HomeMy WebLinkAboutPERMIT FEE WAIVER FOR THE REMODELING OF OLDER HOMES - H-ITEM0
Aa CITY OF HUNTINGTON BEACH
City Council Interoffice Communication
To: Honorable Mayor and City Council bers
From: Joe Carchio, City Council Member
Date: August 8, 2007
Subject: H-ITEM FOR AUGUST 20, 2007, CITY COUNCIL MEETING —
PERMIT FEE WAIVER FOR THE REMODELING OF OLDER
HOMES
STATEMENT OF ISSUE:
After staff presented the Fee Waiver Study Session on July 2, 2007, 1 could see that a
program would gain more support if we focused on older homes. This would help
assure that the program would target homes that would benefit from improvement.
Further, it is my belief that this would be positive for our city by encouraging further
investment in our community.
After working with staff, I chose to concentrate on homes that were originally built prior
to 1987. 1 came to this conclusion for two reasons: first, all the homes would be at least
20 years old; and second, all homes built since 1987 are in the city's permit data base
and staff could administer the program without doing substantial research. Next,
thought it is more appropriate to target the smaller homes so we are not subsidizing
mansions. In order to accomplish this, I am proposing that we limit additions to no more
than 50% of the square footage of the existing residence and the total square footage
after the addition may not exceed 2,500 square feet.
To summarize, the following would be the minimum standards that Building and Safety
staff would use to determine what projects qualify for the permit fee waiver program:
• All residential remodeling permits that include a building permit for homes built
prior to 1987.
• All residential addition permits for homes built prior to 1987 that further meet the
following criteria:
o Addition cannot be larger than 50% of the existing square footage.
o Total square footage of the home after the addition can not exceed 2,500
square feet.
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H-Item — Permit Fee Waiver for the Remodeling of Older Homes
Page 2
August 8, 2007
Using the minimum standards, staff developed the following estimates of the fees that
would be waived. Staff analyzed the addition and remodel activity starting with
December, 2006, for a three-month period. The numbers have been modified to reflect
staffs projection of typical permit activity and the anticipated increase in activity due to
such a program. This information is summarized as follows:
3 Months
City Permit Fees for Additions $ 81,152
City Permit Fees for Remodels 38,459
Total $119,611
RECOMMENED ACTION:
Direct staff to prepare a resolution that waives permit fees for a period of three months
that would include building plan review, planning plan review, building inspection, fire
plan review and processing, for residential additions and remodels that meet the above
criteria. Further the program needs to be advertised so the community has the
opportunity to take advantage of the program. In general it is the intent to have the
program occur during the slower winter months so that existing staff will be able to
adequately provide service for the anticipated increase in permit activity.
xc: Penny Culbreth-Graft, City Administrator
Paul Emery, Deputy City Administrator
Bob Hall, Deputy City Administrator
Joan" Flynn, City Clerk
Ross Cranmer, Director of Building and Safety