Park Dedication Fees have two main purposes. First, they help cover the impact new housing developments have on community recreation facilities. Second, they help maintain the General Plan goal of having 10 acres of developed parkland for every 1,000 residents—split evenly between 5 acres of active parkland and 5 acres of passive parkland per 1,000 people.
The Overview Statement section below the Fee Schedule gives a brief summary of the Park Dedication Fee Program (called the “Program” here). It explains how the fees are collected, what they can be used for, and how the Placer County Parks Division (called the “County” here) manages the Program.
The intent of the Program is to mitigate the effect new neighborhoods have on existing recreational facilities by acquiring, constructing new and/or rehabilitating existing parks and recreation facilities. Park Dedication Fees may used to pay for capital costs but may not be used for maintenance. Furthermore, the Parks Commission has taken the position the funds should be used for improvements on the ground, not for master planning efforts, design of projects, etc.
The amount of the Park Dedication Fee is based on the representative cost to build recreational facilities to maintain a ratio of 5 acres of active park and 5 acres of passive park per 1,000 residents, as called for in the recreation element of the Placer County General Plan. As subdivision projects are conditioned, the General Plan and the various Community Plans are the County’s blueprints for conditioning recreational facilities on new subdivisions.
There must be a nexus between those paying the fee and where the fee is utilized.
The Park Dedication Fees Policies and Procedures are intended for consistency and fairness for those requesting funds from the Program. We have also developed rating criteria to help the County rank proposed projects based upon predetermined factors.
The Placer County Parks, Trail, and Open Space Division (PTOS) has enacted a Park and Recreation Facilities Impact Fee Program Update to offset the impact of new residential development on existing community recreation facilities. In addition, the fee maintains the General Plan standard that requires five acres of active park land (play structures, ball fields, swimming pools, basketball/pickleball/tennis courts, bocce ball courts, etc.), five acres of passive park land (open space with multi-purpose trails), and one mile of trails per 1,000 residents. The County’s last study was drafted and adopted in 2004.
PTOS hired a consultant team from Willdan Financial Services to update the Park and Recreation Facilities Impact Fee, which involved conducting a nexus study, economic analysis, and ordinance updates. The main objective of this engagement is to update the Fee Program to ensure a fair and reasonable fee structure, while meeting the requirements of State law and County ordinance. The resulting fee(s) will fund new development’s share of planned park and recreation facilities, while not overburdening development with unnecessary costs. PTOS staff are reaching out to the public to share the proposed nexus study to obtain feedback before taking the item to the Parks Commission for recommendation, followed by the Board of Supervisors for adoption.
For a copy of the draft Nexus Study and to provide comments, please email [email protected]. Please provide any comments by September 4, 2026.