Catholic School officials hope to convince city leaders to cut
thousands of dollars from invoice
Gilroy – Representatives of St. Mary Catholic School say city managers refuse to cut thousands of dollars in unjustified building fees from their bill for a new science lab. They will take their fight next month to City Council chambers, where they hope to convince leaders that reducing the tab by nearly $19,000 does not represent special treatment.
The city normally charges “impact fees” for new development to help finance the additional roads, utilities and emergency services demanded by growth. But after spending two years working with City Hall on a roughly 1,700-square-foot science lab, St. Mary School representative Marie Blankley was shocked to receive the permits in November with an invoice for $26,859.
The majority of that – $18,741– represents a “traffic impact fee,” levied on “low traffic” commercial buildings at a rate of $10,076 per thousand square feet. Blankley argues that the city should waive the traffic fee since the additional science lab will serve current students, rather than allowing the school to increase its population.
“We’re not asking for any kind of favor or concession,” she said. “We’re asking them to acknowledge that we’re not going to have any impact on traffic. What we’re doing is no different than adding a bathroom to a house … This is nothing – it’s all sinks and cabinets and experiment stations.”
The argument has curried little favor among city managers, who say that waiving any portion of the fees could establish a dangerous precedent and be viewed as preferential treatment. Further, they say that if the city were to waive the building permit fees now, they would have no regulatory power to levy them in the future if the school uses the space to expand class sizes.
Community Development Director Wendie Rooney, who oversees the building department, denied that the city’s regulations are overly rigid.
“When you’re a growing community, the only way for us to keep up with growth is to come up with an impact fee system,” she said. “What other ways to do have to raise funds? … If we eliminate the fees here, what do we say when another nonprofit comes in asking for the same thing. How do you determine what is and what isn’t growth-related? It’s too subjective.”
Mayor Al Pinheiro described the matter as “a real delicate situation” but said “that there’s not much we can do.”
He echoed the staff opinion that officials are relying on the only method available to ensure that fees are collected.
“If later on they wanted to change that building and add more students, we have no way of charging them,” he said.
Blankley took offense with that argument.
“The presumption is that we will break the law in the future,” she said. “That we will change the use of the building after we get the permit.”
She said the school has envisioned creating a science lab for more than a decade. They have spent the last three years raising $170,000 to finance the $420,000 project, with the remainder expected to come from school parents and parishioners. She said the additional fees could further hinder the addition of the building, slated to sit on a portion of the school’s playground.
Mary Sanchez said her son will graduate from St. Mary this spring, while in coming years her three daughters also will pass through the school, which spans kindergarten through eighth grades.
“It seems that there’s been one hurdle after another trying to get this (science lab) up,” she said. “It would just be such an enriching experience for the children to have that extra space to be able to do experiments. The labs are what makes science hands-on.”
Blankley will raise the fee issue before councilmen at a Jan. 23 meeting at City Hall, 7351 Rosanna St.
