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CACC Meeting Report
New Development Impact Fees Create More
Open Space for the Future College Area
May 13 was a big day for the College Area.
On that day, our new Public Facilities Financing
Plan (PFFP) went into effect. The
College Area PFFP had not been updated for
20 years, and was well overdue for another
look. After six months of work and analysis,
on the part of the College Area Community
Planning Board and City staff, the City
Council approved the new PFFP on March
13, 2014, It went into effect 60 days later.
With the new plan now in place, the Development
Impact Fee (DIF) for the College
Area increases from $2,586 per new residential
unit built to $13,180 per unit.
New commercial/industrial development will be assessed at $268 per average daily trip generated, and $476 per 1,000 square feet. Most of the increase in the College Area residential DIF ($10,100) can be attributed to the extreme deficit of parks and open space in the College Area. The City's general plan sets a standard of 2.8 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents, so the College Area should have about 48 acres of parks. Currently, we have only one small pocket park (Montezuma), and two joint use parks (Hardy and Language Academy), and the joint use parks are not accessible to the public during school hours. Together, these parks comprise less than five acres to serve a neighborhood projected by SANDAG to consist of 11,171 housing units at full development. When it is considered that most of the new housing units are projected to be multi-family, with a high density of occupants and no significant open space, the need becomes apparent. Despite thousands of new multi-family units built in the College Area over the last few years, we have less than $300,000 in our Development Impact Fund with which to acquire property for parkland, due to the very low DIF which had been assessed until May 13. Hopefully, the new DIF rate will allow us to accumulate funds for parks and other needed improvements in the College Area. Because this was only an update, and not part of a full Community Plan Amendment, we were not allowed to add to or change the projects which had been identified as needed back in 1993. But we were allowed to rank the remaining projects which had not been completed since 1993 in order of importance to the Community. For needed transportation improvements, the Board ranked the top five projects as follows: 1. El Cajon Blvd. from 54th to 58th 2. College Avenue at Montezuma and Lindo Paseo intersections 3. El Cajon Blvd. and 70th intersection 4. College Avenue and El Cajon Blvd. intersection 5. College Avenue from Lindo Paseo to Canyon Crest Drive Not included in the list of needed transportation improvements are intersections adjacent to Interstate 8, which are greatly in need of improvement, but which are controlled by the State. In terms of Parks projects, the Board's top priority was construction of Tubman Charter School Joint Use Park at 68th and Mohawk, which has been approved but not funded, and acquisition of land for more public parks. City staff also identified the need for a Recreation Center, an Aquatic Complex, and an additional Fire Station in the College Area when the neighborhood reaches full build-out. That's not expected to happen until 2050, but it's good to be prepared! | 
