Account to help fund open space

CITY HALL — A percentage of the tax increments that future housing projects generate in central Glendale and along the San Fernando Road corridor will soon be dedicated for more park space in those areas after the City Council on Tuesday instructed staff to return with a resolution authorizing the rule.

The dedicated account — administered through the Redevelopment Agency — would also pay for library improvement projects in and around central Glendale but would be barred from doing so in the San Fernando Road Corridor redevelopment zone since its plan, first adopted in 1992, does not include provisions for library funding.

Amid the spreadsheets and forecasts for several methods of structuring the allotment, the majority of council members roundly endorsed the concept, which will dedicate an annual percentage of the tax increment funds — or taxes on property that increased in value due to development. Those funds will go toward library improvements and acquiring more park space in a region of the city that has become a political magnet for its open-space deficiencies.

“The way a local government demonstrates what is important for it is how it spends its funds related to the quality of life,” Councilman John Drayman said.

The council put off discussion on setting the percentage until city staff members return with a draft resolution authorizing the funding allocation, but it was still a boost for Councilmen Frank Quintero and Bob Yousefian, who were criticized in September for not backing the city’s first development impact fee schedule, which will charge $10,500 per residential unit by 2013 and more than $3 per square foot for all other projects.

Depending on the number of projects that enter the planning pipeline, the fees are expected to generate $37 million to $111 million for parks and libraries.

Yousefian voted against the fees, arguing they would scare off developers. Quintero eventually agreed to vote for the fee schedule in exchange for a promise from Mayor Ara Najarian to support the tax increment proposal.

“There’s no question that we have the need in some of those neighborhoods, and there’s no question that we can take the money,” Quintero said.

Rough forecasts from city development officials put the potential take from four residential projects already in the pipeline at about $24 million, which could be leveraged against millions more in bond revenue.