A short time after the OVSD amended their ordinance, months after stopping collecting ‘capacity fees’ from any ADU, and months after providing a will-serve letter to me, they requested to inspect my ADU. I logically assumed that it was only to confirm that the number of ‘units’ included in it did not exceed the number in my plan that I submitted to them with my application. I of course agreed to allow them to visit. To my surprise, a few days later I received an invoice from them demanding that I retroactively pay $12,653.08. This is wrong on at least five levels.
- State ADU law prohibits charging capacity fees to ADUs that do not make a mandated direct connection to the utility.
- The District had no valid adopted fees when supplying the will-serve letter, with no payment or promise to pay, so the then current fee for ADUs was $0. The OVSD cannot retroactively charge fees.
- The OVSD cannot charge for primary connections to their utility a second time.
- Reliance on the OVSD provided will-serve letter, allowing me to complete my project, promising to only charge additional fees when the ‘unit’ count is above the count in the original application plans is prohibited as per California Supreme Court decision on vested rights in the 1972 “Avco” decision.
- OVSDs admission, in their OVSD-82 ordinance, that a connection to their utility can be classified as ‘indirect’ precludes them from claiming that all connections to their utility are ‘direct’ as would be necessary for charging ‘capacity fees’ as per State ADU Law.
