Developer Fee Aimed at Boosting Parks

City leaders are hoping a new residential development fee will spur the creation of badly needed parkland.

Council members this week approved a fee of $7.25 per square foot or $315,810 per acre for residential development.

Funds raised by the “in-lieu park fee” also can be spent on the rehabilitation of existing parks.

“Clearly, we have an underdevelopment of park space for our citizens in this community,” City Manager Terry Matz said.

Stanton has nine-tenths of an acre of parkland for every 1,000 residents, Matz said, well below the 3 acres recommended by state guidelines.

Builders can avoid paying the fee by creating sufficient park space within new residential developments, Matz said.

But city planners are uncertain whether the creation of a park within a gated community would qualify.

Councilman David John Shawver, appointed mayor during the council’s annual reorganizational meeting Tuesday, said the new fee is low enough to be competitive with higher fees in surrounding cities.