AMCAL Chico LLC v. Chico Unified School District
Facts: A dormitory is constructed within the boundaries of a school district to house unmarried university students. The school district conducts a fee study which finds their existing school facilities are inadequate to accommodate additional public school students the development will likely generate. The school district levies an impact fee against the development to accommodate their anticipated student increase, which the developer pays.
Claim: The developer seeks a refund of the school impact fee claiming it is an invalid taking since no relationship exists between the fee and the impact of the newly constructed complex on their facilities and thus the fee is an invalid special tax.
Counterclaim: The school district claims the fees are valid since they are reasonably derived from a fee study which targets general types of construction, such as residential, and they comply with the Mitigation Fee Act.
Holding: A California appeals court holds the fees imposed by the school district are valid since the development is residential and the district’s impact study determined the development was subject to the district’s fees on residential housing. [AMCAL Chico LLC v. Chico Unified School District (November 5, 2020) _CA6th_]
