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earth2table: Warning, Will Robinson! Part II
September 7, 2006

Stu Stein

September 7, 2006
A word of warning for anyone out there working with new construction. The following applies to the City of Portland (Ore.), but make sure you check your location to see if the local government is also in the raping and pillaging business.

The City of Portland charges a Transportation System Development Charge. According to the city’s Office of Transportation Web site, “Are you applying for, or planning to apply for, a building permit (or any other City approval) for development in the City of Portland? If the answer is yes, the following information regarding Transportation System Development Charges (SDC) and the City’s development review process will be of interest to you. [Interest is an understatement!] SDCs, also known as impact fees, provide revenue to utilities to recover costs of capacity enhancing capital improvements from new users. SDCs are one-time fees assessed to new development and changes in use.”

In English, this means the city charges a fee for new construction or when you change the intended use of a structure. This boils down to the developer, according to my lease, being responsible for paying SDC charges for the square footage of a retail space--$2.57 per sq. ft. I am responsible for the additional charges required for a restaurant space--$13.88 per square foot. Now, everything is negotiable, certain areas of the city are eligible for substantial reductions in the SDC fee and the fee can be spread out over a 10-year period. However, I am trying to keep you from having a $20,000 surprise whack you in the head in the middle of construction.

At least I tried.

And the journey continues.

Cheers!

Stu

Posted by Stu Stein on September 7, 2006 | Comments (0)