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A majority of San Benito County’s Board of Supervisors questioned data from a study on the county’s projected population growth at the board’s Feb. 27 meeting.
The projection was part of a development impact fee study, which was conducted ahead of updating current impact fees. But Supervisors Angela Curro, Kollin Kosmicki, Mindy Sotelo and Dom Zanger took issue with the population growth data. The supervisors asked staff to engage the public to receive feedback on the impact fees, use historical data for population growth, remove the current data projections and return with their findings.
“This report and these numbers, the recommended product that we’re seeing, the recommended fees are an absolute sham,” Kosmicki said.
He said the development impact fees should be increased more than the proposed 1.5% increase due to the needs of the community. He also said that his commentary was the third time he voiced concerns over Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments’ (AMBAG) data used to calculate projected growth in the county, calling the data the “wackiest” he’s seen in politics.
A development impact fee is a one-time charge billed during the building permit stage to all development projects. The fees fund public facilities that serve new and current development in the county, including parks and recreation, fire protection facilities, library facilities and road maintenance facilities.
According to the 2022 growth forecast by AMBAG, San Benito County’s population is projected to grow 28% over the next 21 years. Employees in the county are also projected to nearly double from 13,474 to 26,126 over the same period.
The data showed that the unincorporated areas of the county would see a 72% jump in population, from 20,488 to 35,331 over the next 21 years.
“We are not going to see 75% growth in the unincorporated area over the next 21 years, whether you’re pro-growth, slow growth, that is just fantasyland stuff,” Kosmicki said.
Supervisor Sotelo agreed with Kosmicki and thought the data was a typo.
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IMG_6954-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IMG_6954-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1″ src=”https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IMG_6954.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1″ alt=”The supervisors asked staff to engage the public to receive feedback on the impact fees, use historical data for population growth estimates, remove the current data projections and return with their findings. Photo by Monserrat Solis.” class=”wp-image-96794″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IMG_6954-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IMG_6954-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IMG_6954-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IMG_6954-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IMG_6954-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IMG_6954-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IMG_6954-scaled.jpg?resize=1568%2C1045&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IMG_6954-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IMG_6954-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C471&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IMG_6954-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IMG_6954-1024×683.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px”>
“I have a hard time believing that we’re going to grow by 15,000 in the unincorporated area and that the city of Hollister will only have about 3,000 growth,” Sotelo said. “It does seem a little faulted.”
She also had concerns about public involvement.
“I don’t think there was enough public involvement,” Sotelo said. “This is a really important issue and so I would love to see us move forward with some more community engagement and outreach.”
One virtual workshop was previously held for the development impact fees on Jan. 18.
County Principal Administrative Analyst Dulce Alonso said workshop attendance consisted mostly of county staff. A draft of the study was presented at an unspecified County Facilities Committee meeting, but attendance was low, she said.
Zanger called the growth projection numbers “goofy.” Curro said she did not agree with the AMBAG numbers.
Gonzales ultimately agreed with her colleagues that staff should “double check the numbers.”
“I don’t want anybody to say that we are perpetrating a fraud or a sham to the public,” she said.
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