussan showed that Chula Vista’s retail impact fees are comparable to county averages. She also said Chula Vista’s west side, the redevelopment area in question, already had a glut of retail space.

After the proposed ordinance went down to a defeat, the council passed a substitute ordinance that suspends the collection of fees charged for market-rate residential, excluding the bayfront area — but not retail. However, the ordinance did suspend fees for retail, office, and industrial space in the Otay Valley Road redevelopment area and suspended the fees for industrial in the southwest redevelopment area.

Aguilar also raised the larger question that is haunting California at this time: does redevelopment revenue really come back to the City over time? Cox has asked the staff to study this question.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Live Five: Songwriter Sanctuary, B-Side Players, The Crawdaddys, Saint Luna, Brawley

Reunited, in the round, and onstage in Normal Heights, East Village, Little Italy, Encinitas
Next Article

National City to junk permissive land-use code

Airbnb regs would be like Chula Vista's

An ordinance to suspend development-impact fees in redevelopment-project areas for a period of five years was before the Chula Vista City Council on Tuesday, January 11. Impact fees, often paid by the new developer, assist with infrastructure needs created by the project. At issue was whether the suspension should apply to both residential and retail impact fees.

Many residents and entrepreneurs spoke in favor of the full suspension, emphasizing the need for retail revenues and the need for creating incentives for business.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Mayor Cheryl Cox and councilmember Pamela Bensoussan also favored suspending both fees. Bensoussan worried that Chula Vista had priced itself out of the market. She referred to a consultant study that showed “We’re more expensive in our residential component [fees] than Del Mar; we’re right up there with the most expensive city in the county.”

However, newly elected councilmember Patricia Aguilar said she could not support the suspension of retail impact fees. Aguilar asked, “Is it a good thing to use taxpayer money to subsidize private development?” If impact fees are suspended, redevelopment-tax-increment monies are used for infrastructure. She argued that tax-increment money comes from property tax.

Assistant city manager Gary Halpert responded, “It’s not a subsidy because the reality is you don’t have to build the infrastructure at all.”

Aguilar pointed out that tables in the same consultant study referred to by Bensoussan showed that Chula Vista’s retail impact fees are comparable to county averages. She also said Chula Vista’s west side, the redevelopment area in question, already had a glut of retail space.

After the proposed ordinance went down to a defeat, the council passed a substitute ordinance that suspends the collection of fees charged for market-rate residential, excluding the bayfront area — but not retail. However, the ordinance did suspend fees for retail, office, and industrial space in the Otay Valley Road redevelopment area and suspended the fees for industrial in the southwest redevelopment area.

Aguilar also raised the larger question that is haunting California at this time: does redevelopment revenue really come back to the City over time? Cox has asked the staff to study this question.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

National City to junk permissive land-use code

Airbnb regs would be like Chula Vista's
Next Article

Gonzo Report: Bob Long played piano for Tina Turner and Ray Charles

And he got the crowd shaking at InZane Brewery
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader