City Council Votes to Increase Development Fee; Ballard Sworn in as Fire Chief

The Big Bear Lake City Council voted last night to increase the Development and Mitigation fee, which will be phased in over five years, starting September 1, 2009. The fee is charged to new developments in the City to mitigate their impact on infrastructure. It’s currently $873; by 2014, it will be $9,617. The council will also adopt a fee structure payment due by agreement at the pre-election inspection of the developed properties. Concessions will be made for affordable housing projects as mandated by the state of California. Local development impact fees have historically run far behind other resort towns and cities in southern California; for instance, south Lake Tahoe’s fees are $22,108; Mammoth’s fee is $34,445; Palm Springs is $14,609.
In other business, Mayor Herrick swore in Rod Ballard as the new City of Big Bear Lake Fire Chief, and Council directed staff to advertise five upcoming vacancies on the DWP Board and the Planning Commission.
Council members also adopted a resolution supporting a green valley initiative and agreed to send the Green Building Program for adoption in the green committee (Bill Jahn and Rick Herrick), to be later brought back to the Council for full adoption.
In addition, the Council agreed to continue the solid waste collection and recycling services agreement with Big Bear Disposal, ultimately working toward becoming a zero-waste community.