Kudos To Orange, A Pox Upon Huntington Beach

Two weeks ago, the Orange City Council voted unanimously to create the On-The-House program to incentivize home-improvement by waiving permitting fees for home remodels, and implementing an amnesty for unpermitted additions.

On Monday, the Huntington Beach City Council voted against creating such a program, citing the conventional green-eye-shade excuse of "costs too much" and won't benefit enough people.

Kudos to the Orange City Council. Mayor Carolyn Cavecche has been pushing for the creation of this program for a year, and I'm proud every member of my city council voted for this liberty-based approach to neighborhood improvement. On-The-House will run September 10 through November 9 of this year. A second, Old Towne Orange-only phase will take place March 31 through May 15, 2008, to give Old Towne resident adequate time to negotiate the extra-thicket of rules they have to negotiate.

Back to Huntington Beach.

This line from the OC Register story stuck out:

Councilwoman Jill Hardy said the proposed programs would not do enough. It would only help about 120 people, but it would take the city 67 years to recover the costs in property taxes, she said.

Is the business of governance about ensuring government holds onto as much of the people's money as possible? Why not incentivize residents to legalize unpermitted additions  and improve the value of their homes and neighborhoods? It's better to the city to forgo a few hundred thousand dollars in permit fees for a three months if it spurs homeowners to invest many times that amount in private dollars into the improving their homes -- and collectively, their neighborhoods.

Reading the staff report by Huntington Beach Director of Building & Safety Russ Cranmer gives the impression of a building department staff none-to-=thrilled at the prospect of implementing such a  program.

For example, the report discusses Anaheim and Costa Mesa's experience with similar programs -- but focuses solely on the "costs" and completely ignores the benefits those cities experienced: Anaheim's program catalyzed $28.3 million in homeowner investment, and Costa Mesa's has catalyzed approximately $24 million in homeowner investment.

How are councilmembers served by a staff report that only mentions costs and omits any benefits? And what does it say about councilmembers who base their decisions on such a report?

Kudos to HB Councilman Joe Carchio for pushing this fee waiver program.

Comments

[Joe Shaw]

Absolutely right on, Matt.

Joe Carchio put together a good proposal, my only fault with it is it didn't go far enough.

Our home remodeling fees are outrageous and they need to be greatly reduced.

One thing I will say for the council: they are generally a fiscally conservative bunch, every one of them. They tend to err on the side of keeping their budget balanced, which means they are loathe to reduce revenue.

I say offset the loss of revenue with cuts somewhere else.

[Chip Ahlswede]

When Curt Pringle championed this effort a few years back in Anaheim, it garnered a huge surge in home repairs and remodels. This improved the quality of the housing stock, and increased business opportunities for contractors in town. The results were tremendous.

Now we face a shifting housing market where the one thing that will separate one property from another is the quality and updated features that it has. Property owners, and sellers will be able to meet the demands of the market by easily updating their properties with a streamlined process. Buyers will also be benefited because they will be able to update homes they buy which will further add value to their property.

Mayor Cavecche and the Orange city council have taken a major step towards helping to preserve property values in Orange, and should be commended. Their efforts will be rewarded as revenues from increased property taxes continue to stream in to the city in upcoming years.

... and then they won't need to make any "cuts" in services...

[Bladerunner]

Chips point is well taken...Anaheim led the way on this. it will be a net plus not only in terms of dollars in the long run but in neighborhood improvement and making sure the city is aware of improvements in the short run.

Huntington missed an opportunity which orange seized.