Letters to the editor

Monterey County Herald
Posted on May 24, 2007

Added costs

One of the least understood parts of the LandWatch-supported initiative, Measure A, is its effect on housing prices due to a dramatic change to
the in-lieu fees for inclusionary housing.

Currently, the county charges a 20 percent fee to a developer building three or more homes in one development if those homes are at normal market
pricing. This fee is calculated on a formula based on the difference between median home sales prices and an "inclusionary" figure, taken from median income levels. The intent was to have developers pay for a portion of the affordable housing we need.

What Measure A does is increase the percentage to 30 percent and, more significantly, apply it to a single individual building one house. What was a developer fee would be an across-the-board fee for all market-rate housing in places covered by the county plan.

Here are the estimated figures that would be added to the cost to one house being built in unincorporated areas: north Salinas Valley, $35,000; North County, $43,000; Toro, $95,000; greater Monterey Peninsula, $122,000.

Ironically, the wealthiest areas — Big Sur, Del Monte Forest and Carmel — may be exempted, depending on how the initiative is interpreted by the courts. If the coastal area is not excluded, the fee there will be $438,000.

Chris Steinbruner
Salinas