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Commissioner Nagler agreed, noting that it begs the question: does the City want to <br />charge so much for Little League that each child's fee in the aggregate would pay for <br />the lawn mowing, the planting, the short- and long -term maintenance of a field versus <br />the purpose of City service as its basis. <br />Chair Allen asked Mr. Dolan if this is an item with work already underway. <br />Mr. Dolan said yes. He noted that Chair Allen is correct in that Ms. Wagner brought <br />something to the Council in the middle of the recession, and there was not a big <br />appetite to increase development fees because economic development was not exactly <br />cruising along. He stated that Ms. Wagner, who is no longer Director of Finance, will be <br />staying on for a number of months working on special projects, and she has been very <br />recently updating what she brought to the Council and meeting with different <br />Departments on the fees they charge. He added that it will come before the Council, <br />who will have to make those tough decisions about whether to charge full weight or to <br />subsidize some others. He indicated that the Building and Safety Division pays for <br />itself, the Engineering Division does about half, and Planning fees are so low that he <br />wonders why the Division even bothers to collect any fees since it costs just as much to <br />process five cents as $500. He noted that it would probably be in Planning where there <br />will be the most dramatic increase in terms of percentage, and added that what always <br />comes into dialogue is what everyone else charges and how the City relates to its <br />competitors or neighbors. He indicated that it will come to the Council sometime this <br />summer or sooner. <br />Chair Allen noted that there is good energy and that it sounds like it would be wasting a <br />vote there too if it is already underway. She then asked Commissioners O'Connor and <br />Nagler if they believe this is an important item and would support it even if it is not on <br />the Commission's top two list. <br />Commissioner O'Connor said yes, although he admitted he was not familiar with where <br />the big dollars are. He stated that if Building and Safety is the biggest impact and the <br />City is covered there, and this is really about some of these smaller fees, he did not <br />think there was a need to break even on everything. He noted that the Commission <br />talked about this at the last meeting where some of these are a service to the <br />community, and the Commission does not want to make things so cost - prohibitive that <br />people are not able to get involved in these things. He emphasized, however, that <br />development should pay for itself, for whatever the real costs are, such as for hook -up <br />fees and sewer fees and those kinds of things. <br />Commissioner Nagler echoed that this is also his point. He stated that if this is <br />specifically about the Planning Commission's purview, then it seems reasonable that <br />that is where the biggest change is. <br />Mr. Dolan informed the Commission that the fee discussion will not come through the <br />Planning Commission even though it involves fees related to planning and <br />development. <br />PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, February 11, 2015 Page 15 of 17 <br />