Consideration of Amount of Appeal Fees to Be Addressed

• Appellants Say Cost Limits Public Role

In a somewhat unusual move, Malibu city officials are sending out notices to activists, homeowner groups, other interested individuals and the local media about the Malibu City Council’s hearing Nov. 14 on appeal fees.

The handout suggests that correspondence can still be taken on the council agenda item.

Also, planners are asking if the public wants to make a power point presentation to contact them for use of the equipment.

Activists and others have complained the municipal fees for appealing a planning commission decision to the city council are too expensive and out of line when compared to other cities.

Others point out that when the matter deals with a coastal permit issue, quite often, the city council is bypassed on appealing the issue, which is taken to the California Coastal Commission because the state agency does not charge for appeals.

Last year in October, the council directed the staff to review the appeal fee and its effects on the local appeal process, “specifically whether the current appeal fee discourages appellants to file appeals to the city and in turn encourages appellants to file appeals directly to the California Coastal Commission.”

The planning staff is recommending changing the appeal fee from the current 25 percent of the original entitlement fees, “minimum $1000, whichever is greater,” to a flat fee of $500.

However, planners are offering several options for the council to choose from including adopting a flat fee of $1000 “to ensure hard costs are recovered,” to a flat administrative fee for low-to-no-cost recovery of $385 which staff are recommending should be subject to the consumer price index, if it is adopted.

Other options offered are: the council could consider adopting a two-tier appeal fee—for example $1000 for coastal permits and $500 for non-coastal permits.

A staff report prepared by senior administrative analyst Patricia Salazar points out that historically, the planning development application appeal fee has been set at levels that achieve only modest cost recovery in an effort to encourage public participation in the planning process and to keep a level playing field between applicants and appellants.

“Since 2002, the city council has modified the appeal fee multiple times in an attempt to recover costs related to the processing of appeals,” wrote Salazar. “The appeal fee has changed from a per-finding appeal fee, to a set appeal fee, to the current appeal fee, which is a percentage of the original application fee (25% of the original planning entitlement fees; minimum $1000, whichever is greater).”