On Jan. 26, after several deferrals, the Santa Clara City Council directed the City Manager to establish the “Parkland Dedication In Lieu Fee Property Task Force”. BIA|Bay Area has secured a seat on the Task Force whose charge is to review and recommend revisions to Quimby and Mitigation Fee Act land value methodology. Meetings begin this week and must conclude with a report to the City Council by April 30th. A 2015 appraisal reports that land values have purportedly skyrocketed across Santa Clara to roughly $5 million per acre, equating to parks mitigation fee increases of 30 percent to 50 percent per unit. If adopted, the 2016 multi-family parks impact fee would exceed $30,000 per unit and the single-family rate would top $46,000 per house. BIA|Bay Area submitted a peer review of the appraisal showing how the City’s methodology may have overstated land value by as much at 40% and requested that the city freeze parks fees at current levels until a revised land valuation can be processed.
