Here's a link to the documents for that project.
http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=189243
The Downtown Density bonus plan has a fee-in-lieu amount of $10 per sf. For this particular project, the fee-in-lieu payment is 60% of the normal fee amount - ($6 per sf) I don't know if that's because the project is a PUD or if it's because the project is technically outside the downtown area.
Jump down to page 14 and you'll see how the two city departments and the developers calculated the payment.
The total square footage of the project is 203,207 sf. The bonused area above and beyond what would normally be allowed at that site is 73,154 sf.
Quote:
PDRD staff's calculated fee is based on 10% of the bonused square footage.
(1) 73,154 x 10% = 7,315 x $6 = $43,890 fee-in-lieu.
(2) The developer's proposed fee is based on the overall bonused square footage.
73,154 x $6 = $438,924 fee-in-lieu.
(3) NHCD's recommended fee-in-lieu is based on the total square footage within the PUD.
203,207 x $6 = $1,219,242 fee-in-lieu.
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I think what the developer is proposing is fair and reasonable., and it should be how all other projects are calculated. They should only have to pay for the overall bonused square footage rather than the total square footage.
What's weird is that there was an Austin Business Journal article earlier that included a
spreadsheet released by the City of Austin for other projects in the CBD, and they were calculating the fee-in-lieu payment for all those projects the same way as the developer is in this particular case.
The spreadsheet showed the bonused area in the third column from the right (not the total square footage in the projects) and multiplied that by $10 to get the payment amount.
It would help if the right hand knew what the left hand was doing at the City of Austin.