People driving through Watsonville recently may have noticed a handful of signs throughout the city, which call for the recall or firing of City Manager Tamara Vides.
The signs were put up by real estate developer Raeid Farhat, who says he believes Vides is an ineffectual leader. He says his intention in placing the signs was merely to bring attention to that.
And while the city manager is appointed by the city council and cannot therefore be recalled, he hopes to drum up interest in replacing city council members when four seats come up for reelection next year. Those members, he says, may be more inclined to fire her.
Farhat says that Watsonville residents are frustrated with homelessness, dirty streets and a lack of economic development, among other things.
“The only way this is going to get better is with a leadership change,” he says.
But Vides says that Farhat’s campaign started almost immediately after the city held up his 49-unit development project at 221 Airport Blvd. over non-payment of impact fees.
In a press release, the city says that the city was requiring Farhat to pay nearly $1 million in impact fees before tenants would be allowed to move in.
“The developer has demanded that the City allow temporary or partial occupancy prior to him paying all of his fees, as is required by the contract,” the press release says. “As of the date of this press release, the developer has not requested a final inspection to obtain occupancy for the units, which must occur before the outstanding project fees are due.”
Impact fees are one-time charges to developers that are used to fund infrastructure improvements, public safety initiatives and community programs.
Farhat says that he has been able to pay fees for units when they were ready for occupancy in past developments.
This time, however, when he went to pay fees for water meters and impact fees—more than $85,000—for 32 units that were ready and receive Temporary Certificates of Occupancy, the city demanded fees to be paid for all 49 units before any permits were issued—more than $1.19 million.
“We’ve never asked for anything that hasn’t been given in the past,” he said. “I’ve been developing in this town for 25 years, and we’ve always paid our bills.”
Vides, however, says that one of those past developments—a 16-unit project on Marin Street behind the Target shopping center—resulted in litigation.
That project was completed in 2020.
“The city had to sue him to collect the fees,” she said. “The city prevailed, but we spent several thousands of dollars collecting what we were entitled to collect.”
Farhat says that the question of the fees is now moot, since he plans to pay all of them in full, and that he expects tenants to move in starting in March.
“I have never told the City Manager, her staff, or anyone else that I do not intend to pay the required impact fees,” he says. “I have never asked for a discount or requested that any fees be waived. I fully understand the purpose of these fees, the rationale behind them, and their importance to the City’s operations and infrastructure.”
That, Vides says, is part of the agreement with the city.
“He has a contract that very clearly states that his developer fees—impact fees—for the city are payable at the time of occupancy in full,” she says. “And that’s something he has been disputing.”
