San Leandro Council adopts restructured parkland dedication and park development fees, waives some fees for affordable projects

San Leandro City Council on Monday adopted an ordinance and related resolutions that restructure the city’s parkland dedication rules and residential park development impact fees and create fee waivers intended to help 100% affordable projects and accessory dwelling units.

The measure passed 5-0-2, with Councilmember Fred Simon and Vice Mayor Bowen absent. The council also directed staff to take a separate public-art program proposal to the rules committee for development and return to the full council later this year.

The ordinance changes how the city calculates park fees to comply with recent state guidance, shifting from a per‑unit flat fee to square‑footage ranges so small units pay less and large units pay more. City staff said the revised structure will put 75% of new fee revenue toward improving existing parks rather than primarily acquiring new land.

“The goal is to balance the infrastructure funding while remaining competitive for new development,” Assistant Community Development Director Avalon Schultz told the council. Schultz said consultants designed the new fees to be “legally defensible” and to align with Assembly Bill 602’s direction to use square‑foot‑based calculations.

The council heard a market feasibility presentation from Will Soholt of Cosmont, who advised that developers weigh many factors when deciding to build, including rents, construction costs, interest rates and entitlement certainty. “Developers, of course, are in the business of making a profit. They take a lot of risk,” Soholt said, urging flexibility and clear, predictable processes that do not add undue cost in a difficult financing environment.

Schultz said the city ran sample pipeline projects through the new fee schedule and that, for projects consisting largely of studio units, the proposed fees would fall substantially compared with the current per‑unit charges. The ordinance includes a fee waiver program that would provide a 50% discount on the park fees for affordable units in inclusionary projects and full waivers for some ADUs.

Members of the public and the Arts, Culture and Library Commission urged the council to adopt a public‑art requirement for new development. “Art is about building community and civic pride,” Brody Scotland, chair of the Arts Commission, said during public comment. Councilmembers agreed that an art requirement should be developed separately as a program and sent to the rules committee for specifics and community input.

The councilor vote came after extended discussion about balancing the city’s desire to fund park improvements, the competitiveness of San Leandro’s fee schedule for attracting housing investment, and the practical limits of impact fees when many entitled projects remain on hold because of macroeconomic financing conditions.

The ordinance and resolutions approved by the council direct staff to implement the new fee schedule, adopt the parks capital improvement plan included with the staff packet, and administer the fee waiver program for ADUs and affordable units. Staff said the changes will apply to projects that have not yet pulled building permits; entitled projects that have obtained building permits will not be retroactively charged.

Councilmembers asked staff to return with more detail on revenue projections and the timeline for rules‑committee work on a public‑art program. The council indicated it expects the art program work to be completed and return to the full council later this year.