Board applies road fee to pending permits

A would-be Murphys developer may have to scale down a planned storage and office facility under a new set of road improvement fees.

The Calaveras County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to extend an interim authorization of  a fee tacked onto building permits within the area known as the Bret Harte Benefit Basin another 30 days. The new fee schedule increases the cost to residential buildings between two and 21 times the former fee level with major jumps for commercial builders as well.
   

Following the expected vote to renew the interim authorization for the fee, which takes permanent effect June 20, Board Chairman Russ Thomas polled the board on a secondary issue related to the benefit basin.

The informal “vote” clarified the board’s position on whether or not building permit applicants who submitted plans to the county prior to the initial vote April 21 to adopt the new benefit basin fees ought to be responsible for the new fees or the old one.

Supervisors Tom Tryon, Gary Tofanelli and Steve Wilensky favored applying the new fees to the pending permits while Thomas and Callaway dissented.

“It feels to me fundamentally wrong changing the rules of the game after you’ve entered the field,” Thomas said.

Only two permit applications were pending at the time of the April 21 vote, both for commercial storage or office space. Tryon, whose District 4 includes Murphys, said both applicants, Jim Heryford and Dennis Lee, were notified of the impending change to the fees at a February meeting at Ironstone Vineyards. He added that Lee, who did not appear at either board meeting discussing the matter, indicated he had no issue with the new fee, so long as his permit continued to be processed in a timely fashion.

Heryford, however, said following the meeting, that he felt no action should have come from the Ironstone meeting. He noted his proposed project came under review of the county’s Design Review Committee more than four years ago, long before a benefit basin fee spike was considered.

His fee responsibility once his permit is issued jumped from $12,492 to $94,800 with the board’s decision, he said.

As a result, “we will have to step back and re-evaluate the project,” Heryford said.

For example, converting the project to a mini-storage facility would drop the fee to $26,040, he said.

Heryford said he appreciated the support of Supervisors Thomas and Callaway and added that he hopes to sit down with Tryon, county counsel and other area developers to discuss whether an alternate, less costly, solution can still be found.

“I strongly feel that commercial is paying way more of a (fair) share” than residential within the basin, he said.