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Council debates developer impact fees after plaza drive paving decision tied to Metro Heights project
Summary
Councilmembers questioned whether the city should be covering street repairs near Metro Heights and discussed a pending fee study; staff said earlier project agreements and vested commitments limit immediate changes but the city will review impact fee policy.
The Montebello City Council approved a consent‑calendar item to repave Plaza Drive — a small street behind the shops at Montebello near the Metro Heights project — while several councilmembers pressed staff on why developers had not borne the full cost.
Mayor Pro Tem Tamayo pulled the item for discussion, noting heavy truck traffic from the Metro Heights construction and asking why the city paid for the repairs. Staff reported that improvements and impact fees were associated with the Cesar Chavez project; a staff speaker said Senator Archuleta provided $2,000,000 for infrastructure improvements tied to that work.
"Metro Heights is a huge project with 200 new homes going in there. All of the trucks, the cement trucks, all the heavy equipment is going up that street, and they're the ones, you know, causing the damage to the street," Mayor Pro Tem Tamayo said in explaining why the item was pulled for discussion.
City management and the director of public works explained that many of the agreements for earlier projects were negotiated years ago and are vested, limiting the city's ability to recoup costs retroactively. The director said Montebello already charges several impact fees — a development tax per residential unit, a parkland fee and an art and public places fee — and staff are working with a consultant on a fee‑study to identify comparable charges used by neighboring cities.
"We do have current impact fees ... but what I will say is that regarding impact fees, we have taken a very careful look at our current ... we do have meetings coming up in the next week or so with the consulting group that was hired to do the fee study analysis to talk about impact fees and how we can be better at charging those fees and comparable to other cities," the director said.
Councilmembers asked staff to pursue options to ensure future developments bear appropriate street‑repair costs and to return with recommendations during the next budget cycle or fee‑study timeline. The consent item was approved by roll call.
