HomeMy WebLinkAbout4/18/2017 Item 1, Smith
Gardner, Erica
From: carolyn smith \[ ]
Sent: Monday, April 17, 2017 9:16 AM
To: E-mail Council Website <emailcouncil@slocity.org>
Subject: April 18 City Council Meeting - Agenda Item #1 - Appeal Fee Increases
Mayor Harmon and Council members:
Tier 1: Staff's report recommending an increase of the fee for Tier 1 appeals to Council
by non applicants in the amount of $623.00 (20% recovery rate), will be an
insurmountable amount for many residents to pay. A large portion of SLO residents are
on limited incomes and, while to some, $623.00 may not seem like a large amount, it
certainly is for many residents. Trying to come up with that amount of unexpected extra
funds to file an appeal, within the time period allotted, will be impossible for many
residents. Even families with both parents working will find it hard to come up with that
much extra money in one month. This will result in many residents having no ability to
participate in the part of our local government that can help them defend their homes
and families from a nearby proposed development that threatens their health, safety,
and peace. While cost recovery may be desired, that quest shouldn't result in eliminating
residents' rights to participate in our democratic government process by making it
financially unfeasible.
Therefore, I request that you choose the 10% recovery range for Tier 1 appeals for non
applicants, which still raises the current fee to $311.00--a much more affordable amount
for our working and retired families. The higher 50% recovery rate for
developers/owners for an appeal is an expense that can easily be absorbed as part of
the cost of development and not over burdensome.
TIER 2: The fee for Tier 2 non applicant appeals of Administrative Permits, such as a
High Occupancy Permit, of $346.00 (20% recovery rate) is also too high for residents to
pay. A High Occupancy permit, which can allow 6 or more college aged young adults
to rent a single-family home, can have severe detrimental effects to neighboring homes
with regard to noise, traffic, and parking. Forcing neighboring residents to pay a fee of
$346.00 to try to protect and defend the peace and safety of their home is too
burdensome. A fee of $173.00 (10% recovery rate) will be more reasonable and allows
residents to have a genuine opportunity to protect the quality of life in their own
neighborhood. The higher recovery fee for applicants can be recovered by future rent.
If you agree with staff's recommendation of increasing Tier 1 and Tier 2 non applicant
appeal fees to the 20% recovery amounts, you will be silencing a significant portion of
your constituents' voices and denying them their right to protect their homes. This is
particularly contrary to the continual encouragement by our Council that residents be
engaged, involved, and let their voices be heard. If you truly want to be inclusive and
genuinely supportive of resident participation, implementing hopelessly high appeal fees
will certainly not further that end. It will have the opposite chilling effect of shutting
residents out of our city government process.
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Thank you for your consideration.
Carolyn Smith
SLO Resident
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