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Supervisors approve increase in fire
mitigation fees
By Christy Scott
The Alpine Sun
SAN DIEGO — The San Diego County Board
of Supervisors voted 5-0 March 21 to approve an increase in fire
mitigation fees paid by developers to fund the cost of fire
department facilities serving new developments.
The fee for non-agricultural construction is raised
from 42 cents per square foot of building floor area to 46 cents
per square foot. The 8.32 percent increase rounded to the
nearest cent equates to an additional $80 for a 2,000 square
foot structure, for which the amount would be raised from $840
to $920.
The new fees will take effect at the July 1 beginning
of the 2007-08 fiscal year. A first reading and introduction of
the ordinance was approved by the Board of Supervisors on March
21, and the ordinance will return for a second reading and
adoption April 18. The supervisors’ March 21 action also
accepted the Fire Mitigation Fee Review Committee’s annual
report and found that the 26 participating fire agencies were in
conformance with the County Fire Mitigation Fee Ordinance for
Fiscal Year 2005-06.
The county established the Fire Mitigation Fee Program
in 1986 to provide funding for fire protection and emergency
medical services in the unincorporated communities. Although
local fire agencies lack the legal authority to impose
mitigation fees on new development, the county collects a fee
from building permit applicants on behalf of 20 independent fire
protection districts and six County Service Areas with fire
protection responsibility.
The mitigation fees are distributed quarterly to agency
accounts and must be used for capital projects or to purchase
firefighting equipment or supplies which will serve new
developments. Volunteer fire departments which are not legal
special districts do not participate in the Fire Mitigation Fee
Program.
The Fire Mitigation Fee Review Committee reviews the
annual reports of the participating agencies to confirm that the
improvements are necessary to serve new development.
The committee members consist of two fire chiefs
(currently Bill Metcalf of the North County Fire Protection
District and Mark Baker of the Lakeside Fire Protection
District), one elected director of a fire protection district
(currently Larry Jackman of the San Miguel Consolidated Fire
Protection District).
One representative apiece from the Building Industry
Association (currently Jerry Livingston), the San Diego County
Farm Bureau (currently Scott Lenz), the county’s Planning
Commission (currently David Kreitzer), the Special Districts
section of the county’s Department of Public Works (currently
Leslie Seifert), and the county’s Department of Planning and
Land Use (currently fire services coordinator Ralph Steinhoff).
The County Fire Mitigation Fee Ordinance allows fee
ceilings to be increased or decreased in proportion to changes
in the Cost of Construction Index.
The ordinance also requires an evaluation of the base
fee every five years based upon dividing the average cost in
current dollars to construct a fully-equipped fire station
within the county’s unincorporated area by the average square
footage of structures served by that average fire station. That
result becomes the new base fee, last adjusted in 2006.
The annual adjustment increases the cost of
agricultural buildings from 11 cents to 12 cents per square
foot, although the fee for agricultural buildings with fire
sprinkler systems remains at two cents per square foot and the
fee for poultry and greenhouse buildings will remain at one cent
per square foot.
The Alpine Fire Protection District received $58,804 of
Fire Mitigation Fee Program revenue in Fiscal Year 2005-06, the
San Diego Rural Fire Protection District received $146,514,
County Service 112 which serves Campo received $53,045, County
Service Area 111, which serves Boulevard received $17,782, and
the Pine Valley Fire Protection District received $5,564.
 E-mail
Christy Scott
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