Church’s traffic fees waived

Costa Mesa City Council members voted to waive almost $240,000 in traffic impact fees that may have been imposed on St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church for a temporary space they plan to use for a preschool and after-school program in Costa Mesa.

The church is starting construction in July on its Newport Beach facility and would need the Costa Mesa space for the next 12 to 18 months, church officials said. If the construction takes longer than the church’s two-year permit, then they will have to pay some sort of fee, but that hasn’t been worked out yet.

The area in question does not generate much traffic with its current use, according to the city’s estimations.

Costa Mesa city staffers estimated that the preschool and after-school activities of the temporary space at 265 McCormick Ave. will mean 70-plus daily trips per 1,000 square feet than the area had before, resulting in traffic impact fees.

But the city’s estimation is much more than the school would actually generate. A slew of parents spoke in support of waiving the fees Tuesday, saying that because of carpooling, those estimations couldn’t be applied.

But it’s not just the estimated traffic the church’s programs might bring that make the fees necessary, according to the county.

The impact fee is required of any establishment that is slated to receive Measure M funds, which help with the costs of transportation improvements.

The city is allowed to exempt certain projects from the fee, including public benefit facilities like libraries, parks, utilities, schools and related facilities. City staffers determined the St. Andrew’s project did not qualify for that exemption because it is a preschool.

Instead, council members proposed a study to determine if it would be appropriate to include preschools in the exemption in the future.

“This is an awkward position we find ourselves in,” Councilman Eric Bever said.

Being stuck with paying almost $240,000 in fees would’ve caused the school to shut down during construction, church official Dave Guder said.

“Basically it’d be tough for a nonprofit to pay that much money just for temporary use of a space,” said Guder, an elder on the church’s children’s ministries committee.