The Clarksburg Fire Protection District is a small local volunteer fire district which provides fire suppression, emergency response, medical aid and certain other first responder services within the Clarksburg town and surrounding rural and agricultural areas. On November 25, 2014, the District submitted an application to erect a steel building on property recently acquired by the District for the storage of its fire and emergency response equipment. The quarter-acre lot, which is contiguous to existing District property, was purchased solely for the purpose of building a new equipment storage barn since the current firehouse is not large enough to store the District's newer and larger equipment and the property contains an existing concrete slab foundation.
The property, like all of Clarksburg, has recently been placed within the 100-year flood plain (Flood Zone A) as mapped by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in 2010. Thus, any new construction or substantial improvements in Clarksburg require compliance with not only federal law, but with the County's Flood Protection Ordinance (Chapter 4 of Title 8 of the Yolo County Code). At the time of property acquisition, however, the District was unaware that the requirements to comply with building in the floodplain would pertain to the construction of a storage barn since it was not for residential purposes. Upon building permit submittal, representatives of the District were informed that a Major Flood Variance would need to be approved by the Planning Commission prior to issuance of any building permits. In exceptional cases, FEMA (and the County's Flood Protection Ordinance) allows for the issuance of a Flood Variance for new construction, substantial improvement, and other proposed new development that is to be erected on a lot of one-half (1/2) acre or less in size contiguous to and surrounded by lots with existing structures constructed below the base flood level.
Due to the District's limited resources and financial means that are primarily dedicated to emergency response and fire suppression, a fee waiver request is being sought for the Flood Variance deposit fee, as well as all related building permit fees, so as not to reduce the District's ability to meet its mission of serving the Clarksburg community. The following table itemizes the fees related to the District's request, as outlined in their letter dated December 18, 2014 (Attachment A):
| DEPARTMENT |
IN/DIRECT COST |
DESCRIPTION |
AMOUNT |
| Planning Division |
direct fee |
Major Flood Variance |
$2,079 (deposit) |
| Planning Division |
indirect fee |
Planning Technology Fee |
$124.74 |
| State of California |
mandated fee (paid) |
Seismic Fee |
$100.03 |
| State of California |
mandated fee |
Building Standard Fee |
$15.00 |
| Building Division |
direct fee |
Permit Issuance |
$40.00 |
| Building Division |
direct fee |
Electrical |
$339.08 |
| Building Division |
direct fee |
Plan Review |
$1,763.22 |
| Building Division |
direct fee |
Building |
$2,712.64 |
| Building Division |
indirect fee |
Submittal Technology Fee |
$109.79 |
| Building Division |
indirect fee |
Issuance Technology Fee |
$185.50 |
| Environmental Health Division |
direct fee (paid) |
Building Permit Fee |
$167.00 |
| Planning Division |
direct fee (paid) |
Building Permit Fee |
$154.00 |
| Planning Division |
indirect fee |
Planning Technology Fee |
$9.24 |
| Planning Division |
indirect fee |
General Plan Cost Recovery Fee |
$305.17 |
| Subtotal of direct fees |
direct fees |
|
$7,254.94 |
| Subtotal of indirect fees |
indirect fees |
|
$734.44 |
| Subtotal of State fees |
mandated fees |
not subject to waiver |
$115.03 |
| Total |
|
|
$8,104.41 |
| Less Fees already paid |
|
|
<$421.03> |
| Less State mandated fees not yet paid |
|
Building Standard Fee |
<$15.00> |
| Total Fee Waiver Request |
|
|
$7,668.38 |
The Director of Planning, Public Works and Environmental Services does not have the authority to waive fees related to land use entitlements and construction projects. Such requests must be reviewed and decided upon by the Board of Supervisors in accordance with the County's Policy on Cost Recovery and Fees, adopted June 7, 2011, in the Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual. In addition, the State mandated fees, totaling $115.03, are ineligible for waiver consideration per Section C(1)(d) of the Policy on Cost Recovery and Fees. Therefore, the total amount eligible for waiver consideration is $7,989.38. However, as shown in the table, above, the District has already paid $421.03 towards the building permit fees, which consists of a State mandated fee ($100.03) and the Planning and Environmental Health Divisions review fees, both of which are direct fees.
Consistent with current County policy on addressing cost recovery and fees, the Department of Planning, Public Works and Environmental Services has evaluated the fee waiver request and submits the following findings as per Section C(3)(b) of the Policy on Cost Recovery and Fees (Attachment B):
- The total amount of the reduction requested and approved reductions in the past. The total amount of the reduction requested is $7,668.38. Staff was unable to find any past requests for a fee waiver by the Clarksburg Fire Protection District. This was confirmed by District Board Chair, Mark Pruner, and staff at the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors.
- In regard to fees related to construction projects, a finding that the waiver or reduction does not create a public work. The project is a public work by the District and is thus already subject to prevailing wage requirements and other requirements of a public work, which are solely the District's responsibility. The proposed fee waiver does not constitute a public work, nor would the County's grant of a fee waiver.
- A finding that the waiver or reduction does not create a [unconstitutional] gift of public funds. All fee waivers constitute gifts of public funds. However, the relevant issue is whether the gift of public funds is unconstitutional because it is not used for a public purpose. The fee waiver relates to the construction of a "storage barn" to house fire and emergency response equipment owned and operated by the Fire Protection District, a public agency, which will benefit residents, property owners, business operators, and visitors to the Clarksburg region.
- A finding that the fee meets at least one of the criteria listed in Section C(2)(a) of the Policy on Cost Recovery and Fees, Yolo County Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual [relating to fees for permitting costs and related factors] in regard to the payor. The fees requested for waiver meet a least one of the criteria, as they pertain to fees typically collected for reasonable regulatory costs incidental to the issuance of permits and performance of inspections. The majority of the fees listed in the table, above, reimburse staff costs directly related to the functions of reviewing and issuing permits and performing inspections. The only exceptions are the Technology Cost Recovery Fees and the General Plan Cost Recovery Fee, which are used to reimburse the Department for costs associated with the hardware and software that allow permits to be processed more efficiently and accurately and to pay for the costs of maintaining/updating the General Plan.
- A finding that describes one or more of the following:
- The payment of the fee would cause economic hardship (defined in U.S. treasury regulations as the inability to meet reasonable basic living expenses) due to the financial condition of the payor. The District has stated that, "as an organ of local government," it has limited resources and financial means that are dedicated totally to emergency response and fire suppression within the County, and that use of any funds for other purposes would serve to reduce the District's ability to meet the needs of the public it protects.
- The payor is making a net economic contribution to the County that exceeds the amount of the fee; or is providing uncompensated services to the County that are of comparable value to the fee. The District provides volunteer fire protection and medical response services within the Clarksburg town and rural agricultural areas, as well as to those visitors traveling to the area to enjoy the rural recreation opportunities, scenic values, and agri-tourism venues related to the area's unique wine appellation. As such, the Fire Protection District provides uncompensated services to the County that are of comparable value to the proposed fee waiver.
- The payor engages in activities that specifically advance the County's strategic goals. Construction of the storage barn will allow the district to increase response times to emergency situations by providing additional and future equipment necessary to stay current with improvements required for providing first-class fire and emergency response services. In this way, the District's request advances the County's Strategic Goals to "Preserve and ensure safe and crime free communities" and "Provide fiscally sound, dynamic and responsive services."
Based on the above findings, the Board of Supervisors has the discretion to waive any or all of the fees presented in the table above, with the exception of the State mandated fees. The current fiscal year budget for the Planning, Public Works and Environmental Services Department does not contemplate fee waivers and its overhead allocation is insufficient to cover the requested amount. Therefore, should the Board wish to grant the Fire Protection District the requested fee waiver, staff recommends that the Board authorize a General Fund transfer to the Department's budge in the amount of the corresponding direct costs associated with the request (up to $6,933.94). |