Stockton council narrows stimulus fee waivers, adopts 5‑year sunset; multifamily largely preserved

The Stockton City Council voted Aug. 26 to amend the Stockton Economic Stimulus Program (CESP), choosing a phased “grandfather and phase‑out” approach with a five‑year sunset for most fee waivers while carving out multifamily projects to remain eligible.

Stephanie Ocasio, director of community development, told the council that city staff presented four options: keep the current CESP, grandfather active projects with an 18‑month/10‑year phased reduction, a 24‑month phased phase‑out without grandfathering, or eliminate the program entirely. Ocasio said recent analysis shows prior waivers covered specific fee categories and were limited to projects inside Stockton’s 2008 city‑limit boundary.

Vice Mayor Lee and other council members pressed staff on equity language embedded in the original program and on the fiscal trade‑offs. Council members cited a staff estimate and public figures discussed at the hearing that approximately $94 million in one‑time public‑facility fees have been waived over the life of CESP, with specific waivers affecting streets, parks and public safety facility funding. City staff explained those totals reflect fees waived for new development categories and that some waived categories map directly to capital projects in the city’s capital improvement program.

Developers and the Building Industry Association urged continued waivers for active projects to preserve pro formas and market certainty. Public commenters and several council members said the city needs to protect funds for parks, police and streets and asked for stronger requirements tying any future waivers to disadvantaged‑community hiring provisions included in the 2015 resolution.

Councilmember Blauer moved to adopt the development‑community‑friendly Option 2 and add a five‑year sunset; the mayor and council reached a minor amendment to explicitly preserve multifamily project waivers. The motion passed and was announced as carrying by the mayor. Staff said the amendments will be drafted for formal ordinance or resolution language and return to the council for final adoption and for the related fee schedule update expected later this year.

The council directed staff to provide additional details on how the sunset and grandfathering language will be worded, and asked for future reporting on the effect of the change on affordable housing, disadvantaged hiring provisions and the city’s CIP funding projections. The city manager’s office said draft fees are expected by the end of the calendar year and formal fee adoption is anticipated in 2026.