Planning commission recommends city consider deferred impact-fee option for housing-element sites

A city planning staff member presented an ordinance amendment to Title 12, Article 3 of the San Bruno Municipal Code to implement a housing element program allowing deferred payment of certain city impact fees for projects listed in the housing element.

The staff member told the commission the change would add a subsection (d) to the existing ordinance and estimated, "this will allow 10 to 15% more of the housing projects to use this process." The presentation noted existing state law and local ordinance already authorize deferred-fee processes for some projects and that the proposed change mainly clarifies and expands eligibility for housing-element sites. Staff also flagged a typographical error in the draft ordinance (using the word "certification" where the intent was "certificate") and asked the commission to recommend the corrected language to the City Council.

Commission discussion was brief and generally supportive. One commissioner called the change "a common sense item," and another suggested considering whether the policy could be expanded beyond housing-element sites to give developers flexibility at different project stages. No members of the public spoke during the public-comment period on this item.

A commissioner moved to forward the ordinance amendment, with the staff corrections, to the City Council; the motion was seconded and passed by voice vote. The commission’s action was a recommendation to council; it did not itself amend the municipal code. City Council will consider the ordinance and any final wording changes.

Action at a glance: the commission forwarded the Title 12 amendment to City Council with staff-recommended corrections. The effect in practice, staff said, would be to expand eligibility for deferred-fee handling for projects listed in the housing element, potentially enabling roughly 10–15% more projects to use the process.