Dive Summary:
- San Francisco's Planning Commission seeks to end a fee deferral program on July 1, implemented 3 years ago to boost the local construction economy, due to an increase in permit applications.
- The program was put in place to act as a stimulus to encourage new construction projects and gave developers the ability to delay payments to the city for certain projects including affordable housing, transit impact, parks and child care facilities.
- Delayed payments did effect the city reserves, as the postponed fees yielded a two year delay in payment collections, which San Francisco generally spent on construction for housing and additional improvements within the community.
From the article:
"The amount of new building permits has been rising since the second quarter of 2012 and the average number of housing units in new buildings is up by nearly 50 percent from last year."
"Former Mayor Gavin Newsom pushed for the fee deferral program in 2009, with the national economy racked by recession and the number of city building permit requests plummeting."
"Between July 1, 2010, when the deferral project began, and May 8, 2013, there were 107 San Francisco projects that were required to pay a total of $93 million in local impact fees."
