The Atherton City Council will vote on Wednesday (Oct. 16) on whether to eliminate a $250,000 penalty cap on building projects that violate the town's construction time-limit provision, given the size and value of homes covered by the rule, according to a town staff report.

In September, the council asked town staff to draft an amendment to a time-limit ordinance that eliminates the cap on penalties for projects that exceed the time permitted for construction. A harsher penalty, town officials have said, might help speed up projects, which create noise and more traffic from construction vehicles.

According to the ordinance, after a 30-day grace period, daily fines are imposed starting at $200; they increase to $400 after two months. The fines escalate to $1,000 a day when projects go 121 days beyond the time limit, up to the $250,000 cap.

Since 2015, 13 projects have exceeded the time limit; deposits were forfeited and collected by the town, totaling $538,800, according to the staff report.

The council will also vote on amending fees on town services — such as building and planning permit and facilities rental fees, according to a staff report. The fees were last updated in 2013, and town staff recommends that the council implement a fee adjustment based on new hourly pay rates for staff.

Staff recommends that fees that have a labor component be increased by 19.5%. It also recommends a 5% adjustment to planning fees followed by a subsequent adjustment in January 2020 once that amount is determined. This adjustment could net the town between $180,000 and $210,000 annually, according to the staff report.

The staff is proposing to do a master study of fees for town services during the 2020-21 fiscal year, when the town will have a better idea of its potential overhead costs associated with the new civic center. There will be no changes to the valuation-driven fees at this time until a new cost study is performed, according to the staff report.

Town staff studied the possibility of imposing penalties for doing construction work without a building permit. It recommended, and the council agreed, that a penalty with an escalator for successive violations would be an effective approach.

But there was some concern that, because the responsibility for the permit lies with the property owner, an escalated penalty may not be directed at the culpable party. For example, a contractor may get caught working without a permit and the property owner would be charged twice the permit fee. If the contractor does more work without a permit on another property, the second property owner would then have to pay three times the permit fee since the contractor has a repeat violation.

The second property owner may not have known that the contractor had a prior violation, but is now paying three times the permit fee because he or she innocently hired the contractor, City Manager George Rodericks explained.

Staff recommends adopting a penalty of twice the cost of the building permit and incorporating that penalty into the town's fee schedule. But it will investigate ways to address charging the proper party for the penalty.

Traffic calming measures

At the same meeting, the council will vote on amending a contract with transportation consulting firm TJKM to include an additional fee of up to $166,220 for community outreach efforts related to traffic calming in town, according to a staff report.

The proposal includes hosting community workshops to hear concerns, gather feedback on traffic calming solutions and prioritize projects, along with hosting booths at community events to demonstrate proposed traffic calming solutions.

The council could choose to amend the TJKM agreement to provide some of the scope of work included in the outreach proposal for a fee to be determined. The proposed schedule for completing the scope of work is about 12 to 24 months, according to a letter from TJKM to the town.

The council could also direct town staff to return with a new request for proposals from other traffic engineering consultants to provide this work, according to the report.

In July, the council asked staff to study priority projects to keep traffic moving on the most heavily used streets. Council members, who received a traffic report in April from TJKM, said in July that they prefer a strategy of moving traffic smoothly through town on major roadways such as El Camino Real and Marsh Road, rather than trying to discourage drivers from traveling through town on residential and secondary streets.

The council will consider a proposal from Interwest Consulting Group to provide continued project management support for the community outreach phase of the traffic project. Interwest provided a proposal for $15,460.

The meeting takes place at 7 p.m. in Holbrook-Palmer Park's Pavilion at 150 Watkins Ave.

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