Vacaville, CA
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City of Vacaville
650 Merchant Street
Vacaville, CA 95688
(707) 449-5100
Agriculture & Avian Mitigation Fee Program
An optional in-lieu fee program that helps eligible development projects satisfy project-specific mitigation obligations while supporting permanent conservation of agricultural land and suitable habitat for Swainson’s hawk and burrowing owl.
The City Council adopted an ordinance that established a mitigation fee program in 2019 to provide developers with an alternative to independently securing agricultural or avian habitat conservation easements. Participation in the fee program is optional and remains subject to the mitigation requirements identified through the City’s development review and environmental review processes.
Mitigation Fees
Who May Be Subject to the Program?
The program applies when a development project is required to mitigate impacts involving one or more of the following:
- Prime Farmland, Farmland of Statewide Importance, or Unique Farmland;
- agricultural or open space land in the growth areas;
- prime farmland affected by an annexation; or
- land determined through project review to provide non-riparian foraging habitat for protected avian species such as Swainson’s hawk or burrowing owl.
Important: The fee does not determine whether mitigation is required. The City establishes each project’s mitigation obligation during development and environmental review.
Developer Mitigation Options
How the In-Lieu Fee Process Works
Project Impacts Are Evaluated
- City staff determine the type and acreage of mitigation required through project-specific review.
The applicant selects a mitigation approach
- The developer may pursue direct mitigation, pay the applicable in-lieu fee, or use an approved combination.
The Fee is Paid
- Payment is generally required before issuance of the applicable grading permit or, with approval, before recordation of the final map. Fees are calculated proportionally to the acreage associated with that permit or map.
Funds are transferred and tracked
- After City program costs, funds are transferred to Solano Land Trust and accounted for separately by mitigation category.
Conservation is completed and monitored
- Solano Land Trust works with willing landowners to secure qualifying conservation easements, establishes stewardship funding, monitors protected properties annually, and reports to the City.
How Fee Revenue Is Used
- Fee revenue supports the actual cost of completing permanent conservation, which may include land or easement acquisition, appraisals, surveys, title work, legal review, baseline documentation, transaction administration, stewardship endowments, annual monitoring, reporting, enforcement, and City program administration.
Conservation opportunities depend on willing landowners and market conditions.
- The City–Solano Land Trust agreement establishes geographic priorities near Vacaville’s Urban Growth Boundary and calls for good-faith coordination if a qualifying easement cannot be completed within the program timeline.
Draft Fee Evaluation and Public Review
The updated draft fee report evaluates the actual and anticipated costs of recording and maintaining conservation easements under the program. Based on the evaluation, the preliminary recommendation is to increase the agricultural-only fee from $4,687 to $8,800 per acre, and retain the existing fee schedule for the stacked agricultural/avian fee.
Public review period: July 23, 2026 through August 13, 2026.
City Council consideration is anticipated on August 25, 2026.