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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999-11-02 - AGENDA REPORTS - TRANSIT IMPACT FEE UPDATE (2)CITY OF SANTA CLARITA INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor Darcy and Councilmembers FROM: George A. Caravalho, City Manager DATE: November 2, 1999 SUBJECT: TRANSIT IMPACT FEE UPDATE RECOMMENDED ACTION City Council review and comment on the proposed Transit Impact Fee revision. BACKGROUND The Transit Division is in the process of updating the Interim Transit Impact Fee, which was adopted by the City Council in 1991. The existing fee applies only to residential development within City boundaries and charges $200 per single-family or multiple -family dwelling unit. 1. Methodology The proposed Transit Impact Fee would apply to residential, commercial, and industrial development in both the City of Santa Clarita and the surrounding County of Los Angeles unincorporated area. Similar to the Bridge and Thoroughfare District Fees, Transit Impact Fees for the different land use categories are linked to each land use's average trip generation rate. The trip generation and anticipated new development information on which the fee is based was derived from the Santa Clarita Valley Consolidated Traffic Model (Interim Year). Like the Bridge and Thoroughfare District Fees, the Transit Impact Fee estimates the transit capital costs associated with providing transit services to new development for the next ten years, and then divides that cost by the number of factored development units anticipated over that same period. The estimated transit capital costs are comprised of items identified in Santa Clarita Transit's long-range planning document, the Transportation Development Plan, including expansion bus purchases, a share of the Transit Maintenance Facility, bus benches, bus shelters, park and ride facilities, and other auxiliary transit capital. Preliminary calculations indicate that the Transit Impact Fee for a single-family dwelling unit would be approximately $1,400. Condominiums, townhouses, and mobile homes would be charged approximately $1,120 per unit and apartment projects would be charged $980 per unit. The fee rate for commercial projects would be $700 per thousand square feet of building area while industrial projects would pay $112 per thousand square feet of building area. As with the Bridge and Thoroughfare Fees, developers may elect to construct District improvements for credit toward their Transit Impact Fee obligation. TRANSIT IMPACT FEE UPDATE November 2, 1999 — Page 2 2. District Boundaries The County of Los Angeles contracts with the City of Santa Clarita to provide transit service to unincorporated areas of the Santa Clarita Valley, including Castaic, Val Verde, and Stevenson Ranch. The County reimburses the City for transit operating costs related to the County area transit service, and has historically shared in the City's bus -related capital costs. However, the County has not adopted a Transit Impact Fee, and therefore has had no formal means of assessing the capital costs of providing transit service to the projects that actually generate the need for that service. With a City/County consolidated traffic model now in place, the City and County have the ability to more accurately predict the traffic- and transit -related improvements that will be required to accommodate new development throughout the Santa Clarita Valley. As the City updates its Interim Transit Impact Fee to reflect new information from the consolidated traffic model, an opportunity exists for the County of Los Angeles to adopt an identical fee, creating a Santa Clarita Valley Transit Impact Fee District. 3. Next Steps Following receipt of Council direction, staff will begin working with County staff to pursue adoption of the fee valleywide. As part of this process, City and County staff will pursue public input and meet with representatives of the development community. ALTERNATIVE ACTION Other action as determined by City Council. FISCAL IMPACT If the proposed fee is adopted, revenues to the City transit program will be increased substantially. With the current $200 per residential unit fee in place, the City collected $242,900 of Transit Impact Fees in Fiscal Year 1998/99. The new fee structure would increase the residential fee while creating new fees for commercial and industrial projects, which currently are not charged Transit Impact Fees. It is impossible to predict the exact level of development that will occur in Fiscal Year 1999/2000. However, for the purposes of comparison, if we assume that the same level of development that occurred in Fiscal Year 1998/99 occurs this year, the City would collect $1,358,459 with the new fee structure in place. Any fees collected by the Transit Impact Fee Assessment District will be spent on capital improvements associated with new development within District boundaries. ATTACHMENTS Executive Summary of Draft Transit Impact Fee Report GAC:NK:ss \transit\planning\[ifstses.doc DRAFT REPORT ON THE SANTA CLARITA VALLEY TRANSIT IMPACT FEE DISTRICT Executive Summary The City of Santa Clarita is in the process of revising the Transit Impact Fee structure. The current fee, which was adopted as an interim measure in 1991, is $200 per single- or multiple -family residential unit, and is charged to all residential projects within City limits. When the fee was adopted in 1991, it was recommended that, upon the availability of more sophisticated traffic modeling data, the fee be revised to more accurately reflect the growth and consequent transportation needs of the Santa Clarita Valley. Using information now available from the Santa Clarita Valley Consolidated Traffic Model, Bridge and Thoroughfare (B&T) District Fees were adopted. B&T fees charge new development for the cost of road improvements necessitated by that new development. Inherent in the traffic model is the assumption that even if all the roads in the City and County General Plans are built, fifteen percent of all trips will still need to be diverted to alternative modes (such as transit, biking, walking, and telecommuting) just to achieve passing levels of service on the roadway network. In order to accommodate future growth, a combined package of roadway and transit capital improvements is needed. The Transit Impact Fee District Report follows the methodology of the recently completed Valencia B&T District Study. First, the rate, location, and type of development predicted to occur in the Santa Clarita Valley over the next ten years was examined. Based upon these forecasts, a list of transit capital improvements needed in order to serve the new development was compiled. The transit capital improvements include bus purchases, bus stop amenities, park and ride lots, new transit centers, improvements to existing transit centers, and a share of the proposed Transit Maintenance Facility. Next, these costs were divided amongst the various land uses projected by the traffic model to be constructed in the Santa Clarita Valley over the next ten years, based upon the land use's trip generation rate. For example, preliminary calculations indicate that a single-family home, which generates ten trips per day, would pay a higher Transit Impact Fee ($1,400) than a condominium or townhome, which generates eight trips per day ($1,120), or an apartment, which generates seven trips per day ($980). Similarly, commercial projects, which generate 5 peak -hour trips per thousand square feet, would be charged $700 per thousand square feet of building area, while industrial projects, which generate 0.8 peak -hour trips per thousand square feet would be charged $112 per thousand square feet of building area. It should be noted that, as with the B&T District Fees, developers would have the option of constructing District improvements for credit against their total Transit Impact Fee obligation. Furthermore, fees collected by the District may only be spent on District improvements that benefit new development. The development projections contained in the traffic model are based on assumptions about growth in the entire Santa Clarita Valley, including both City of Santa Clarita and unincorporated County of Los Angeles jurisdictions. Furthermore, the City of Santa Clarita is the transit service provider valleywide (with reimbursement from the County for service provided to County areas). Both jurisdictions strive to continue providing a high level of transit service to complement the roadway network in newly developing areas. For these reasons, it is recommended that a uniform Transit Impact Fee structure should be adopted in both jurisdictions.