Board sets May 21 hearing on land development fee adjustments after contentious public comment

The Board of Supervisors on May 7 voted to set a public hearing on May 21 to consider fiscal-year fee adjustments for Planning & Development Services (PDS), Public Works and Parks and Recreation, including changes to flat fees, deposits and hourly rates.

County staff presented an overview explaining that proposed fee adjustments reflect increased nondiscretionary costs (salary/benefits, IT and other county internal charges) and that departments had implemented operational efficiencies intended to contain costs. Planning & Development Services proposed sunsetting the Homeowner and Business Owner Relief Act fee waiver program (which the presentation said currently waives fees for roughly 2,000 routine permits a year) to reallocate general purpose revenue and balance the enterprise budget. Staff said the package would yield average fee increases in the mid-single digits across flat fees and higher hourly rates, depending on program.

Public callers strongly criticized the proposal during public comment, saying fee increases would make home repairs and building work less affordable and urged salary reductions or cuts to county management instead of raising fees. Two stakeholder letters opposing the increase (North County Engineers & Land Surveyors Association and Building Industry Association) were noted in the staff report; those groups asked the county to collaborate on process improvements, expand self-certification and convert some discretionary reviews to ministerial approvals to reduce costs and delay.

Supervisor Desmond asked staff to highlight prior process improvements; staff said PDS has implemented several measures — online permitting for roughly half of building permit volume, a self‑certification program for six permit types, guaranteed review times and mobile inspections — that together contributed to multimillion-dollar cost containment. The board approved setting the May 21 hearing unanimously.