By J. Shade Quintanilla
With the influx of new developers and residents in Pasadena, the city is figuring out ways to accommodate them by adding more parks. On Monday, the Finance Committee gave a presentation to city council and recommended that money collected by the city from developers and residents, known as the Residential Impact Fee, be distributed differently so that a reserve can be created to fund new park projects all throughout the city, instead of in specific zones.
The Residential Impact Fee (RIF) was created in 1988 in response to new residential development and the need for more public open space. The fee was designed to reduce the impact of the increasing population by providing the city with funds for parkland acquisition and park improvements. The RIF, originally set at $650 per unit, is based on the number of bedrooms in a housing unit, ranging between about $17,562 (studio) to $32,507 (housing with 5 rooms or more). Newcomers who live in affordable housing, student housing, and nursing units in senior residential home pay a RIF of $910. Currently, 90 percent of RIFs paid by residents and developers is allocated to a fund for parks in their particular RIF zone–West, Central, or East–and the rest of the fee is distributed to city-wide parks.
The Department of Public Works and the Recreation and Parks Committee, at the request of the city council to provide for more flexibility in RIF distribution, recommended to the city that 70 percent of RIFs be used for specific park zone, 10 percent for city-wide parks and 20 percent for a flexible reserve that can fund park projects throughout the entire city. It was also recommended projects with citywide significance could receive up to 100 percent of RIFS.
According to city staff, projects with citywide significance are development projects in areas lacking parks; projects that address park and or recreation deficiencies–sports fields, pools, bike paths–that could be useful for the entire city; and projects that create a one-of-a-kind facility, like the existing skate park or equestrian center in the city.
As a result of the many development projects in Downtown Pasadena, the Central park zone, from Fair Oaks Avenue to Allen Avenue, has a RIF balance of $6,393,436, which is millions of dollars more than the balances for the West and East zones.
Many city council members opposed the recommendation, especially the plan to use 100 percent of funds for projects with citywide significance. Councilmember Steve Madison of District 6 noted that he is troubled by the recommendation, claiming that it is not fair to redistribute funds from certain park zones to other areas of the city.
“It’s not logical or good public policy,” Madison said.
Much of the opposition to the recommendation by council members and residents stems from the fact that Downtown Pasadena, which is a part of the Central park zone, has a lot of new development and new residents. With the influx of newcomers and apartments, the Downtown area will have a higher population density compared to other parts of the city. Even more, city council and city staff recognizes that the urban area lacks green and open spaces.
“There’s seriously a dearth of park space in that area,” said Councilmember John J. Kennedy of District 3. “Those funds need to go into the Central District.”
Pasadena resident Dale Clark, who is the leader for the Sierra Club’s National Healthy Communities and Green Transportation campaign, noted that Downtown residents are in desperate need of parks that are within walking distance of their homes.
“We seek the kind of walkable, transit-oriented development Pasadena is doing,” he said. “However, I emphasize every chance I get the importance of local parks to balance the sort of density we’re creating with this new kind of development.”
The Public Works Department and the Recreation and Parks Committee has started identifying locations for potential pocket parks within the Downtown area, but they still have not come with the figures for creating those parks. After much discussion, the city council directed city staff to come up with a more solidified plan and figures for creating new parks in the Central district and acquiring land for parks that have citywide significance.
Mayor Terry Tornek believes that with upcoming development projects coming to the city, the money in each of the park zone’s will eventually even out once RIFs are collected. He also noted while there seems to be a lot of disagreement over staff’s recommendation for redistributing RIF funds, Pasadena is currently in a good position for developing new open spaces for residents.
“This is happy news; this is an affirmative activity,” he said.
