Laserfiche WebLink
reductions, staff suggests that a fee reduction for this project would be appropriate. The <br /> degree of reduction is at the discretion of the Council. The PMC is clear in its intent to <br /> provide flexibility to reduce fees for exactly this type of circumstance, and staff believes <br /> a reduction is warranted, even if not at the rate requested by the applicant. <br /> Option 1 would not grant any reduction of the Affordable Housing Fee, which would <br /> require payment of the entire amount, $2,156,893. Although this would generate the <br /> largest contribution to the City's Affordable Housing fund, it would be significantly <br /> disproportionate to the actual degree of impact associated with the project. As noted <br /> above, staff believes a reduction is warranted. <br /> Further, while not a factor the City Council is required to consider, the applicant has <br /> indicated that payment of the full fee amount would render this project financially <br /> infeasible. If the project did not move forward, it would not only not contribute any <br /> additional impact fees, but it would not bring the benefit of the proposed investment and <br /> upgrade to the site as described in Attachment 4. <br /> Option 2 outlined by staff aligns with past approvals. While staff cannot affirm the <br /> methodology from 1997 and 2002 nor why 77-78 percent reductions for the storage <br /> portions of the project were approved, it is assumed some analysis was conducted to <br /> support the proposal. The precedents may therefore provide a basis for a similar <br /> reduction in fees. However, it would likely reflect a smaller reduction than may be <br /> warranted based on actual employee generation. <br /> Option 3 reflects the applicant's request and would approve a fee reduction of 98.8 <br /> percent for the entire project, inclusive of both the storage and office components. <br /> (Note, the applicant's request did not reflect the manager's unit, so no adjustment has <br /> been made for this component) <br /> Option 4 as noted, represents a hybrid approach. This would include no fee reduction <br /> for the office portion of the project, only for the storage element. Staff recommends no <br /> fee is charged for the actual unit provided on-site. The office portion of the project <br /> generates employees and creates a need for affordable housing. No fee reduction for <br /> the office is also consistent with past Affordable Housing Fee reduction approvals. <br /> Option 4 does, however, support a fee reduction of 98.8 percent for the storage portion <br /> of the project only (consistent with that requested by the applicant), and in alignment <br /> with the actual impact/generation of employees (i.e., 1.2 percent of that assumed in the <br /> EPS study). <br /> Option 5 aligns with the SANDAG-developed employee generation ratio that is widely <br /> used by other cities and public agencies in developing studies for calculation of impact <br /> fees and evaluating project impacts, for the storage component, and retains the office <br /> component at 100 percent of the standard fee rate. Although assuming a somewhat <br /> higher employee generation rate than stated by the applicant, the reduction would <br /> nonetheless be in alignment with commonly used methodologies and assumptions used <br /> Page 16 of 18 <br />