Development Fees Set to Increase in Fremont

The Silicon Valley city of Fremont, already home to some of the highest development fees in the region, is set to increase the cost of most forms of development again. The one exception—affordable housing.

"Fremont, which already has been charging developers some of the highest impact fees in the state, will raise them even higher in August," reports Joseph Geha.

"City officials say the extra revenue is needed to help keep pace with the costs of providing new or expanded parks, roads and public safety facilities," adds Geha.

Almost all kinds of uses will require increase fees for development, according to the article. Fees for retail, office, manufacturing, and hotel development will increase between 6 percent and 8.6 percent. Fees for market-rate housing developments will increase by 4.5 percent. Fees for affordable housing, however, will drop by 42 percent.

The new development fees include an innovative approach to changes in the use of warehouse facilities, according to Geha, which function more as distribution centers but can also include retail space on site.

The article also includes data from the UC Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Innovation that puts Fremont's development fees in context of similar practices in other Silicon Valley cities.