A mandatory fee for new real estate development within Shoreline Unified School District passed last week, when the district’s board voted unanimously to charge $3.36 for each square foot of residential development and $0.54 for commercial development. The monies raised will go into a fund restricted to maintenance projects for school facilities. “The basic concept is that if you’re building a new house, then you’re probably going to bring new kids [into the district],” said Bruce Abbott, Shoreline’s business manager. “So it’s to offset what our costs would be, in terms of maintenance, for building out as we would need to for the new kids.” Developments less than 500 square feet will be exempt from the fee, which will go into effect in mid-June. Anyone wishing to build in the district will have to fill out a form at the district office prior to filing paperwork with the county. A study commissioned by the district justified the developer fee by projecting Shoreline will need $671,940 over the next 20 years to modernize school facilities for an increased number of students. (The study used a state formula to determine the increase in student enrollment; Shoreline’s own projections, as previously reported in the Light, show decreased enrollment over the next three years.) The ability to raise such a fee is permitted under California Education Code. “Most districts in Marin have this fee attached to new construction,” trustee Kegan Stedwell said at last Thursday’s regular board meeting. “We are one of the few that do not. Considering that we are in need of funding, this was a solution that was researched.” Unlike Nicasio School’s recent passage of a parcel-tax extension, Shoreline’s developer fee was not required by law to undergo a public vote. The fee approval comes in the midst of the district’s efforts to dig itself out of a structural budget deficit. As it stands, Shoreline will be $615,000 in the red by the 2017-18 school year.