Carson launches comprehensive development fee study to fund infrastructure and affordable housing

City of Carson staff and outside consultants on a public virtual meeting outlined a comprehensive community development fee study that will reassess the city’s interim development impact fees, create a citywide community benefits program, and draft an inclusionary housing ordinance and commercial/industrial linkage fee to support affordable housing and infrastructure funding.

The study’s stated goal is to align developer contributions with projected growth under the Carson 2040 General Plan, meet legal requirements such as the California Mitigation Fee Act, and support the city’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) and housing-element goals, city staff said.

Consultants and staff described three core pieces of the study. Thomas Gonzales, vice president at EPS, framed development impact fees (DIFs) as a legal mechanism that charges new development for capital facilities needed to serve new residents and workers: “development impact fees or diffs are like a specific term within California law,” Gonzales said. He said those fees may fund capital projects — for example parks, roads and sewer capacity or vehicles and equipment that expand service capacity — but may not be used to remedy existing service shortfalls or to fund ongoing operations such as salaries.

Gonzales and James Wynne, Special Projects Manager in the Community Development Department, said Carson currently has an interim DIF…