Council to consider $1,200 development fee

The Porterville City Council on Tuesday will consider tacking a $1,200 fee to development agreements — contracts that specify the standards and conditions that will determine the development of a piece of property.

According to a staff report in Tuesday’s agenda, the city is currently in the process of reviewing a project where such a development agreement will be used. The report states that as community development staff moved forward with the application, it became apparent that the fee for the development agreement had not yet been adopted. After completing an assessment of the time involved in preparing a typical development agreement, staff estimated a proposed $1,211.19 fee based on staff hours required.

The fee would cover personnel costs for compensation of the city’s associate planner, community development manager, community development director, city engineer, secretary and city attorney.

Porterville City Manager John Lollis said such developer agreements are generally for large-scale projects that are phased, such as the Riverwalk Marketplace project, which involved two phases. The agreement’s purpose is to assure an applicant of a project that when their project is approved, the applicant has certain rights in return for the additional conditions required by the city for the project.

Lollis said that it is in the developer’s interest to have that entitlement.

“It’s a new fee, but it’s necessary,” Lollis said.

Also on Tuesday, the council will:

• conduct a public hearing on the approval of a General Plan amendment, zone change and conditional-use permit for the development of a roughly 1.80-acre site for a new 14,550-square-foot Walgreens Pharmacy on the northeast corner of Henderson Avenue and Prospect Street;

• consider the adoption of the draft 2012 Short-Range Transit Plan and schedule a public hearing to address any changes to transit service levels or fares;

• consider creating a city banner program to honor local military veterans;

• consider eliminating the use of city funds to attend local community events.

The council will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, in the council chambers at City Hall, 291 N. Main St.

To view Tuesday’s agenda in its entirety, visit http://www.ci.porterville.ca.us/govt/CityCouncil/Agendas/.