The following is a press release issued by the Ukiah Unified School District:
During their regular Board meeting on December 15, 2022, Ukiah Unified Trustees approved Resolution 09, 2022-23, adopting their Developer Fee Justification Study, and Resolution 10, 2022-23, establishing the imposition of developer fees. Developer fees are fees developers pay to school districts to mitigate the impact of new development on the school facilities.
In February 2014, the Board directed Administration to cease collecting developer fees temporarily. Since then, the District has not collected developer fees on any new development within District boundaries. During the 2021-22 school year, Ukiah Unified Trustees asked Administration to commission a new developer fee study. Over the last several months, King Consulting has developed several drafts of the study.
Multiple public hearings and public meetings have been held to discuss the developer fee study and reinstatement of developer fees:
- August 11, 2022: Public Hearing at the regular Board Meeting
- August 29, 2022: Public meeting regarding the draft developer fee study
- September 26, 2022: Public meeting regarding the draft developer fee study
- November 10, 2022: Agendized for discussion at the regular Board Meeting
The District will begin charging developer fees on February 13, 2023, which is 60 days after their adoption of the resolution. As defined in the King Consulting study, fees would be $4.79 per square foot for residential construction, $0.78 per square foot for commercial/industrial construction, and $0.09 per square foot for mini-storage construction.
There are some important exemptions from Ukiah Unified developer fees:
- Additions to existing homes up to 500 square feet are exempt from developer fees
- New dwellings up to 500 square feet are exempt from developer fees
- Any home that is being rebuilt because it was destroyed in one of the fires is exempt from developer fees on the previously-permitted square footage PLUS up to 500 additional square feet
Contact Ukiah Unified Communications Officer Doug Shald for more information at (707) 472-5005 or dshald@uusd.net.
