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COUPONS FOR LOCAL BUSINESSES COMING
 SOON!
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Mark   your calendars!
Next Sorrento Valley 
Town Council Meeting:
March 13 at 7pm

6990 Carroll Road
San Diego, CA 92121

Come meet the council and let us know what kinds of projects you would like to see the SVTC focus on in the future. 



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The neighborhood of Sorrento Valley is roughly bordered by Interstate 5 to the west, Camino Santa Fe to the east, Miramar Road to the south and the Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve to the north.
On Tuesday, March 4th, the City Council unexpectedly repealed the increase in the affordable housing linkage fee in the face of a referendum challenge by the business community. The Jobs Coalition was given three months to come back with alternative.

Linkage Fee Hits 
Sorrento Valley
By Susan Carolin

The Linkage Fee increase recently passed by the City Council has already impacted Sorrento Valley in a big way:  Qualcomm has purportedly halted plans to expand its campus here, thereby squashing the opportunity for 130 new jobs in the area.  

Also known as a Workforce Housing Offset, this fee targets commercial development in San Diego as a means to help subsidize affordable housing for low-income workers.  The “linkage fees” that commercial businesses already pay will be increased roughly fivefold over the next three years.  It is being referred to as the “Jobs (Killing) Tax” by opposition groups, who say that this higher tax will obfuscate business expansion, resulting in fewer jobs being created and possibly relocation of businesses to other areas.

At the January SVTC meeting, City Council candidate Chris Cate, District 6, spoke about his efforts, along with a coalition of business groups and former mayor Jerry Sanders, to support a petition campaign to overturn this fee increase. They are working against the clock with a deadline of January 23 to collect almost 34,000 signatures in order to place the measure on the June ballot.  This would give voters the opportunity to rescind or reduce the fee hike.

The linkage fee originally began in 1990 at 1.5% on non-residential construction costs.  In 1996, it was cut in half (.75%) to encourage business growth in a stalled economy.  In November, the council raised it back to 1.5% but because construction costs have risen significantly in the last 24 years, the cost will actually be much greater than it was in 1990.  Office building construction fees will increase from $1.06 to $5.32 per square foot.  Different rates apply to other types of businesses, such as retail or industrial space, but it has been estimated by opposition groups that the current fee could be as high as 900%.

Qualcomm spokeswoman Christine Trimble was reported in the Union-Tribune as saying that the company was considering construction of an additional 1.2 million square feet on their Sorrento Valley campus.   Trimble said that this would bear a fee of $4.97 million, up from $960,000.  She said Qualcomm has received numerous offers of space from officials in nearby cities, including Carlsbad, Escondido and Poway.

Proponents of the fee state that the funds would help to provide as many as 100 subsidized housing units every year and would not negatively affect local business.

Neighborhood Supporters