| | Published January 25th, 2017
| Outrage over Waiver of Lafayette Development Fee
| | | By Nick Marnell | | |
New Lafayette council members Cameron Burks and Ivor Samson voted against waiving a portion of the city's local transportation development fee for the Lennar Corporation, citing the appearance of a quid pro quo, a lack of transparency and lost revenue for future city transportation projects.
Transportation development fees are negotiated with developers and are used to defray transportation-related costs inherent with a new project, such as the expense of road widening or erecting a traffic signal. These fees are normally negotiated in advance but this time the $132,000 transportation fee credit proposed by the city was not. "Lennar is considered anomalous in this case," transportation planner James Hinkamp wrote in his report for the Jan. 9 council meeting. City Manager Steve Falk outlined how the development negotiations deviated from the norm.
Lennar, a Miami-based homebuilder, plans to construct on the western end of Lafayette a mixed-use development that includes 66 residential units, 10 of which Lennar will offer at below-market rates. Initially, Falk said, an agreed-upon access to the project was opposed by the neighbors and rather than litigate, Lennar chose to cooperate, moving the entrance to a new location. The city did not approve the location and Lennar proposed another entrance, which produced more negotiations with those neighbors. Then the city demanded a traffic signal, opposed by a nearby property owner, resulting in another year of negotiation. "The most expensive alternative worked best for the city," Falk said. "We think this refund is due and warranted."
The argument did not convince Burks. "What is our message?" he said. "If you provide a certain number of low-priced housing units, you qualify for a transportation fee credit?"
Samson objected on behalf of Lafayette voters, who rejected a proposed citywide sales tax increase in November. "Now we're walking away from $132,000 that could have been used for transportation improvements," he said. "We have to hold ourselves accountable."
Samson and Burks voted against granting the waiver. "This process was not transparent and may result in delaying our transportation projects," Burks said. "I'm not comfortable telling the public that I voted tonight to take money out of their pocket."
Other council members insisted that the city was not treating Lennar any differently than it does other developers, though they agreed the fee waiver should have been negotiated in advance.
The council passed the motion 3 to 2 to waive the $132,000 portion of the transportation development fee, but Mayor Mike Anderson made clear his unhappiness with the process. He admonished the city staff to wrap up development negotiations earlier and not tack on surprises at the end.
"We've got to do a better job of clarifying what we're doing, and do it at the right time," Anderson said. "This was not our best moment."
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA