Clovis Unified increased developer fees. Some worry homes are getting too expensive
Clovis Unified School District raises the development impact fee by 8.9% on new residential construction, citing increased demand for school facilities due to prospective growth in enrollment.
The state’s 11th-largest school district serving 43,254 students currently levies a developer fee of $5.86 per square foot on the assessable residential properties within the district boundaries. This rate will rise to $6.38 per square foot, effective July 1, according to the resolution adopted by the school board on Wednesday.
In California, school districts charge a one-time development impact fee on new residential and commercial construction to help fund the schools and facilities. The basis of this fee is that newly built homes often bring new families and students to the district, and the extra money from the fees helps school districts provide adequate school facilities. Per the state’s education code, school districts that levy such fees must conduct an annual assessment to determine the allowable rates.
This year, the assessment projects that over the next five years, the new residential construction will generate 2,492 students in grades TK-6, 1,630 students in secondary schools, as well as 148 students with special needs. The report estimates that Clovis Unified needs more than $70 million for school facilities.
“Like this year, we’ve budgeted to collect around $10 million in developer fees, so when you put that into perspective with one of these school costs, it takes us a couple of years of collecting developer fees to build that up,” said Denver Stairs, assistant superintendent of facility services.
The district’s newly planned elementary school with a capacity of 750 students comes with a price tag of $77 million, The Fresno Bee previously reported.
Stairs said the district does not have an estimate on how much revenue the rate increase would provide, as housing development falls outside the school district’s jurisdiction.
“It definitely depends on the year, and as we’ve seen a slowdown in residential development, the amount of dollars we’ve collected in developer fees has decreased,” Stairs said.
Clovis Unified’s developer fee revenue has been at a low level over the past few years, according to the district’s records. The data show that this revenue once grew dramatically, peaking at over $24 million in the 2021-21 school year before steadily declining. In the last two years, Clovis Unified has received less than $10 million in developer fees, a figure that is even smaller than the revenue from the 2015-16 school year.
The district officials told the board that no objections were raised by developers.
Darren Rose, the president of the Building Industry Association of Fresno and Madera counties, told The Bee that developers understand school districts have real funding needs, and it’s legitimate for the district to raise the fees, though, from the industry’s experience, imposing higher fees tends to accelerate the cycle of fewer homes being built rather than reverse it, he said.
“The per-unit fees from schools, water, traffic, and impact charges compound to a point where projects increasingly don’t pencil out,” Rose said. “Especially for the entry-level homes young families need most.”
Rose said the housing units developers have been approved to build account for 62% of the region’s demand, which is barely enough to keep the local high school graduates in the area, he said.
At Wednesday’s board meeting, Trustee Steven Fogg acknowledged there has been a lot of talk about the expansion of Clovis Unified and the rising costs of housing. He said he hopes every school district provides high-quality education, so there won’t be an issue about where to build new homes.
“As someone who’s paid it recently, it’s a lot of money, but I’ll tell you, it’s still a bargain for what you get in Clovis Unified,” Fogg said. “That’s why people keep moving in.”
