Balch Enterprises, Inc. v. New Haven Unified School District

The New Haven Unified School District and the Board of Education of the New Haven Unified School District (hereafter school district) appeal from a judgment granting Balch Enterprises, Inc. (hereafter Balch), a writ of mandate and awarding attorneys’ fees. The writ of mandate orders the school district to vacate a resolution imposing a “school facilities fee” on new commercial and industrial construction within the district and to refund the fees it had imposed on Balch’s developments.

The school district embraces the cities of Union City and Hayward. Although Union City had charged school facilities fees on new residential construction for several years, the school district itself lacked authority to do so until legislation enacted in 1986 gave it authority to impose the fees both on new residential and on commercial and industrial construction. In a resolution adopted on January 20, 1987, the school district imposed a school facilities fee of $1.50 per square foot on new residential construction and $.25 per square foot on new commercial and industrial construction. Balch was then engaged in preliminary site improvement work for construction of a warehouse in Hayward,…