New construction in the Mountain View-Los Altos High School District will carry higher school developer fees beginning in November, after the district’s board unanimously approved an increase last week.
Under the resolution, approved 5-0 at the Sept. 14 meeting, MVLA will collect $1.79 per square foot for new residential construction and 29 cents per square foot for new commercial or industrial construction. Mini-storage projects will be charged 3 cents per square foot.
The new rates take effect Nov. 13, 60 days after the board’s approval, bringing the district’s charges in line with higher limits adopted by the state earlier this year.
Developer fees are charged on certain construction projects to help school districts pay for facilities needed to accommodate growth. In California, the maximum Level I fee is adjusted every two years based on construction-cost inflation. The fees can apply to new residential construction and certain residential reconstruction, as well as new commercial and industrial development.
In January, the State Allocation Board raised that maximum to $5.38 per square foot for residential construction and 87 cents for commercial and industrial construction.
MVLA splits its share of those fees with the three K-8 districts that feed into its high schools. The feeder districts receive two-thirds of the Level I fee, while MVLA receives one-third.
Together, the districts cannot collect more than the applicable statewide Level I maximum.
The rates approved last week represent MVLA’s one-third share of those new maximums.
District staff also presented a developer fee justification study, which estimates $188.97 million in school facility modernization needs over the next 25 years for students generated by projected residential development. The study projects about 30.25 million square feet of residential construction during that period, putting the estimated facility cost at $6.25 per square foot of residential development.
The district’s study concludes that the fees are justified because new development will increase demand for school facilities. It says the money will be used for school facility reconstruction and that the fees are reasonably related to the needs created by the development on which they are charged.
Associate Superintendent Mike Mathiesen, who presented the item to the board, said the district completed the study both to document the justification for continuing to levy developer fees and to adjust its rates to the new state limits.
The item had originally been expected to come before the board earlier in the year, Mathiesen said, but the district needed more time to complete the study and meet a legal requirement to publish notice in local newspapers.
The board had no questions or comments before unanimously approving the resolution.
