From the Record Searchlight 

Higher traffic fees down the road

City Council considers solutions to rising cost of Redding streets

By: Scott Mobley Record Searchlight  

Published: March 19, 2003

Higher developer fees to pay for wider roads in Redding? After a brief City Council discussion Tuesday, the idea wasn't road kill.

It's appropriate to revisit this, said Councilman Pat Kight. It's inappropriate to raise them now. But maybe it's time to start the process.

City Manager Mike Warren noted that the city in 2000 promised it would not hike fees before 2006. That's when the current 60 percent fee hike -- in the middle of a fiveyear phase-in -- will top out.

The city should draft another citizens committee like the one that mulled the fee hikes adopted in 2000, Kight said.

Councilwoman Mary Stegall stressed that the committee should represent the community. The committee convened to study the issue in 2000 was heavily weighted toward developers, she said.

That committee recommended phasing in the higher fees. It also urged the council against charging newcomers the full cost of the services they would demand.

The council in 2000 followed Warren's recommendation that the city earmark $14.5 million in redevelopment money over 20 years to make up for the dollars not charged developers.

Warren had also recommended using state highway money to pay for road projects instead of demanding that developers pick up the tab.

The council could reconsider both those policies the next time it considers hiking developer fees. But that decision would not come before 2006.

Redding's vast area, rumpled topography and low density make road building challenging and expensive, Warren said in his council report.

Warren ordered three of his top planners to scope out land the city will need to widen or extend key roads.

The city should look first for right of way to widen Quartz Hill Road, the Oasis Road/Interstate 5 interchange, Victor Avenue and South Bonnyview Road at Highway 273, the committee said. The group considered 36 road projects.

A second management-level committee recommended which road projects already on the city's planning radar should get bumped up the priority list.

This group urged the council to look for money to widen Airport Road from Highway 44 to Fig Tree Lane to make room for the proposed Stillwater Business Park, unclog the Cypress Avenue/I-5 interchange, add lanes to South Bonnyview Road, build a railroad underpass south of downtown, beef up the Oasis Road/I-5 interchange and fix up the Hilltop Drive/Highway 44 overpass.

The city raises between $1.5 million and $2.5 million each year in traffic impact fees charged to developers, said Administrative Services Director Randy Bachman, who served on the road improvement committee.

Reporter Scott Mobley can be reached at 225-8220 or at smobley@redding.com