The council hears updates on the budget, as well as reports on new building fees, Sebastopol's Active Transportation Plan and EIFDs. It also transferred two city programs to Gravenstein Health Action
I did some independent calculations using the Santa Rosa Fee Schedule and got some rough comparative numbers using the sample fees towards the bottom of the document. The building permit fees for Santa Rosa look to be about $5,518, while the impact fees look to be about $51,701 (for a single family 1700 square foot home).
This means that building permits in Santa Rosa are 38% as costly as in Sebastopol, and impact fees are 157% higher. No wonder you see higher density construction in Santa Rosa; it's pretty cheap and easy to get permitted for construction, but costly to get each individual building hooked up and inspected. You really benefit from scaling up how many units are in each building.
Some time between 2010 and 2015, the then City Manager Jack Griffin, and city staff did an informal feasibility
of the Apple Blossom Trail proposal, assessing the cost or right of way acquisition from private properties, design and construction requirements; also considering the likely willingness of property owners to grand right of way, engineering concerns (trail route, grading requirements, width of right of way, proximity to existing homes, trees, creeks and other structures and etc). The upshot was that IF all the property owners granted right of way, construction of this segment would be prohibitively expensive. The staff met with the proposer of the trail, and informed the council of the results. The decision was made at that time, to include existing bike paths and on-street connectors in the Bike Plan., in order provide the ‘East west cross town connection’.
>"One significant thing—he said the city was budgeting that the Measure U sales tax would be based on a quarter-cent sales tax increase instead of the full half-cent, based on the state sales tax cap. This means the city is projecting it will bring in only $750,000, instead of the hoped-for $1.5 million."
Can someone explain how the state sales tax cap works to me? Was this outcome unexpected somehow?
I did some independent calculations using the Santa Rosa Fee Schedule and got some rough comparative numbers using the sample fees towards the bottom of the document. The building permit fees for Santa Rosa look to be about $5,518, while the impact fees look to be about $51,701 (for a single family 1700 square foot home).
This means that building permits in Santa Rosa are 38% as costly as in Sebastopol, and impact fees are 157% higher. No wonder you see higher density construction in Santa Rosa; it's pretty cheap and easy to get permitted for construction, but costly to get each individual building hooked up and inspected. You really benefit from scaling up how many units are in each building.
https://www.srcity.org/DocumentCenter/View/16129/Planning--Economic-Development-Department-Fee-Schedule?bidId=
Some time between 2010 and 2015, the then City Manager Jack Griffin, and city staff did an informal feasibility
of the Apple Blossom Trail proposal, assessing the cost or right of way acquisition from private properties, design and construction requirements; also considering the likely willingness of property owners to grand right of way, engineering concerns (trail route, grading requirements, width of right of way, proximity to existing homes, trees, creeks and other structures and etc). The upshot was that IF all the property owners granted right of way, construction of this segment would be prohibitively expensive. The staff met with the proposer of the trail, and informed the council of the results. The decision was made at that time, to include existing bike paths and on-street connectors in the Bike Plan., in order provide the ‘East west cross town connection’.
These permitting fees seem ludicrous; shouldn't the city be taxing land instead of development?
No wonder we've only got 2 houses/year being built. What are the numbers for a comparable housing project in Santa Rosa and Petaluma?
>"One significant thing—he said the city was budgeting that the Measure U sales tax would be based on a quarter-cent sales tax increase instead of the full half-cent, based on the state sales tax cap. This means the city is projecting it will bring in only $750,000, instead of the hoped-for $1.5 million."
Can someone explain how the state sales tax cap works to me? Was this outcome unexpected somehow?
Hi Evan - See explanation here: https://www.sebastopoltimes.com/p/roundup-adding-up-measures-i-and