City officials in Santee are considering raising development impact fees for the first time in 19 years, with fees for some projects jumping more than 100%. The process has left some council members flustered after two meetings, with a third meeting scheduled to adopt the new fee structure in January. Fees are collected from developers of commercial, industrial and residential projects to offset the impact construction has on traffic, roads and other areas. The one-time fees are paid by developers and collected by the city when building permits are issued. In an Oct. 23 workshop with the City Council, staff members presented data from a nexus study, which identifies the fair share cost of capital infrastructure attributed to new development. Council members requested more information from staff members, and a follow-up discussion held Nov. 13 ended with officials still asking for more details for the Jan. 8 meeting. Under the new schedule, single-family residential fees would increase 36%, multi-family fees would increase 30%, commercial would increase 39%, office space would increase 126% and industrial would increase 19%. Fees since 2005 had been automatically adjusted for inflation each year, either by 2% or the previous year’s consumer price index, whichever was greater. A new state law from 2022, Assembly Bill 602, changed residential fees from a per-unit assessment to a fee based on square footage. The move was intended to make smaller homes more affordable. One council member saw the change as potentially affecting the character of the city. “We’re going to push developers to go to smaller square-foot units,” said Councilmember Rob McNelis. “It’s telling developers that the city of Santee wants more high-density, smaller square-foot units because that’s where your bang’s going to be here. It’s moving away from the single-family residents that built the city of Santee.” A staff presentation comparing different cities showed Santee’s fee were second only to Chula Vista’s for residential development. Staff members also cautioned against making too many comparisons because some cities have fewer fees and different revenue sources, so they would not be apples-to-apples. Besides the change from per-unit to square feet, developer fees also will fund fire facilities, long-range planning and program administration for the first time. McNelis also had problems with the new fees. “It makes it look like we’re just gouging left and right,” he said. At the November meeting, Councilmember Dustin Trotter expressed frustration that the staff had not returned with what he considered more information about how the fees are calculated. “I’m going to be a little blunt here,” he said. “It feels like we are very ill-prepared to be here today or for this.” City Manager Marlene Best said some of the fee information he had requested already was in a staff report, but a further breakdown of the mechanism behind the fee structures would take a couple of months and require hiring an outside consultant. Trotter later said he apologized if his request was unclear at the previous meeting. Mayor John Minto said the council was conflicted because they are conservative and do not want to add fees, and Councilmember Laura Koval said she believed the city’s approach remains conservative, and does not involve unnecessary cost to developers. Councilmember Ronn Hall said his concern was that the city break even with the fees, meaning they cover the cost of new infrastructure. McNelis was concerned the fees add to the cost of homes that already are out of reach for many people. “A 36% increase in the single family detached house, if you’re looking at 22,000 square feet, it’s an almost $16,000 increase to the buyer when it’s already exceptionally difficult for a buyer to get into a home,” he said. “We’re not moving the ball closer to the goal. We’re moving it away from them.” He also was shocked at the increase for office space. “Holy cow, a 126% increase,” McNelis said.”I guess we’ve been that far off on our numbers for this long?”