SDC issue eludes many
Some residents have not heard of controversial subject
By Katie Pizza
Argus Observer
Sunday, June 8, 2008 2:31 AM PDT
Ontario - Though system development charges have remained an issue of debate at Ontario City Hall and public work committee meetings, an informal survey of residents found a majority of local business patrons did not know what SDCs were.
“Isn’t it some kind of disease?” one woman responded.
Another person asked said he did not know but was curious to learn more.
“I don’t know,” Ontario resident Larry Nees said. “What are they?”
SDCs are fees issued to new developments in order to help pay for transportation, sewer and water capital improvement needs created by their addition.
The newly-formed SDC ordinance was approved on Monday following a public hearing on the issue. One point of discussion brought up in the debate stemmed around the amount of SDCs new developments will pay under the plan.
“Instead of current residents paying for new growth, new growth should pay for itself,” Concerned Citizens of Ontario member Cathy Wiegand said.
She said the proposal by the Public Works Committee will not cover the full cost of growth, leaving current residents to foot the bill.
At the hearing, Wiegand spoke about various portions of the document that could be changed in order to keep fee payments flowing from developers’ wallets. However, the discussion of how much developers should have to pay will wait until the next public hearing, as officials wade through the legality of questions brought up at Monday’s hearing.
Concerned Citizens of Ontario member Gary Fugate said he spoke to people who were aware of SDCs but didn’t fully understand Utility Capitalization Fees (UCFs). A 17 percent UCF is currently placed on water bills to fund future residential water and sewer projects. At a public hearing Monday, Councilman Dan Cummings said the council plans to faze out UCFs in the future, but the funds are currently slated to fund future expansion projects.
“They didn’t fully understand what it meant,” Fugate said of the public’s knowledge of UCFs. “I don’t think they made the connection.”
However, Fugate said that does not always need to be the case, and the Concerned Citizens of Ontario group seeks to inform the public.
“It’s an education process to make sure everyone understands what they are,” he said.
Joe wrote on Jun 12, 2008 1:05 PM: