Fee foes win another delay
| Thursday, Jun 04 2009 06:10 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Jun 04 2009 06:10 PM
Once-friendly titans seem destined to clash over a potentially dull item: impact fees.
Call it developers vs. the legacy of Bill Thomas.
Here's how it's playing out.
Before leaving office, Bakersfield's retired congressman secured $630 million in federal highway funds for Bakersfield road projects.
One snag: The city needs to come up with partial matching funds. Voters here nixed a sales tax that would have done that. So the city (and county) had to look elsewhere for revenue sources.
Can you say traffic impact fee?
More than anything, the city needs a plan. The feds require a regional transportation blueprint before it will shell out the dough. The fees are essential to that plan.
But homebuilders really, really don't want fees going up -- by several thousand dollars per home -- with the economy in the tank.
Thomas' strongest proteges on the City Council -- Zack Scrivner and Ken Weir, both clients of political consultant Mark Abernathy -- were once development industry darlings.
But as they push to get fees passed in order to hold on to the Thomas money, they and the council appear to be facing steep opposition.
Homebuilders turned up in force to a committee meeting Thursday afternoon where Scrivner, Weir and Councilmember Harold Hanson were slated to approve higher fees.
Instead, Scrivner -- committee chair -- postponed the vote until mid-June.
He mentioned a public records request filed Wednesday by a lawyer for the developers' trade group, the Home Builders Association of Kern County. (The committee also met in closed session after to discuss potential litigation...hmmm.)
Scrivner said he wanted city staff to answer, in writing, questions asked at the meeting as well as detailed technical questions in the records request regarding the impact-fee fund and related projects.
Scrivner, Weir and city officials said they want the fee passed by the full city council at its June 24 meeting.
Homebuilders don't.
Stay tuned.
-- Staff writer Gretchen Wenner
