Veneta committee questions high transportation SDCs that could deter Taco Bell, US Market developments

Veneta's Business Advisory Committee spent the bulk of its meeting debating how the city calculates transportation systems development charges and whether the resulting fees could discourage two sizable commercial proposals, including US Market and a Taco Bell site.

Jacob, the staff member presenting the item, said the handout he shared showed markedly higher trip-generation numbers than developers anticipated and that, as a result, "Through all of that, our SDC fees are coming out to about about 450,000." Committee members pressed whether the methodology counted two uses in a single building — a convenience store and a coffee/donut counter — as two separate trip generators and whether that doubled up the estimate.

Members raised several practical concerns: whether non-pass-by trips were being overcounted, whether money collected for city road projects should be charged when the affected roads (for example, Jack Kelly Road and Highway 199) are county-owned, and whether Veneta's rates are competitive with neighboring towns. One member urged staff to get engineering documentation so the committee could compare assumptions to nearby jurisdictions.

The committee also discussed the city's Commercial Development Incentive Program (CDIP), which can reduce fees for qualifying projects. Jacob said the current CDIP reduction is roughly "about 25,000 per job in development," but several members said that amount may not meaningfully lower very large SDC bills. "I think we'll talk to our engineer about" how trip counts are calculated and whether the categorization is appropriate, Jacob said.

Committee members debated trade-offs between retaining revenue for public projects and using incentives to attract development. One member noted a hypothetical loss of $600,000 if two large projects were deterred, while another emphasized the need to prioritize small local businesses and avoid granting reductions that simply boost a developer's bottom line.

Next steps recorded in committee discussion: staff will seek an engineer's explanation of trip-generation assumptions and produce comparative SDC-rate information for Creswell, Cottage Grove and Junction City. The committee did not adopt any formal policy changes at the meeting.

Why this matters: SDCs are billed at development time and can create a one-time barrier that affects whether large retail or service projects proceed; the committee's review could lead to adjustments in how the city applies discretionary fee reductions or to a formal request for county coordination on projects where travel patterns affect county, not city, infrastructure.