Development Impact Fees
Overview
In 1989, the California State Legislature passed the Mitigation Fee Act which added Section 66000 et seq. to the California Government Code, authorizing cities to impose development impact fees to mitigate the impacts that development projects may have upon the City’s ability to provide public facilities and affordable housing.
Pursuant to the Mitigation Fee Act, the City of Emeryville has adopted three development impact fees:
- Transportation Facility Impact Fee
- Park and Recreation Facility Impact Fee
- Affordable Housing Impact Fee
The current amount of the development impact fees can be found here. Fee charts for previous years can be found here.
Nexus Studies
For each impact fee, the Mitigation Fee Act requires that the City prepare a “nexus study”, which establishes the existence of a reasonable relationship between the need for the public facilities and the impacts of the types of development described in the study for which the impact fee is charged, and that there is a reasonable relationship between the fee’s use and the type of development for which the fee is charged. The City of Emeryville has prepared four nexus studies related to its three impact fees (two were prepared for the Affordable Housing Impact Fee, one for residential development and one for non-residential development):
- Transportation Facility Impact Fee Study
- Park and Recreation Facility Impact Fee Study
- Affordable Housing Residential Impact Fee
- Affordable Housing Non-Residential Impact Fee
Ordinances and Resolutions
Two ordinances were passed on July 15, 2014 establishing the development impact fees. Ordinance No. 14-008 added Article 19 of Chapter 5 of Title 9 to the Emeryville Municipal Code, entitled “Development Impact Fees”, establishing the authority for the City to impose fees on development projects related to public facilities, including transportation facilities and parks and recreation facilities.
Ordinance No. 14-009 amended Article 4 of Chapter 5 of Title 9 of the Emeryville Municipal Code, “Affordable Housing Program” establishing the authority for the City to impose fees on new rental residential projects and new nonresidential projects to mitigate the projects’ impacts on the need for affordable housing in the city. Further background information can be found in the staff report for the two ordinances here.
Three related resolutions were also passed on July 15, 2014, one for each development impact fee, which approved and adopted the related nexus study and established the amount of each fee and the projects for which the fee was to be used. They also stipulated that, for each year in which the fees are not otherwise adjusted, the fee amounts shall be adjusted once as of July 1st based on the percentage increase in the Engineering News-Record Construction Cost Index for San Francisco, California. Further background information can be found in the staff report for the three resolutions here.
- Resolution No. 14-105 Transportation Facility Impact Fees
- Resolution No. 14-104 Park and Recreation Facility Impact Fees
- Resolution No. 14-103 Affordable Housing Impact Fees
Annual Fee Updates
As authorized by the resolutions establishing the development impact fees, the City Council has updated the impact fees each year. In addition, on October 20, 2015, the City Council increased the Affordable Housing Impact Fee to $28,000 per unit, effective December 19, 2015. Please click the links below to see the staff report, resolution, and fee chart for the most recent fee update, and those for prior years.
Annual Reports
As required by the Mitigation Fee Act, within 180 days after the last day of each fiscal year, the City makes available to the public an annual report on the development impact fees. Please click the links below to see the most recent report, and the reports for prior years.