American Canyon is considering a major hike in fees paid by developers to fund city road improvements.

The city’s new impact fees would pay for a series of road upgrades to improve circulation flow on Highway 29 — where an increasing number of cars and trucks come to a standstill at rush hour — and city streets. The bill to construct all the hoped-for projects adds up to about $195 million.

Paul Miller of Omni Means Ltd. of Roseville, the firm that recently completed citywide traffic circulation study, told the American Canyon Planning Commission on Oct. 23 that the city’s most realistic funding mechanism is the traffic impact fee — fees paid by developers to build.

The state, Miller said, has no money to widen Highway 29, a project estimated at $84 million. A countywide transportation sales tax that could have funded a portion of the road improvements was voted down last year, and county officials feared there was so little support for a second try that they canceled the effort.

According to the Omni Means report, needed improvements include widening Highway 29 from two to three lanes in each direction; widening and extending stretches of Newell Drive and Devlin Road; widening Green Island Road near the warehouse district; and adding traffic signals and turn lanes at several locations.

A chilling effect

But the American Canyon Chamber of Commerce’s Pam Wilkinson said the proposed impact fees would have a chilling effect on economic development in American Canyon.

Vincent “Buzz” Butler, of Lake Street Ventures, the developer of the Napa Junction commercial and residential complex, protested the possible higher fees to the Planning Commission. So did James Moore, president and chief executive officer of the Big Easy, a car wash under construction on Highway 29. Moore explained his company needs support from small business and large developers to succeed.

Only $1 million has been paid so far into a fund to cover improvements along Highway 29. That entire contribution was made by Butler’s Napa Junction project.

Butler’s company, which plans to develop a third phase of Napa Junction, estimates that the proposed traffic mitigation fee for Napa Junction III would increase by 810 percent, from about $832,000 to $7.6 million. The same project would be charged about $322,000 in Vallejo, according to his firm’s analysis.

No new business will be able to afford to build in American Canyon, Butler said.

“You won’t collect a dime if the fees aren’t within the market range,” he said, referring to traffic impact fees charged in other neighboring jurisdictions.

He also questioned why the city would charge so much more for retail than for warehousing developments.

According to the Omni-Means study, the city could charge developers $47,000 per 1,000 square feet of shopping center — about 10 times as much as for warehouses.

American Canyon City Manager Rich Ramirez last week said impact fees alone are not the main reason why businesses choose to relocate into a given city.

The question is what level of service residents expect, he said.

“It’s up to the community to decide,” Ramirez said.

“This starts with the people who live here,” he said.

The Omni Means study will become part of the city’s general plan — the blueprint for future development.

The city is considering the formation of a communitywide group, similar to the Blue Ribbon Water Committee, to work toward a traffic solution.

Wilkinson on Wednesday said the American Canyon Chamber of Commerce wants to be part of the discussion.

The ad hoc committee in charge of the new study first met two years ago. The American Canyon City Council could adopt the study in 2009 after public comment.

Ramirez said the city may have a new traffic impact fee in place by next summer.

In the meantime, the American Canyon traffic circulation report could be incorporated into a larger study of the Highway 29 corridor from Vallejo to Napa. The Napa County Transportation and Planning Agency and the Solano Transportation Authority are collaborating on a proposal to find grants to study the whole corridor. An informal group of Napa County, Napa city and American Canyon officials, transportation officials from the Napa County Transportation and Planning Agency and the Solano Transportation Authority, as well as developers, wine industry representatives and others, are expected to meet on regional traffic issues sometime next month.