Calabasas developers may face higher fees

The city of Calabasas will consider increasing its housing in-lieu fees, monies that developers pay to the city for the right to begin construction. The money goes into a Calabasas affordable housing fund.

At a recent Calabasas City Council meeting, city staff recommended the council approve an increase of its housing in-lieu fees, but the council opted to get more data from similar cities regarding their in-lieu fee programs. The issue is expected to go before the council again in June.

"The main reason I want to review the programs for cities in close geographic proximity and with similar demographics to Calabasas is to see what works or does not work," said Calabasas Mayor Pro Tem James Bozajian.

"For example, if we are the only jurisdiction that imposes high or any in-lieu fees on commercial developments, we run the risk of chasing away potentially valuable commerce to other nearby communities," Bozajian said.

The state requires cities with available land to provide at least some affordable housing. In 2000, the state gave Calabasas credit for housing that was being built in the city at the time, and therefore hasn't required further affordable housing. But the state might require the city to be responsible for other affordable housing by 2008, Calabasas City Planner Tom Bartlett said.

"We're reasonably confident that we'll have a number (of housing units to provide)," Bartlett said. "It's pretty much guesswork as to what that number might be."

In the past, city council members have expressed concern that lower-paid workers who are important to the community wouldn't be able to afford to live in the area.

Calabasas promotes development of affordable housing through a number of programs and policies. One such effort is the Inclusionary Housing Program, which requires developers of new residential housing projects of 10 or more new housing units to reserve a percentage of those units for households of low or moderate income.

If a developer is unable to provide the required affordable housing on-site then, based upon a determination by the city's community development department director, the developer may create new affordable units at another location in the city, or may pay an in-lieu fee. The council set the in-lieu fee amount at $2,900 per unit in 1999.

The in-lieu fee alternative is intended to generate revenue for the city's Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which the city can use to develop new affordable housing units. The city has about $1.5 million in that fund.

The council could raise the inlieu fee or even eliminate it.

"Assuming we impose a quota on every developer mandating that affordable/low-income housing be built, I think there would be the potential for developers to simply decline to proceed with their projects because they would be unable to adequately profit from their ventures," Bozajian said.

"If the city imposes Draconian in-lieu fees (i.e., the council opts to significantly raise fees), this course of action would have the effect of raising hous

ing prices even higher, as developers would simply pass on the costs of construction to the consumer, Bozajian said. "Instead of creating opportunities for affordable housing, the council would be pricing people out of the community."

Calabasas worries that it doesn't have much land available for additional housing.

"There are very few potential areas for residential development left in Calabasas-approximately 505 residences total in areas that will support the construction of 10 or more lots," Bozajian said.

"In other words, we are pretty well built-out. . . . My general feeling is that the state should not

impose rigid housing quotas or mandates on smaller municipalities like Calabasas. Rather, to the extent any such requirements are imposed, they should recognize that we are part of a larger metropolis and direct their mandates more flexibly toward meeting regional goals."