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| City Council Finance Committee moves forward with a plan to incentivize developers to build more one- and two-bedroom units. |
The city needs to begin developing smaller homes to accommodate more young, single people who are becoming the new face of Chico’s workforce.
That was the consensus reached by both City Council members and local developers Oct. 25 during a City Finance Committee meeting.
The Council has been discussing a way to change the fee system for developers since February. At the meeting, they decided to go forward with a fee system based on number of bedrooms to encourage developers to build smaller homes.
The meeting was led by Public Works Engineering Director Brendan Ottoboni, who said his main concern was making sure the fees on smaller units were still large enough to cover the city costs of development.
Jim Stevens, a local resident, said it was imperative that the council considers varying fees and illogical to think that a four-bedroom house has the same economic impact as a one-bedroom unit.
Ottoboni said he would come up with a method to vary the fees based on home size and present it at the next Finance Committee meeting.
-- By Lizzie Helmer
