By KATHERINE PETERSEN
The city of Sunnyvale encourages out-of-town businesses to move here, but newcomers often pay extra fees to open their doors.
The Sunnyvale City Council on March 19 was scheduled to vote on a plan that would study existing city mandates, examine their purpose and explore alternatives.
Dan Rich, an administrative assistant to the city manager, said the mandates fall into four categories: building codes; fire codes; special development requirements (such as housing-mitigation fees and required artwork); and regulatory ordinances (such as fees for police response to multiple false alarms).
The study will indicate how much money is earned or spent on the mandates.
Councilmember Jim Roberts, who sponsored the issue at the council's legislative workshop in December, cited housing-mitigation fees and artwork as two examples of city mandates that impose a hefty burden on new businesses.
The City Council on Feb. 13 approved a project for a new company, Synopsis, that included a $1.3 million housing-mitigation fee. While the fees help to finance affordable housing, Roberts believes this is a high price to pay for a company that is bringing 600 jobs to Sunnyvale.
"I want to identify those mandates and see if there isn't a better way to achieve the policy goal without having a mandate," he said.
He added that incentives for businesses to help provide low-income housing may be the answer, although further study will be needed.
"We're sending almost a schizophrenic message to the Economic Development Department, asking them to bring more companies to the city and then imposing a new tax," Roberts said.
Rich said some mandates will not be changed, including those required by the state or the federal government, such as recycling efforts.
Roberts said the recycling requirement forced the city to build the Sunnyvale Materials Recovery and Transfer station, which, in turn, raised the utility taxes for residents and businesses.
The council will revisit this issue in July.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, March 20, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.