News Archive - 2010
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Impact fees losing impact as development slows
Atlanta Journal Constitution, GA – December 31, 2010
Most local governments are looking for ways to create new streams of revenue, but in Cherokee, county officials decided to reduce fees for developers in hopes of spurring new growth. So-called impact fees are added as a way to offset the cost of building new roads, …
Art for art’s sake
Pasadena Weekly, CA – December 30, 2010
While Glendale decides how to spend its coming windfall from a recently approved development set-aside for public art projects, Pasadena officials are wondering what to do in Northwest Pasadena with money available for art from a similar law enacted before …
Impact fee moratorium not best way to boost economy
News Chief, FL – December 30, 2010
The Polk County Commission’s extension of the impact fee moratorium is a local version of the Federal Reserve’s Wall Street bailout. They’re bailing out developers at the expense of the rest of us. It’s more trickle-down economics that have been proven not to …
Cummings: Clay County Commission to study revenue options
Florida Times-Union, FL – December 30, 2010
Clay County Commission Chairman Travis Cummings ended 2010 by creating two task forces to study the county’s most pressing need – declining revenues – and make recommendations by next summer. One of the task forces will study how best to fund the county’s …
Fee moratorium continues
Nassau County Record, FL – December 29, 2010
The Nassau County Commission voted Dec. 13 to continue the county’s moratorium on impact fees for another year. At Commissioner Danny Leeper’s suggestion, the commission also voted to create a task force to investigate whether to rescind the fees …
Possible moratorium on Burgaw water line impact fees
WECT-TV6, NC – December 28, 2010
A project to bring an apartment building to Burgaw might not get off the ground, unless the town can drop the fees related to doing business. An impact fee is what is standing in the way of one man’s goal of starting the construction of a nearly 1.5 million- dollar …
Grand jury probe of Broward schools appears focused on construction
Sun-Sentinel, FL – December 28, 2010
A statewide grand jury on public corruption has been investigating the Broward School District for nearly a year under a customary veil of secrecy. But some details have emerged that indicate it is honing in on the district’s massive construction spending program. …
East Naples church figuring how to come up with $245,000 in county impact fees
Naples Daily News, FL – December 26, 2010
The new building is finally open. But now New Hope Ministries, 7675 Davis Blvd., has another hurdle to overcome: Figuring out how to pay the impact fees. The East Naples church asked Collier County commissioners in mid-December to allow officials to pay more than …
Park impact fee debate to continue
Daytona Beaach News-Journal, FL – December 25, 2010
Some lower impact fees are in the works but city officials will continue to address the issue in the new year. While the City Council unanimously approved a measure to lower non-residential fire impact fees from 54 cents per square foot to 25 cents per square foot, the …
Water and sewer impact fees temporarily waived by Fredonia Town Council
Southern Utah News. UT – December 22, 2010
The Fredonia Town Council had a long night last Tuesday as they discussed several important issues that impact the community including taxes and impact fees. The council first discussed the town’s Use Tax and Sales Tax at length. Town Clerk TinaMarie …
Builders won’t receive break on impact fees
Chagrin Valley Publishing, OH – December 22, 2010
Reducing impact fees, also known as system-development fees, may not be the City of Chardon’s answer to bringing more residential development. City Council agreed last week that attempting to lower the fees charged to developers based on their developments’ …
Judge rejects Atherton motion to dismiss road impact fee lawsuit
San Jose Mercury News, CA – December 21, 2010
A judge has refused to dismiss a development company’s lawsuit that seeks to recover $298,000 in road maintenance fees it alleges Atherton illegally charged. In a statement issued Monday, the town acknowledged that a San Mateo County Superior Court judge on …
BCC votes to lower impact fees
Naples Daily News, FL – December 20, 2010
The Board of County Commissioners (BCC) approved this week reductions in library and general government buildings impact fee rates. As a result of decreasing land and construction costs, library impact fees have been reduced between 44 percent and 62 percent …
BCC extends impact fees moratorium six months
Clay Today Online, FL – December 17, 2010
Clay County Commissioners have extended a moratorium on collecting the county’s transportation impact fees. At their meeting Tuesday, Dec. 14, Commissioners voted unanimously to continue the moratorium on the fees until July 1, 2011. The moratorium, …
Ohio Supreme Court to hear impact fee case
Cincinnati.com, OH – December 16, 2010
The Ohio Supreme Court has agreed to hear oral arguments in a case that could decide the future of impact fees collected by townships. The state’s highest court will make the final determination of whether a home-rule township in Ohio – in this case Hamilton Township …
Positive Impact
Gulf Coast Business Review, FL – December 16, 2010
Just a few years ago, local governments around the Gulf Coast were in a race to the top to increase impact fees on new development. Such fees range from a few thousand dollars to more than $20,000 for a home, and to tens of thousands of dollars per 1,000 square …
Highland council votes to extend development impact fee credit
San Bernardino Sun, CA – December 15, 2010
The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to extend a 25 percent development impact fee credit through 2011 and add another 5 percent. Council members called the move a good faith effort to be business friendly and hopefully stimulate residential and …
Commissioners to consider transportation fees for new developments
Colorado Springs Gazette, CO – December 15, 2010
El Paso County Commissioners today will consider a county-wide transportation impact fee for builders of new residential and commercial developments. “We’ve had no consistent process of determining who pays for roads. The plan is to have a fair and …
Local impact fee fight goes to the Ohio Supreme Court
Middletown Journal, OH – December 15, 2010
A local fight over the legality of impact fees will be heard by the Ohio Supreme Court. The state’s highest court agreed to listen to arguments if impact fees that Hamilton Twp. imposed on new homes built in southern Warren County is legal or a form of taxation. …
Pasco School Board OKs plan to seek ‘impact fee’
Mid Columbia Tri City Herald, WA – December 15, 2010
The Pasco School Board unanimously agreed Tuesday to ask Franklin County and the city of Pasco to adopt an “impact fee” on new construction in the school district that could be used to provide facilities for new students who come with development. The …
Clay commission extends transportation impact fee moratorium
Florida Times-Union, FL – December 14, 2010
The Clay County Commission has extended a moratorium on collection of the county’s transportation impact fee, which was scheduled to expire Dec. 31. The commission approved an ordinance today that extends the moratorium through June 30, 2011. …
Riverton moves to lower construction fees
Salt Lake Tribune, UT – December 14, 2010
Construction could boom in Riverton, if the city follows through on a plan to make itself more attractive to builders. Next month, the city will consider lowering its impact fees for new construction, a move designed to make building more appealing, while lowering the …
Surprise City Council OKs internal loans
Arizona Republic, AZ – December 13, 2010
The Surprise City Council on Thursday discussed the following items. Vote to authorize a series of internal loans to correct improperly documented fund transfers. The loans are intended to help the city recover nearly $73 million that was misspent over the past decade. …
Moratorium yielding results
Polk County Democrat, FL – December 13, 2010
Representatives from the construction and related industries are pleased. Their message to Polk County Commissioners on Dec. 1 was heard loud and clear: The six month impact fee moratorium is not enough. Extend it at least 18 months to two years — preferably …
Board discusses trash, impact fees
Santa Rosa Press Gazette, FL – December 12, 2010
Santa Rosa’s Board of County Commissioners are doing everything they can to stimulate the local economy when it comes for builders. To help encourage continued growth, Santa Rosa County Commissioner voted to extend the suspension of transportation …
Merced cuts fees to entice developer to start south side housing project
Merced Sun-Star, FL – December 10, 2010
Merced Meadows, a neighborhood in South Merced, is the name of the first major housing construction the city has seen in more than 18 months. It’s also an affordable housing project on the city’s neglected South Side. The groundbreaking ceremony was the culmination …
Commissioners rebuff new impact fee that would benefit schools
Mid Columbia Tri City Herald, WA – December 9, 2010
Franklin County commissioners are not willing to charge builders a fee to raise money for new Pasco school facilities. Pasco School District officials have been planning to ask Pasco and Franklin County to adopt an “impact fee” on new construction in the district that could …
Editorial: Lee impact fees need full review
The News-Press, FL – December 9, 2010
Lee County commissioners moved in the right direction Tuesday by reducing county road impact fees for new medical office space, but they need to review their whole impact fee structure. The fees are one-time charges designed to help pay for the impact of …
County to Impose New Developer Impact Fees?
Valley Voice, CA – December 9, 2010
Aproposal by the Board of Supervisors to impose new, county-wide developer impact fees on all new construction is being met with fierce opposition by local builders – and appears to have only lukewarm support from cities around Tulare County. Following a public …
Regional Water Board Overreach Could Cost Region Billions
The Sacramento Press, CA – December 9, 2010
This Thursday the Central Valley Water Quality Control Board (CVWQCB) will be convening a hearing regarding the newly proposed Wastewater Discharge Permit for the Sacramento Regional Sanitation District (SRSD). The Discharge Permit as currently written would …
New Bellingham law provides traffic fee discounts for some developers
Bellingham Herald, WA – December 8, 2010
City law starting Jan. 1, 2011, will allow up to 50 percent discounts on transportation impact fees for developers who build in specific locations and take steps to reduce their project’s traffic impacts. Bellingham City Council on Monday, Dec. 6, voted 5-2 to approve …
Culpeper approves impact fees
The Free Lance-Star, VA – December 8, 2010
Despite overwhelming opposition from the business community and residents, Culpeper last night became the first county in Virginia to adopt traffic impact fees under 2008 legislation. The vote was 4-3 with Chairman Bradley Rosenberger, Sue Hansohn, Larry Aylor and …
Impact fee ordinance causes some disagreement at Dorchester County Council meeting
WCBD, SC – December 7, 2010
Cold weather did not freeze Dorchester County residents from turning out to the county council meeting Monday. The council voted 6 to 1 passing a fee on new businesses and homes in the lower portion of the county. The council passed the second reading earlier this year …
Bellingham lawmakers reduce Transportation Impact Fees
KGMI, WA – December 7, 2010
Developers will be shelling out less money next year to the City of Bellingham to help offset traffic congestion caused by new development. The city council on Monday night approved a Transportation Impact Fee for next year that is $5 less than the …
Developer Asks for $75525 Impact Fee Waiver
Patch, IL – December 7, 2010
Developers of the senior housing community Zurich Meadows, 250 Mohawk Trail, have requested waiver of a $75,525 impact fee from Community Unit School District 95. They made their request at the Dec. 2 Committee of the Whole meeting. Carefree Development, …
Marco Council”s 7-0 vote delays changes in controversial restauarant impact fees
Naples Daily News, FL – December 7, 2010
Restaurant owners looking to expand may want to put such plans on the backburner for now. Marco Island City Council voted (7-0) to table the idea of approving a moratorium on restaurant impact fees. Several restaurant owners on Marco Island were crying foul about …
Investigation uncovers millions mismanaged in Surprise
YourWestValley.com, AZ – December 7, 2010
The Surprise City Council will discuss options Thursday night on how best the city can recover financially after a city investigation uncovered that former city officials mismanaged millions of dollars over the course of the past decade to pay for the new City Hall …
Lee County reduces fees to spur business growth
Naples Daily News – December 7, 2010
Joint Implant Surgeons of Florida, a successful medical practice looking to expand, has been stifled for almost two years. Its two surgeons have more patients than they can handle, but the most likely option for growth involved paying about $200,000 in county …
Dorchester County to vote on fees
ABC NEWS 4, SC – December 5, 2010
It could be a council heated meeting Monday night in St. George. The controversial transportation impact fee is up for a final vote after months of debate. The proposal would essentially charge some home builders in the county a fee. That money would then be used …
Who’s responsible for $8M in uncollected municipal money?
The Hudson Reporter, NJ – December 5, 2010
Let the finger-pointing begin. The recent announcement by the Town Council that Secaucus failed to collect a $194,000 impact fee owed by a developer – on top of millions more in uncollected fees and fines owed to the town – has past town officials out swinging. …
Surprise accounting goofs accumulate to $73 million bill
Arizona Republic, AZ – December 4, 2010
Surprise mismanaged tens of millions of dollars over the past decade and built a glimmering new $61 million City Hall with funds that were improperly accounted for, according to a city investigation. Poorly trained finance employees were shuffling money from one account …
Lee student enrollment rising again, more school construction planned
Naples Daily News, FL – December 4, 2010
A surprise sign that the recession’s grasp has loosened may be evidenced in Lee County’s classrooms. The Lee County School District is on its way to seeing two years of student population growth and once again considering building new schools and buying land. …
Tulare County plans new impact fees
Visalia Times-Delta, CA – December 3, 2010
Fees to build new homes, offices, stores and other buildings in Tulare County likely will increase, but how much and how those fees will be used may become a point of contention with the construction industry. County supervisors this week approved a resolution to …
Tulare County eyes fees on construction
Porterville Recorder, CA – December 3, 2010
The first step in a process to begin charging development impact fees on construction in the county, and maybe adding fees to construction within incorporated cities, was begun by Tulare County Supervisors on Tuesday. On a 4-1 vote with Supervisor Phil Cox voting no, …
Bellingham to consider allowing discounts on traffic impact fees
TheNewsTribune.com, WA – December 3, 2010
The transit authority, anti-sprawl group Futurewise and Associated General Contractors of Washington are all applauding a draft law that would give developers discounts on transportation fees if they meet certain conditions. The City Council on Monday, Dec. 6, will hold a …
Sarasota County weighs cutting some impact fees, hoping for job growth
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL – December 2, 2010
Call it a fiscal Band-Aid or a mini stimulus package: The Sarasota County Commission hopes to slash impact fees on new homes to sway residential and commercial builders to bring new life to the struggling local economy. To fight the county’s 12 percent …
Impact fee moratorium extended
News Chief, FL – December 2, 2010
On Wednesday, Polk County Commissioners extended the impact fee moratorium on business development for another 18 months. The moratorium was set to end on Feb. 1, 2011, but will now end on July 31, 2012. By that time, commissioners hope the economy …
Dist. 95 on way to waiving fee for developer
Chicago Daily Herald, IL – December 2, 2010
Developers of a proposed seniors apartment complex in Lake Zurich may get a break on a developer fee typically paid to a local school district because of the expectation it won’t have any children living there. Lake Zurich Unit District 95 board members Thursday night …
City Mulls Plan to Impose Tax on Commercial Real Estate to Pay for Transportation Projects
Patch, VA – December 1, 2010
The City of Alexandria is beginning to look at ways to pay for key transportation projects and is inviting residents to have a say in its decision-making process as it considers raising commercial real estate taxes. The city is considering adding a tax onto the …
Impact fee moratorium could expire
Polk County Democrat, FL – December 1, 2010
County commissioners Wednesday will consider one of four options on the six month impact fee moratorium. The first two options call for the moratorium to expire Feb. 1, with one alternative calling for an impact fee re-imposed at 50 percent, or the second alternative, …
Patrons tack dollars onto Marco restaurant wall to protest utility fee
Marconews, FL – November 30, 2010
Customers are plastering dollar bills on a restaurant’s entrance to help the family-owned business survive an expansion that came with an unexpected $64,000 fee from Marco Island officials. The plight of Chefs’ Express was first heard when co-owner Anne Feinman …
Local worries over county road tax could spread
News-Times, OR – November 30, 2010
It’s hardly front-page news when a business owner gripes about city fees. However, concerns voiced by a Forest Grove dentist over a relatively new road tax likely foreshadow a tiff that could spread through Washington County like a bad case of gingivitis. …
Sugar Grove seeks break on school impact fees
Chicago Daily Herald, IL – November 25, 2010
As the Kaneland school district negotiates a new impact fee deal with towns that feed it, one town is asking for some relief. Sugar Grove officials have asked the district to eliminate the transition fee, and cut impact fees overall by $5,000 per residential unit. Transition …
Tavares poised to extend impact-fee waiver for another year
Orlando Sentinel, FL – November 24, 2010
City leaders are looking to continue waiving impact fees for a second year in a row as a way to attract new construction into the area. At a meeting last week, City Council members decided in a 4-1 vote to consider waiving the fees typically used to help offset the cost …
Marcellus impact fee getting close look
Scranton Times-Tribune, PA – November 23, 2010
Senate Republican leaders are giving consideration to letting local governments charge impact fees to offset the impact of natural gas drilling operations. Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati, R-25, Jefferson County, is the latest to broach the subject, …
Budget Committee in favor of new infrastructure impact fees
Seacoastonline.com, NH – November 23, 2010
The town’s Budget Committee wants the Planning Board to consider requiring an additional impact fee from developers who want to build in town. The committee voted last week to send a letter to the board asking them to consider submitting a warrant article in March …
Bay County Fee Funds Stormwater Projects
WMBB-TV, FL – November 22, 2010
Workers are drilling to fix a drainage problem on a dirt road. Their progress determines if drivers can pass through. “I’ve been living here since about 2000 and its always been a mess, every time it rains,” said Bay County resident, Dent Tullis Jr. Tullis pays to ensure …
News comments: Charge developers a fee to offset new developments, pay for schools
LehighValleyLive.com, PA – November 20, 2010
Easton Area School District recently announced that it will not raise taxes beyond the 1.7 percent state cap. Administrators warned that not raising taxes more than 1.7 percent could lead to another year of cuts. Reader would like to see the burden of paying for …
Kent Chamber of Commerce takes stand on transportation-impact fees
PNW Local News, WA – November 20, 2010
The Kent Chamber of Commerce didn’t pull any punches in a letter it drafted and sent to the city this fall, after the city’s new transportation-impact fees went into effect. “…The City of Kent neglected our recommendations to prioritize transportation …
City moves ahead with plans to waive impact fees
Daily Commercial, FL – November 19, 2010
Tavares officials moved forward with plans to waive city impact fees for another year. At Wednesday night’s city council meeting, the board approved the holding of public hearings on an ordinance to extend the impact fee waiver program until the end of 2011. The …
Hearing planned for higher street charge
Albany Democrat Herald, CA – November 18, 2010
The Albany City Council plans to hold a public hearing on Jan. 12, 2011, on a proposal to raise the city’s transportation system development charge. The current charge, imposed on new construction to help pay for streets and related projects to …
Impact fees set for hearing
Culpeper Star Exponent, VA – November 17, 2010
Some two years after first considering the idea, the Board of Supervisors next month is expected to decide if the county should implement transportation impact fees. The supervisors will also hear what residents have to say about the idea at a public hearing on …
Frederick County waives impact fees for affordable housing
Frederick News Post, VA – November 17, 2010
Affordable housing in Frederick County will not be charged for impact fees as of next year. And one commissioner who will be serving on the next Board of County Commissioners hinted all impact fees could be reduced or eliminated when the new board takes office. …
Stormwater fee nears fruition
Statesman Journal, OR – November 17, 2010
Stayton residents could be seeing another new fee, this time for stormwater. The city’s stormwater master plan is moving forward after Oregon’s Land Use Board of Appeals supported the city of Stayton last month. The plan, which Stayton City Council adopted …
Tavares officials to discuss extending impact fee waiver
Daily Commercial, FL – November 16, 2010
Continuing an incentive to spur commercial development will likely be a hot topic of discussion Wednesday night. The Tavares City Council will consider extending the city-wide impact fee waiver program for another year. The current waiver ordinance is set to expire at …
Residents should be outraged at proposed mobility fees
Tampabay.com, FL – November 16, 2010
I find it difficult to understand how the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) can at this time suggest that impact fees be turned into mobility fees and passed on to residents and that Pasco residents are not outraged. The proposed mobility tax would ask …
Council OKs Jack in the Box appeal
Canon City Daily Record, CO – November 16, 2010
At its meeting Monday, the Cañon City City Council approved an appeal filed by Bladow Properties over the $7,800 traffic impact fee. “They appreciate the level of support that has been shown by the community for their project,” said City Administrator Steve Rabe. …
Gautier mayor wants county supervisors’ support in fighting JCUA fee
Mississippi Press, MS – November 16, 2010
Gautier Mayor Tommy Fortenberry wants county supervisors’ support in fighting a Jackson County Utility Authority fee he says is illegal and stifling economic development in Jackson County. Fortenberry is taking issue with charges related to will-serve letters, which …
City dishes up heartburn to restaurant owners
Fernandina Beach News-Leader, FL – November 15, 2010
The city recently tried to collect nearly $800,000 in impact fees from local restaurants it said had more seating than indicated in documents filed with the state, causing some restaurant owners heartburn when they got their bills. City staff determined recently…
Houston drainage fee fight heading to Austin
KHOU.com, TX – November 15, 2010
Opponents of Proposition 1 are planning to lobby the state legislature to strike down the controversial drainage fee, even after voters narrowly approved it earlier this month. Don Hooper, who organized a political action committee blasting Prop 1, said the effort …
Using impact fees Was Secaucus’ use of Xchange fees legitimate?
Weehawken Reporter, NJ – November 14, 2010
A critical deadline is fast approaching for the Secaucus Recreation Center, and the financing of the facility’s construction highlights the issue of how impact fees paid by developers should, or shouldn’t, be used. Sometime within the next few months, the Town Council …
Smart growth needs smart decisionmaking
Tampabay.com, FL – November 13, 2010
Smart growth doesn’t mean cheap growth. As county government attempts to steer high-end business growth and so-called transit-oriented development into two corridors along west and southern Pasco, the price of that strategy could mean new assessments …
Proposition 26 Has Potentially Significant Implications for the Building Industry
JD Supra (press release), CA – November 12, 2010
California voters last week approved Proposition 26, a far-reaching amendment to the California Constitution with potentially significant implications for the building industry. While most pre-election attention focused on Prop 26’s requirement that regulatory fees …
Cranberry to review impact fee program
Pittsburgh Post Gazette, PA – November 11, 2010
When it comes to Cranberry’s traffic network, some of the most dramatic expansions and improvements in the past two decades have been funded in part by a developer-paid levy that once was so controversial, its existence was challenged all the way to the …
$64000 impact fee stuns Marco Island eatery
The News-Press, FL – November 11, 2010
Customers are showing their support for the Feinman family one dollar bill at a time. The family owns the Chefs’ Express restaurant, a small business in the Shops of Olde Marco. After a January move into a larger unit at the plaza, the Feinmans received a surprise – …
Planners reverse impact-fee vote
The Free Lance-Star, VA – November 11, 2010
It was a night of contradiction. First, the Culpeper County Planning Commission voted 7-1 to recommend that the Board of Supervisors amend the Comprehensive Plan to allow for the implementation of transportation impact fees. Then, 10 minutes later, the …
Seabrook needs impact fee ordinance
The Daily News of Newburyport, NH – November 10, 2010
I have recently been going door to door talking to voters about the prospect of enacting a tax-cutting impact fee ordinance in Seabrook, one of the few towns on the seacoast not having one in place. Currently, at least 75 towns in New Hampshire charge impact …
Lakeland offers incentives to lure well-paying jobs
Tbo.com, FL – November 10, 2010
The city wants to attract the best and brightest workers. What community doesn’t? In Lakeland though, city commissioners are offering breaks on impact fees to new and expanding businesses that bring high skill, high wage jobs to the city to make that happen. …
Don’t buy developers’ line
Myrtle Beach Sun News, SC – November 9, 2010
Ever since the impact fee was adopted, I have read the rhetoric of half truths and misleading conclusions proffered by the development community as to why this fee is a bad thing. For years, all across this country, impact fees have been assessed on new development; …
Prescott, Prescott Valley prevail in suit over impact fee waiver
Sun Shopper, AZ – November 8, 2010
The City of Prescott and Town of Prescott Valley have prevailed in a lawsuit that challenged both municipalities for waiving development impact fees for commercial and industrial construction. Representatives from both jurisdictions said they do not know …
Solano Supervisors to review fee report
TheReporter.com, CA – November 7, 2010
The English Hills Transportation Impact Fee is up for review by county supervisors when they meet Tuesday. The impact fee program was created to provide a source of funding for improving major roadways in the English Hills area north of Vacaville. Tuesday, the Solano …
It’s up to school board, not council to set impact fee levels
The Olympian, WA – November 5, 2010
The Olympia City Council and the Olympia School Board are a bit at odds over how much the school district should collect in impact fees on new homes. Staff members for the city and school district are meeting in hopes of working out an agreement. City Council …
Arizona court ruling rejects challenge to impact fee
Victoria Advocate, AZ – November 4, 2010
Arizona cities have broad powers to impose development impact fees, the state Court of Appeals said Thursday in a decision that upheld a levy by Mesa to help pay for cultural facilities used by the entire community. Development impact fees are an ongoing source of …
Cedar Lake OKs park impact fee
Gary Post Tribune, IN – November 4, 2010
A proposed $1,170 park impact fee for new homes was unanimously approved by the Town Council on Wednesday. The fee, which will be added to the building permit fee, takes effect in six months. Approval came during a joint meeting with the Plan Commission. Plan …
Houston voters OK drainage fee, but who will pay for it?
Houston Chronicle, TX – November 3, 2010
Mayor Annise Parker may have won the Election Day battle to persuade voters to pay a fee for fixing streets and drainage problems, but who wins the war remains to be seen. City Council members, who are listening to a chorus of local school officials, church leaders …
Impact fee cut rejected
The News-Press, FL – November 2, 2010
Noting a lack of results from other counties that tried to spur the building industry with fee cuts, most Lee County commissioners Monday rejected an across-the-board cut. They did, however, support trimming fees on commercial and medical developments. I recall …
City Hopes Impact-Fee Cuts Nurture Growth
The Ledger, FL – November 2, 2010
The city of Lakeland wants to give businesses a break on impact fees to attract new growth and jobs to the area. The Economic Development Impact Fee Mitigation program will cut non-utility impact fees for businesses that build new facilites and pay …
Missoula city councilwoman urges more women on committee
The Missoulian, MT – November 2, 2010
One city committee is overrun by dudes – and sorely in need of girl power. That’s the perspective of Councilwoman Stacy Rye, who on Monday urged the administration to recruit and appoint more women to the Impact Fee Advisory Committee. Just one female is …
County puts deadline on transportation impact fees
Citrus Daily, FL – November 2, 2010
On Election Day, the Citrus County Commission put a final deadline on the suspension of transportation impact fees. While Citrus County voters were out casting ballots, the county commission decided to set the fee deadline for June 1, 2011. That means transportation …
Lee County considering impact fee reduction
NBC2 News, FL – November 1, 2010
The medical industry is one of Lee County’s most prosperous and some commissioners want to make it easier for medical developments to expand there. But the move would come with a price to taxpayers. For developer Magnus Karlstedt, new medical suites …
Lee looks at cutting fees to spur business development, like Collier did
Naples Daily News, FL – October 31, 2010
Lee County leaders may consider following Collier and more than a dozen other Florida counties that have slashed fees charged to businesses in hopes of breathing life back into a struggling economy. Businesses that build new buildings or move into existing space …
Community drops suit over impact fee
Daytona Beach News-Journal, FL – October 30, 2010
An adults-only community has dropped its lawsuit challenging Volusia County’s school impact fee. Shea Victoria Gardens LLC filed the lawsuit last month against Volusia County, the School Board and Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum. The case was closed Oct. …
San Tan Valley library options limited
TriValley Central, AZ – October 30, 2010
Bryan Martyn, District 2 Pinal County supervisor, was surprised that he didn’t get any questions about incorporating San Tan Valley at a public forum on Oct. 14 at Poston Butte High School. A new library, however, was a different matter. “We want to get this library up …
Cape Coral pushes fire sprinklers
The News-Press, FL – October 29, 2010
Flames burst from the pan of oil Quinetta Johnson left on the stove in her Cape Coral apartment. She left, just for an instant, to use her computer. “I smelled smoke. I went into the kitchen and turned off the stove,” recalled Johnson, 52, of the Oct. 18 fire. And then “the …
Oak Island to enact new wastewater impact, tap fees
StarNewsOnline.com, NC – October 28, 2010
The Oak Island Town Council will vote on changes to wastewater system tap and impact fees to better cover costs associated with the system at next month’s regular meeting. During a special meeting Thursday night, council members heard from Town Manager Jerry …
If cutting Hernando County impact fees created jobs, prove it
Tampabay.com, FL – October 28, 2010
Hernando County commissioners are in denial. Tuesday, they learned their year-old strategy of discounting impact fees had failed to stimulate the local economy, to resurrect building activity or to boost employment. So they voted unanimously to keep the tactic in …
Milford council introduces plan to extend impact fee moratorium
Milford Beacon, DE – October 28, 2010
Starting in the summer of 2010, Milford’s city government has stopped collecting utility impact fees — the money charged when someone attaches a new building to the city’s sewer, water and electric systems. The fees exist to balance out the cost of making …
Impact fees divide Olympia City Council
Bellingham Herald, WA – October 27, 2010
Some Olympia City Council members expressed concern late Tuesday about proposed school impact fees dropping to $659 for single-family homes, an 84 percent drop from 2009. Developers pay impact fees on new homes, and they’re intended to offset the costs of growth …
Hernando to keep reduced impact fees in place another year
Tampabay.com, FL – October 26, 2010
Hernando County will keep its residential and commercial impact fees at 2001 levels for another year, the County Commission decided Tuesday. Enacted 10 months ago, the impact fee reductions were set to end on Nov. 30. Figures compiled by county staffers showed …
Collier County agrees to make impact fee cuts retroactive
Naples Daily News, FL – October 26, 2010
Developers and residents looking to improve their Collier County properties are to keep a combined approximate $2.5 million in their pockets due to the Board of Collier County Commissioners’ decision Tuesday to make impact fee reductions retroactive. Commissioners…
Impact fees impact our county
Shepherdstown Observer, WV – October 26, 2010
What do Washington High School, Shepherdstown Fire Company, Sam Michaels Park and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department have in common? They have all benefited from impact fees. Impact fees have been in effect in Jefferson County since 2004, and are collected …
Reduced impact fee suggested for new homes with sprinkler system installed
Cape Coral Daily Breeze, FL – October 25, 2010
Cape Coral City Council could consider an ordinance to reduce impact fees on new construction if homeowners decide to install sprinkler systems in their homes. The board will first have to decide if it supports a study to see if the sprinklers could reduce those fees, …
County’s leaders face fee decision
Ocala, FL – October 24, 2010
Sometime over the next eight months, the Marion County Commission will tackle the issue of transportation impact fees — that is, how much to charge, or perhaps whether to collect them at all. The commission opted to suspend the fees early in 2010 — and …
Impact fee moratorium future pondered
Lake Wales News. FL – October 23, 2010
The question is not only — or, so much — whether the impact fee has been effective. The jury is still out on that as Tom Deardorff, growth management director was uncertain from data collected since the moratorium was instituted. Regardless, the question raised …
Impact fee cut has not fueled expected building boom in Hernando, numbers show
Tampabay.com, FL – October 22, 2010
In the 10 months since Hernando County dropped its residential and commercial impact fees back to 2001 levels, the hoped-for building boom has not materialized. From December 2009 through September 2010, the number of commercial and residential building permits …
Impact fee rollback shows mixed bag
Hernando Today, FL – October 22, 2010
In November 2009, county commissioners voted unanimously to roll back impact fees for residential and commercial construction to 2001 levels, from $9,200 to $4,848. Commissioners hoped the rollback, which would last one year, would prompt new home construction …
County will take another look at impact fees
News Chief, FL – October 21, 2010
In about five weeks, the Polk County Commission will decide what to do about impact fees. On Wednesday, county commissioners told County Attorney Michael Craig and Assistant County Attorney Linda McKinley that they want to see options on extending the …
Business Owners Say Impact Fees Too Expensive
WFTV Orlando, FL – October 20, 2010
Business owners told WFTV Wednesday they want to expand in Saint Cloud, but the city is making it too expensive. In some cases, the city’s impact fees are more expensive than their renovations. A father and son spent more than $250,000 renovating an old gas station …
Marco Island Sun Times, FL – October 20, 2010
A fight to obtain an electrical permit from the city of Marco Island has ended successfully for the owners of the Chefs’ Express restaurant. The city released the permit to Chef’s Express’ owners, the Feinman family, on Tuesday afternoon. An unexpected …
Canon City restaurant detoured by high costs
Pueblo Chieftain, CO – October 20, 2010
A Jack in the Box fast food outlet will not be built in Canon City after a developer withdrew his application based on high costs. Emerald Cascade Restaurant Systems Chief Executive Officer Michael Bladow withdrew his application to build the Jack in the Box restaurant …
Supervisors take first vote on Southeast Regional sewer rate increase
Lake County News, CA – October 20, 2010
On Tuesday the Board of Supervisors took the first vote needed to implement a 39-percent increase for ratepayers in the county’s Southeast Regional Wastewater Collection System. The unanimous vote advanced the ordinance authorizing the rate hike to the …
CS transportation fee to be on ballot
The Eagle, TX – October 20, 2010
College Station residents are being asked to vote on a transportation user fee on the Nov. 2 ballot that could raise nearly $1 million a year for road repairs. If approved, the measure would add a $2-per-residence fee to monthly utility bills. For businesses, the cost …
Under heat from restaurants, Marco Island moves to consider impact fee moratorium
Naples Daily News, FL – October 19, 2010
Restaurant owners were heating up the room during Marco Island City Council discussions on impact fees Monday night. Chefs Express coowner and chef Annie Feinman’s voice cracked and face turned red as she pled with council to make impact fees reasonable. She said…
Commissioners Will Look at Impact Fee Moratorium Alternatives
The Ledger, FL – October 19, 2010
County commissioners directed county staffers today to present options for reinstating impact fees at a public hearing Dec. 1. Commissioners voted in July to impose a six-month moratorium on all impact fees except school impact fees in an attempt to encourage …
New Fees Aim to Boost Construction and Affordable Housing in Walnut Creek
Walnut Creek Patch, CA – October 18, 2010
Affordable housing can be hard to find in Walnut Creek, but the city’s Housing Division is hoping to change that. The Housing Division is proposing changes to a city ordinance that temporarily would allow developers to pay a fee instead of setting aside affordable housing …
City Commission to discuss impact fees
KBZK Bozeman News, MT – October 18, 2010
Bozeman officials will discuss city impact fee policies during the Monday meeting of the Bozeman City Commission. The fees charge new developments for impacts to city infrastructure, such as the water supply or fire de partment. Commissioners will talk about …
Road impact fee reimbursements to be raised by Town of Windsor
The Coloradoan, CO – October 17, 2010
The Windsor Town Board decided to give a boost to the three developers waiting for road impact fee reimbursements this year. Instead of the 25 percent minimum the board is required to reimburse, the town has decided to up that to 50 percent of the …
Charlotte fee changes designed to foster growth
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL – October 17, 2010
Changes made this week to Charlotte County’s impact fee ordinance are designed to make the county more affordable for new businesses and spur completion of unfinished homes. Some single-family residential building permits obtained in 2006 expired because of …
Polk Commission May Extend Impact Fee Moratorium
The Ledger, FL – October 15, 2010
Polk County commissioners will consider extending the impact fee moratorium when they meet Wednesday. Commissioners voted 3-2 in July to impose a six-month moratorium on all impact fees except for those for schools. The commissioners also agreed to review the …
Marco Island restaurants may be served up a savings on impact fees
Naples Daily News, FL – October 15, 2010
Marco Island restaurants seeking to move or expand may soon be served some financial relief with proposed decreases in utility impact fees. Marco Island City Council is to review an approximate 33 percent reduction in water and 50 percent reduction in sewer …
Hawaii Council eyes coffee pest, reef fish ban, and impact fees
Big Island Video News, HI – October 14, 2010
North Kona’s outgoing councilmember Kelly Greenwell may not be returning to his District 7 seat, but that doesn’t mean he is going to sit idly by. The councilman is introducing two resolutions coming up soon before the council: Resoltuion 397 is asking to look for …
Realtors, homebuilders associations asking city to lower impact fees
The Bozeman Daily Chronicle – October 14, 2010
Local realtor and builder associations have asked the city of Bozeman to reduce impact fees charged on new homes and businesses. Both the Gallatin Association of Realtors and Southwest Montana Building Industry Association have asked the Bozeman City Commission …
Impact fee seen as key to park development
Gary Post Tribune, IN – October 12, 2010
Officials are looking to a recently approved impact fee for the Parks Department to help improve deficiencies in the recreational zone improvement plan. The Park Board approved a fee of $1,170 per single family home that will be part of the building permit fee. …
Collier commissioners reduce school impact fees by 50 percent
Naples News, FL – October 12, 2010
Developers working in Collier County may soon build sizable savings as the Board of Collier County Commissioners considered continued decreases in impact fees Tuesday morning. Collier County School District impact fees, which are collected by the county, are to …
Riverside County cities could keep impact fee discounts
Press-Enterprise, CA – October 11, 2010
Half-price building fees in some Riverside County cities have spurred development and should be continued beyond a December expiration date, building industry officials said. The Western Riverside Council of Governments, which advises cities on the Transportation …
Roads fee plan moves ahead
Culpeper Star Exponent, VA – October 9, 2010
The Culpeper County Board of Supervisors this week moved forward with studying the implementation of transportation impact fees that would fund road improvements through residential and commercial development. Following an hour-long presentation Tuesday from …
City’s study to gauge growth impact on roads
Mercury-Register, CA – October 7, 2010
The city is preparing a traffic impact fee study to determine which roadway segments and intersections would be impacted by new development and how much the city needs to charge to offset the impacts. The City Council authorized spending $62,339 for …
Council seeks to justify rate hikes
Kingman Daily Miner, AZ – October 7, 2010
Defending it as a necessary measure beyond their control, members of the Kingman City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to issue a notice of intent to raise city water and wastewater rates in the coming weeks, with a vote on the rate hikes themselves likely …
Culpeper moves on traffic impact fee
The Free Lance-Star, VA – October 6, 2010
The Culpeper County Board of Supervisors took the first step last night toward becoming the first jurisdiction in Virginia to adopt a transportation impact fee ordinance since the General Assembly gave counties that option in 2008. Following an hourlong presentation …
Sarasota County leaders look at following the lead of Manatee
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL – October 6, 2010
Almost two years after school impact fees were suspended in Manatee County, Sarasota County School Board members want to give a similar boost to local home builders. Their biggest hurdle may be convincing Sarasota County commissioners to approve the move…
No county fee break for Habitat
Owen Sound Sun Times, ON – October 6, 2010
Grey County will collect almost $2,300 for a development fee from Habitat for Humanity for a home the non-profit group is building in Owen Sound despite opposition to the charge from the city’s mayor, Ruth Lovell Stanners. A bid by Lovell Stanners to have county …
Council to discuss raising water and sewer fees again
Kingman Daily Miner, AZ – October 5, 2010
It’s that time of year again – time for the Kingman City Council to increase the city water and sewer rates. For the third time in as many years, Council is scheduled to discuss water and wastewater rate increases at tonight’s regular meeting. Council will discuss issuing …
Hamilton Township’s impact fees again challengedý
Cincinnati.com, OH – September 30, 2010
Another challenge to Hamilton Township’s controversial collection of impact fees on new construction has landed in court. This time, nearby Maineville and a local developer are suing township trustees. Attorneys for the developer, Salt Run LLC, and the Village of …
Tarpon adopts extensive public art master plan
Suncoast News, FL – September 30, 2010
Through its newly devised set of guidelines and master plan, the city’s Public Art Committee hopes to show it is serious about applying the brushwork of creativity to Tarpon Springs. Marleen Gravitz, Public Art Committee chairwoman, says the master plan will provide …
Flowery Branch officials: Time not right for impact feesý
Gainesville Times, GA – September 30, 2010
Flowery Branch doesn’t plan to pursue development impact fees, for now. City Planner James Riker had brought up the idea, as part of the city’s comprehensive plan update, to City Council in August and was directed to gather more information and report back with findings. …
Collier reduces impact fees
Tampa Bay Review, FL – September 29, 2010
The Collier County Commission voted to reduce transportation impact fees by 32% effective Oct. 8. Commissioner Donna Fiala cast the only dissenting vote of the board’s five members. However, Fiala was not opposed to lowering the fee; instead, she supported a more …
2 Pierce County Council proposals aim to help developers
Tacoma Daily News – September 29, 2010
Two measures intended to stimulate the economy by allowing developers to delay paying some fees cleared a Pierce County Council committee Tuesday on its way to the full council. The first proposal (2010-65) allows builders to put-off paying county-mandated parks …
County to decide funding option for recreation
Tbo.com, FL – September 29, 2010
A decision on what Highlands County will do concerning the distribution of recreation funds to the three municipalities will likely not come until later this fall. June Fisher, the director of the county’s community services division, said Monday the staff needs to “do …
Building incentive: Collier County decreases impact fees
Naples Daily News, FL – September 28, 2010
A decision by Collier County Commissioners could mean an uptick in development in coming months. The Board of Collier County Commissioners on Tuesday voted 4-1 to decrease transportation impact fees by 32 percent. The change goes into effect on Oct. 8. …
Council to consider impact fee change
Today’s News-Herald, AZ – September 27, 2010
Area contractors may see a burden lifted in an effort to spur the city’s (Lake Havasu) economy, but some say it may be too little, too late. The City Council is expected to consider adoption of an amendment to city code that would give contractors the option of paying …
Syracuse approves hefty cuts to two impact fees
StandardNet, UT – September 27, 2010
People wanting to build in the city will now have cheaper fees as city officials slashed two key charges. The city council amended its ordinances relating to the fee schedule involving the culinary water impact fee and the park development impact fee. City …
Lindon considering public safety fees
Daily Herald, UT – September 24, 2010
Lindon City Council members on Tuesday considered a proposal to implement a one-time public safety impact fee of $500 for new residents and $63 per square foot for nonresidential construction. The public safety impact fee can be implemented only after a 10-day …
Developer fee hike may be in future in Franklin
The Tennessean, TN – September 22, 2010
The fees that Franklin charges developers to pay for new roads could rise steeply in the months ahead. Proposed increases would raise Franklin’s road impact fees charged for new home, office and other projects by 100 percent or more of their current rate, according to …
Tigard to consider 30 percent water rate hike, bigger increase in fixed chargesý
OregonLive.com, OR – September 22, 2010
Residential water rates could spike by 30 percent starting next year, as the city continues to gather The proposed rate hike was outlined before the City Council on Tuesday. It would follow a much smaller increase already set to take effect next month. Here’s …
Impact fee debate in Dorchester County
Live 5 News, SC – September 21, 2010
“I feel like a quarterback in the NFL, I’ve already been sacked, now this is piling on,” Steve Vaughn said Monday night in front of the Dorchester County Council. That was the prevailing opinion by many of the people who spoke about a proposal in front of the council. …
Hatfield Township raises fees for developers, wood stoves
Lansdale Reporter, PA – September 16, 2010
The township’s board of commissioners voted Wednesday to amend its fee schedule. The members formalized a 20 percent increase in traffic impact fees and added a stipulation for the installation of outdoor wood burning furnaces. Developers who conduct traffic …
Building? Your fees could be dropping
Red Bluff Daily News, CA – September 15, 2010
The Air Quality Mitigation Fee plan was reintroduced to the Tehama County Board of Supervisors Tuesday. The plan proposes to charge new developments to pay for air quality improvements. The revised proposal is similar to the original, but with a reduced fee …
County development fees OK’d to help ailing parks
Modesto Bee, CA – September 15, 2010
The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors gave preliminary approval Tuesday to adding fees to infill developments to help offset the effect on local park districts. The county has long had such impact fees on development in new communities. But park districts in …
Stockton imposes fee reductionsý
Stockton Record, CA – September 15, 2010
In a bid to breathe some life into Stockton’s sickened economy and lure companies interested in expanding, City Hall will temporarily slash and delay collection of many fees charged to developers. Under a broad incentive package approved Tuesday by the City Council, …
Increase in park fee on the horizon?
Auburn Journal, CA – September 14, 2010
Auburn Area Recreation and Parks District leadership wants to be able to fund future projects and support the ever-growing population of Auburn. The district asked the City Council Monday night to consider a future agenda item that could increase the city park impact …
Developers taking city to court over new fees
Gaston Gazette, NC – September 10, 2010
Gastonia’s new strategy of making growth pay for growth may be stunted by a court challenge. The city recently began tying a new expansion fee to each application for a building permit or utility service that developers submit. The charges substantially increase …
Clark County considers fee holiday to lure development
OregonLive.com, OR – September 10, 2010
When the city of Gresham waived business license and other upfront fees for new shops in certain districts, it lured a number of specialty shops, several restaurants and a downtown grocery store to fill some of its vacant storefronts. The incentive has inspired an …
Council to allow impact-fee payments to be divided
Daily Inter Lake, MT – September 9, 2010
The Kalispell City Council on Tuesday discussed but eventually tabled some housekeeping changes to the city’s administrative code. Council members did approve City Manager Jane Howington’s request to allow city impact fees to be paid in installments. The move was seen …
Town seeks funds for stoplight that state has no plans to install
TriValley Central, AZ – September 9, 2010
The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) has already found that a stoplight is warranted at Arizona 79 and Diversion Dam Road in Florence, but has not committed any funds to install it, Town Manager Himanshu Patel told the Town Council. At a work session …
Appeals court upholds fee ruling against Cabarrus
Charlotte Observer, NC – September 9, 2010
The N.C. Court of Appeals has unanimously upheld a lower court’s decision that invalidated a Cabarrus County ordinance requiring developers to pay fees for new schools. Cabarrus County will ask the N.C. Supreme Court to review the appeals court decision, County …
Sycamore City Council votes against reducing impact fees
Dekalb Daily Chronicle, GA – September 8, 2010
A split Sycamore City Council voted against temporarily reducing impact fees for Sycamore’s school and park districts. The council voted 3-3 Tuesday on a resolution that would have allowed City Manager Bill Nicklas to administratively reduce school and park …
Proposed Budget Comes in At $1.3 Bil.
The Ledger, FL – September 8, 2010
Polk County commissioners gave tentative approval Wednesday to next year’s proposed $1.3 billion budget – a drop from $1.6 billion for the current year. The new budget contains no increase in the property tax rate or fire assessments and contains a decrease in …
Builders sue Syracuse over impact fees
StandardNet, UT – September 7, 2010
A coalition of home builders has filed a complaint in 2nd District Court against Syracuse for an unspecified dollar amount, alleging the city assesses “illegal” and “improper” impact fees. But Mayor Jamie Nagle, who was served with the lawsuit last week, said the city’s …
SFMTA expected to extend research group’s contract
San Francisco Examiner, CA – September 6, 2010
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is expected to extend a contract with a research group to provide further study on The City’s transportation impact fee structure. Since June 2009, Cambridge Systematics has been studying potential changes to …
Is Manatee at competitive disadvantage on jobs?
Bradenton Herald, FL – September 5, 2010
When does a tool box hold enough implements to get the job done? By tools, we mean government incentives to grow the job market. That’s the question confronting the Manatee County Commission over a suggestion that the county follow Sarasota in asking voters …
County wants to change how we live, get around
Gainesville Sun, FL – September 5, 2010
In Florida, living in a residential subdivision and getting around by automobile are a part of the state’s identity – like college football and the palm tree. Locally, Alachua County officials intend to make a sea change in this area’s transportation and growth patterns. The …
Town close to settling lawsuit
Indianapolis Star, IN – September 2, 2010
Zionsville has reached a tentative deal to settle a major lawsuit. Mishawaka-based Lehman & Lehman will pay $99,000 under terms of the settlement agreed to last week. The Zionsville Plan Commission had sued the consulting firm for nearly $500,000 last year, alleging …
Enviros win. Growth stops. Do you like it?
Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal, WA – September 1, 2010
So this is what it looks like when the extreme environmentalists get their way. For two decades, enviros in our state have been striving to shut down homebuilding. No-growthers have argued, litigated, legislated, and lobbied for every law, regulation, tax and impact …
Indiana, West Deer traffic impact fees plan gets OK
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA – August 31, 2010
Township planners from West Deer and Indiana took the final step on Monday by approving a plan to charge developers fees relating to transportation costs caused by new development. The Joint Planning Committee forwarded a roster of traffic impact fees to their …
Payson may relax upfront impact fee rules
Payson Roundup, AZ – August 31, 2010
Once upon a time, developers amounted to Payson’s cash cow. These days, they’re more like an endangered species. So the council on Thursday will consider a move to make it a little easier for developers to defer payment of their impact fees — including the $7,500 …
BexarMet investigates accusations of accounting irregularities
WOAI, TX – August 30, 2010
It was an intense meeting, at times, as the results of an investigation into accounting irregularities was revealed to BexarMet Board members on Monday. “I am very upset with this situation,” said District 3 Board member Blanche Atkinson, as she criticized …
Dantzler clarifies impact fee position
The Ledger, FL – August 29, 2010
County Commission candidate Todd Dantzler talked recently about his position on impact fees. He said he may have been misunderstood. When I spoke with him earlier he said he didn’t like impact fees and thought they were excessive. He gave the impression …
Bonita impact fee goes, business arrives
NewsPress.com, FL – August 27, 2010
Dr. Saurabh Patel had a problem: The Bonita Springs ophthalmologist was ready to expand his thriving practice but the cost of moving into a bigger office was prohibitive. One main factor was the city’s change-of-use impact fees for businesses moving into a building …
Poultry farmers say water rates hurting growth
The Decatur Daily, GA – August 27, 2010
Poultry farmers in Limestone County have ruffled feathers over water fees. Expansion is possible here, farmers said, but to increase water meter size, they would have to pay a nearly $30,000 impact fee. On Thursday, farmers told the Limestone County Water and Sewer …
County takes a look at its impact fees
Effingham Herald, NC – August 26, 2010
Effingham County commissioners are weighing a new slate of impact fees. In April, commissioners approved a $60,100 contract with TischlerBise to prepare a capital improvements elements and impact fee analysis. TischlerBise performed a similar study in 2005, and …
West Deer closer to requiring new business fee
Tarentum Valley News Dispatch, PA – August 22, 2010
West Deer is one step closer to requiring a fee from new businesses that would help pay for traffic-related improvements to its roads. The proposed “joint transportation impact fee” with Indiana Township would protect both municipalities from bearing the full cost of …
Lawsuit claims Atherton’s road impact fees are illegal, demands $298000 refund.
San Jose Mercury News, CA – August 20, 2010
A development company has sued Atherton to recover $298,000 in road maintenance fees it alleges the town illegally charged for years and should have returned. “The town promised people refunds, we took them up on it and they reneged,” Walter McNeill, the …
Homebuilders’ efforts will pay off for Oklahoma consumers
NewsOK.com, OK – August 20, 2010
Consumers will reap rewards from state homebuilders’ legislative efforts to tighten contractor registration requirements. The first involves roofer registration legislation, where roofers will register with the state’s Construction Industries Board. Roofers will …
Stormwater fee options abound
The Daily Advance, NC – August 20, 2010
Pasquotank County officials remain stymied by a basic conundrum: What is the fairest way to raise funds for stormwater management projects? Although the county commissioners learned a great deal about stormwater funding options last week from a presentation …
Collier School Board wants to reduce school impact fees by half
Naples Daily News, FL – August 19, 2010
The Collier County School Board wants to make a statement. They hope reducing school impact fees by half is something that gets the county thinking. The Collier County School Board voted unanimously to recommend to the Collier County Board of Commissioners …
Worst-case scenario water rates for Payson
Payson Roundup, UT – August 17, 2010
Back when Blue Ridge water was just a dream, Payson town officials promised residents that developers and new residents would foot the bill — not current water users. But with a 10 percent water rate hike already in effect and potential additional hikes of 20 or 30 percent …
Currituck eyes own facility for sewer
The Daily Advance, NC – August 17, 2010
Even though the up-front costs are higher, Currituck officials have decided that building a new wastewater treatment system in Moyock will be better in the long run than buying an existing plant that needs expanding. The Board of Commissioners Monday decided against …
Details, please: In order to pass, drainage and street referendum costs must be clear
Houston Chronicle, TX – August 17, 2010
Now that Houston City Council has scheduled a November vote on a proposal to levy fees on Houston property owners and developers for a dedicated $8 billion pay-as-you-go program for drainage and street renewal, it’s time for some serious show and tell. As the Chronicle …
Outraged by impact fees? Talk to the experts ….
NMPolitics.net – August 15, 2010
“I am outraged,” were the words with which BIA executive director David Roewe began his August 2010 newsletter. The source of his outrage was a “bunch” of cost increases on Las Cruces home construction. Among those increase were impact fees, a topic …
Kalispell Considers Role of Impact Fee Committee
Flathead Beacon, MT – August 14, 2010
During the 2009 Kalispell mayoral race the question of revoking or revising impact fees, and whether these fees were hindering the city’s economic development, was one of the key issues. But since then, with development at a virtual standstill, impact fees – and …
School district seeks impact fee approval
SnoValley Star, WA – August 11, 2010
The North Bend City Council asked the Snoqualmie Valley School District if it had planned enough to prevent school crowding at its July 20 meeting. District Business Director Ron Ellis said the district had, as he presented the district’s proposed 2011 impact fees, …
Impact fee suspension proposed
Tbo.com – August 11, 2010
Could suspending impact fees for a year jump-start growth in Pasco County? Commissioner Ted Schrader thinks it might. On Tuesday, he proposed suspending fees for parks, fire services and libraries for the 2010-11 budget year, which starts Oct. 1. Suspending those …
Schrader pitches plan to suspend Pasco impact fees
Tampabay.com, FL – August 11, 2010
Commissioner Ted Schrader says he hears it from developers at least once a week: What’s the county going to do about the high impact fees? On Tuesday, Schrader put forth one idea: Suspend for a year the impact fees developers pay for the construction of parks, …
Impact fee suspension proposed
Tbo.com, FL – August 11, 2010
Could suspending impact fees for a year jump-start growth in Pasco County? Commissioner Ted Schrader thinks it might. On Tuesday, he proposed suspending fees for parks, fire services and libraries for the 2010-11 budget year, which starts Oct. 1. Suspending those …
Georgetown county moves toward lowering controversial fees
Myrtle Beach Sun News, SC – August 10, 2010
Georgetown County is moving toward lowering its controversial development impact fees by as much as $2,000. An ordinance revising the year-old impact fees was given second reading by the council last night. The fees are designed to help pay for capital …
Flowery Branch City Council mulling impact fees
Gainesville Times, GA – August 10, 2010
Development impact fees, once all the rage among governments to help pay for infrastructure, haven’t made as much noise in a tanked economy. Many governments, such as Hall County and Gainesville, adopted the fees long ago, when the economy was moving …
Why charge impact fees when no schools are needed?
Daytona Beach News-Journal, FL – August 9, 2010
I am surprised The Daytona Beach News-Journal chose to publish the letter from Susan Gaines regarding the Volusia Building Industry Association’s (VBIA) lawsuit against Volusia County and the school board. Mrs. Gaines must not have read VBIA’s lawsuit, or Circuit …
County commission to vote on development rules
Gainesville Sun, FL – August 9, 2010
In January, county commissioners approved a long-term plan for future growth through a Comprehensive Plan policy that envisioned mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods linked by a future bus rapid transit system. On Tuesday, commissioners are scheduled to take …
Couple: High fees preventing dream of Sandpoint restaurant
Bonner County Daily Bee, ID – August 7, 2010
John and Tullaya Akins’ dream of opening a Mediterranean-style restaurant here went south after they learned how much the city would charge to start the venture. The Sandpoint couple will pursue the plan, but the location will likely be in Ponderay, or maybe in …
Traffic impact fees for developers cut in half
Hollister Free Lance, CA – August 5, 2010
Hoping to make San Benito County more desirable for developers, the San Benito County Board of Supervisors approved a nearly 50 percent interim cut to traffic impact fees during Tuesday’s board meeting. The cut lowers the fee to $11,995 per new residential dwelling. …
Veterans and Belleview officials try to work out fee impasse
Ocala, FL – August 4, 2010
City commissioners and members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8083 want to reduce some impact fees for the veterans’ club. But a few things stand in the way: an ordinance the commission amended and a quickly approaching deadline for already reduced impact …
Spanish Fork ups impact fees for building permits
Deseret News, UT – August 4, 2010
For homebuilder Rick Salisbury, the fees cities charge to allow him to get building permits to construct new homes is part of the cost of doing business. But he wasn’t expecting a hike in impact fees in a down economy, where major construction jobs have been …
Golden Palms Hotel gets break from City Council
Ocala, FL – August 4, 2010
The Ocala City Council is waiving the 20 percent down payment of the impact fee that the Golden Palms Hotel must pay to hook up to the city sewer system. The council took this action Tuesday night despite discovering the hotel owner has not paid 2009 property …
Commission Majority Cites No Evidence for Impact Fee Moratorium
The Ledger, FL – August 1, 2010
Are three of five county commissioners daft? Or do they think we are? It’s hard to draw any other conclusions that don’t involve indictments from the July 23 public hearing on impact fees. The deal was apparently done and three votes were in the can before …
Shrinking Indiana gas tax revenue forces communities to scale back road projects
The Republic, IN – July 31, 2010
Cash-conscious Indiana motorists are driving less and buying more fuel-efficient vehicles, cutting gas tax revenue to the state and forcing many Indiana communities that rely on a portion of the money to defer road repairs. Indiana gas tax and vehicle fee revenue …
Impact fees are a fairer way to pay for the cost of new growth
NMPolitics.net, NM – July 30, 2010
I believe that most of us want to live in vibrant communities with safe, well-maintained neighborhoods. This costs money. When new developments are being built they often require new money to pay for the new infrastructure they require. Too often this new …
Do school-impact fees on West Hawaii property owners make sense?
Hawaii Business Magazine, HI – July 30, 2010
YES! For several decades, public policy has been that taxpayers shouldn’t bear the entire brunt of building new schools in growth areas, but this policy was implemented project-by-project because there was no state law obligating developers to pay. A group of …
Auto Trips Generated: The Standard that Ate the Bicycle Network
Fog City Journal, CA – July 29, 2010
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) has bedeviled efforts to alter the streetscape of San Francisco to implement voter approved Transit First policies for the past decade. But it appears now that efforts to change the way that CEQA works have …
New construction fees to go toward city emergency services facility
Sauk Prairie Eagle, WI – July 29, 2010
With no debate, the Baraboo City Council gave its first approval to a $2,630 emergency services impact fee Tuesday to support construction of a future police, fire and ambulance services building. At their first meeting in July, council members delayed action …
Heritage Harbor Appeals Impact Fees –Asks County Commision for Special Rate
The Bradenton Times, FL – July 28, 2010
Just when you think local developers couldn’t have any more audacity — they try to pull something like this. Luckily, it didn’t pass – the board voted in favor of denying the applicant 6-1, with only Commissioner Whitmore opposing. “This practice has been met by …
Request for impact fee relief denied
Bradenton Herald, FL – July 28, 2010
After hearing a developer’s case for a reduction in impact fees, the Manatee County Commission voted 6-1 on Tuesday to deny the request. Local attorney Kevin Hennessy argued that his client, Kimberly-Horn Associates, developers of The Landings at Heritage …
Hamilton Twp. impact fees OK, court rules
Cincinnati.com, OH – July 27, 2010
Impact fees the township charges for new construction are legal, the 12th District Court of Appeals has ruled. Township officials have battled the Home Builders Association of Greater Cincinnati over the legality of the fees for three years. In a decision released this …
School funding essential for healthy community
Daytona Beach News-Journal, FL – July 26, 2010
Tuesday offered a small victory for the children of Volusia County. A motion for a summary judgment in a 2-year-old lawsuit challenging Volusia County’s school-impact fee was denied by Circuit Judge Terence Perkins. This lawsuit stemmed from a Florida Supreme …
Syracuse tackles $900000 deficit in the park impact fee fund
StandardNet, UT – July 24, 2010
Budget troubles have surfaced in Syracuse as the city is trying to address a $900,000 deficit in the park impact fee fund. Development fees provide money for the fund, to pay for new parks and improvements to existing parks. City leaders believe the first …
Impact-Fee Moratorium: Just Half a Dose of Hemlock
The Ledger, FL – July 23, 2010
The way Polk County Commission Chairman Bob English sees it, forcing taxpayers to take a half dose of hemlock is better than giving them a full dose. At Wednesday’s meeting, English – the swing vote on approving a yearlong moratorium on impact fees for new …
Road-impact fee refunds coming to some in Atherton
The Almanac Online, CA – July 23, 2010
Residents of Atherton have little to cheer about in considering the town government’s straitened financial condition, but for residents who engaged in major home construction projects during the two years when the town had an elevated road-impact fee, …
Dorchester County To Vote on New Impact Fee
WCIV, SC – July 21, 2010
Dorchester County may be hitting the brakes on bumper to bumper traffic, but it could actually end up costing you. Monday night, Dorchester County Council is considering creating a fee that builders would have to cough up. It would pay for new roads to help …
Impact-Fee Moratorium: Don’t Lose More Jobs in Polk
The Ledger, FL – July 21, 2010
Let us review, shall we? If not for the benefit of us all, then for the benefit of the Polk County commissioners are scheduled to consider removing impact fees on new construction for the next 12 months during today’s County Commission meeting in an effort to …
Impact fee refunds could be as high as $1600
Georgetown Times, SC – July 21, 2010
Last week, Georgetown County leaders decided to lower the impact fees it has been charging for new construction. Soon, the owner of a residence who has paid the fees should receive a reimbursement check from the county for an average amount of $1,600. Boyd …
Impact fees gain county approval
Modesto Bee, CA – July 21, 2010
The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved new development fees for roads Tuesday night. The regional transportation impact fee is the last piece in a comprehensive overhaul of the county’s public facilities impact fee, which developers
School impact fee OK, for now
Daytona Beach News-Journal, FL – July 21, 2010
A two-year-old lawsuit challenging Volusia County’s school impact fee will live on to be decided another day while another challenge to the fee from a DeLand adults-only community is argued Thursday before the County Council. Circuit Judge Terence R. Perkins Tuesday …
Payson gives builders time to pay hefty impact fees
Payson Roundup, AZ – July 20, 2010
In a bid to lure new development, the Payson Council has approved a new system that will allow developers to pay hefty impact fees over an extended period. The council unanimously approved a plan to let developers put up a bond but not make any payment on impact …
Pleasant View adopts impact fees
StandardNet, UT – July 20, 2010
Impact fees for new construction will be higher beginning in October. City council members voted unanimously to increase the impact fee for a one-inch service hookup from $550 to $650. This will mean large construction, such as apartment buildings, could pay a hefty …
Village I hit with big fees for schools despite pact
Sacramento Bee, CA – July 19, 2010
Modesto’s Village I homeowners may have been wrongly charged millions of dollars in extra property taxes, and they may be on the hook for millions more because of how school construction funds were spent. A 1994 deal with the Modesto and Sylvan school districts …
County board to vote on impact fee moratorium
News Chief, FL – July 19, 2010
A one-year moratorium on impact fees, which will affect bringing in new businesses or expansion of current businesses, will be voted on by County Commissioners during Wednesday’s meeting. The moratorium would affect almost all Polk County impact fees on …
What candidates say about impact fees
Newnan Times-Herald, GA – July 19, 2010
When Georgia counties were growing like gangbusters, and traffic from newcomers choked country roads, impact fees were seen as a Godsend. But in leaner economic times, the extra fees charged to new development aren’t nearly as attractive. When Coweta added …
Impact fee moratorium in trouble?
The Ledger, FL – July 19, 2010
Until last week, it looked as though the County Commission’s approval of an impact fee moratorium was a sure thing. Now it’s unclear. On Friday, Commissioner Randy Wilkinson said he was having second thoughts about the moratorium. Commissioner Jean Reed has …
Polk County Would Bring Problems With Impact-Fee Moratorium
The Ledger, FL – July 18, 2010
Top ten reasons against impact-fee reductions: A moratorium on impact fees would result in the loss of an estimated $6.5 million. Nassau County and Highlands County didn’t see any evidence that impact-fee reductions boosted construction, and the 50 percent …
How long will impact fee moratorium last?
The Ledger (blog), FL – July 16, 2010
This details of the pending impact fee moratorium the County Commission is poised to consider on Wednesday are getting interesting. Commission Chairman Bob English suggested a nine-month moratorium instead of a one-year moratorium because of the …
Parkland to introduce fire, police impact fees
Sun-Sentinel, FL – July 16, 2010
With significant new developments expected in the 1,900-acre “wedge” piece that is now part of the city and unincorporated Broward County, Parkland city officials have started taking steps to ensure that developers in the city pay their share of the costs the …
Impact Fee for New Businesses and Homes
WCIV, SC – July 16, 2010
How much is less traffic really worth to drivers in Dorchester County? Monday County Council may decide that when they vote on an impact fee for new businesses and homes to help pay for new roads. A transportation impact fee buys new roads. If the county …
Impact fee moratorium pushback begins
The Ledger (blog), FL – July 14, 2010
The politics is becoming a little more interesting as the County Commission heads for next Wednesday’s vote on a one-year impact fee moratorium for everything but school impact fees. Earlier this year, the only voices in the debate appeared to be the Polk …
Palm Desert’s $1.7M child care fund is largely unused
The Desert Sun, CA – July 14, 2010
In the past five years, Palm Desert has raised more than $1.7 million from commercial developers in the city, ostensibly to improve and expand affordable child care. But to date, city officials have spent only about $207,000, which hasn’t increased Palm Desert’s stock …
Traffic impact fees stretch resources
TheNewsTribune.com, WA – July 14, 2010
Shaun Brobak is not about to give up on his new business plan in downtown Puyallup, despite spending two years and about $100,000 on the project, he says. “I’m fully committed,” said Brobak, who plans to open Crockett’s Public House along East Stewart Avenue …
OUR VIEW: Impact fees make sense for managing development
Culpeper Star Exponent, VA – July 13, 2010
Transportation impact fees could aid localities, as long as they don’t hurt citizens/small business owners. As the Town-County Interaction Committee unofficially put its support behind transportation impact fees a few months ago, it got us thinking whether the move …
Summerville puts off new impact fee
Charleston Post Courier, SC – July 13, 2010
Dodging for the moment one of those political fireballs in the Lowcountry, the town doesn’t plan to add a transportation impact fee when it reapproves fees this year. That’s despite some road problems that one Town Council member described as infrastructure..
Atherton will revisit road-impact fee refund
The Almanac Online, CA – July 13, 2010
The refund of about $1.65 million worth of fees paid by builders to the town of Atherton to repair roads torn up by heavy construction vehicles was approved by a divided City Council in February, stirring up a chorus of criticism among some residents. Now with the …
City fears new county fees will discourage development
The Turlock Journal, CA – July 13, 2010
The Turlock City Council took issue with a proposed revision to County Public Facility Impact Fees Tuesday night, voicing a laundry list of complaints with higher fees that could discourage new businesses while providing limited utility to Turlock. But optimism …
City delays action on emergency fee
Baraboo News Republic, WI – July 13, 2010
The Baraboo City Council delayed action Tuesday on a $2,630 emergency services impact fee to allow two weeks for written public comment on the proposal. During the regular council meeting City Administrator Edward Geick reminded the alderpersons the city …
Newton County misses state planning deadline
Covington News, GA – July 11, 2010
For the second time in 2010, Newton County has missed a deadline to turn in required planning documents to the state and will be ineligible to receive some new state funding during July and most of August. Newton County was late turning in its Capital Improvement..
Voters may decide on Houston drainage
Houston Chronicle, TX – July 9, 2010
Voters in November likely will be asked to tax themselves for better drainage and infrastructure and to possibly ban red-light cameras and alter term limits. Renew Houston, a group of influential local engineers, has collected more than 30,000 signatures in a push …
If one impact fee cut does no good…
The Ledger (blog), FL – July 9, 2010
The County Commission will be considering a one-year moratorium on most impact fees at its July 21 meeting. The ordinance’s preamble makes the following points. The County Commission cut its impact fees in half last year. The previous cut didn’t stimulate the …
Cape Coral impact fee adjustment contemplated
Cape Coral Daily Breeze, FL – July 7, 2010
Bonita Springs City Council is considering an ordinance that would provide changes to requirements for assessment of impact fees on commercial development, an idea Councilmember Marty McClain thinks would work well in Cape Coral. McClain said he’s not looking …
Palm Desert council to hold child care study session
The Desert Sun, CA – July 7, 2010
The Palm Desert City Council will hold a special study session at 2 p.m. Thursday in the Administrative Conference Room at City Hall, 73-510 Fred Waring Drive. The council will hear a proposal from the College of the Desert Child Development Center for funding …
Lakeland Keeps Impact Fees Unchanged
The Ledger, FL – July 6, 2010
City commissioners voted unanimously today to keep police, fire and parks impact fees assessed on new housing at current levels. With the goal of having development pay for itself, impact fees are paid by the developers of new buildings, who in turn pass the cost …
City of Lakeland Not Likely To Raise Parks Impact Fees
The Ledger – July 3, 2010
City officials in Lakeland are backing away from a proposed impact fee hike to pay for city parks, saying it would send the wrong message in a bad economy. Commissioners were expected to hear the final reading of an ordinance Tuesday that would have raised …
Albuquerque impact fee extension proposed by Jones
New Mexico Weekly, NM – July 3, 2010
City Councilor Trudy Jones plans to introduce legislation at the council’s August 2 meeting to extend the one-year impact fee moratorium when it expires in September. Jones’ bill will not alter the moratorium’s 100 percent fee waiver on green projects and 50 …
Dr. Joe Harrop: Who should pay for lunch?
Red Bluff Daily News, CA – July 3, 2010
Locally there have been protests against the recommendations for developer fees presented in the 74 page report by PMC of Chico, the Developer Fee Impact Program Nexus Study. Builders, developers, and pro-growth individuals have gathered together to argue …
Fishers increases 1 impact fee, creates another
Indianapolis Star, IN – July 1, 2010
Development in Fishers is about to get more expensive. The town recently decided to increase the road impact fee it charges on new development and likely became the first community in the state to adopt a bridge impact fee. Its road impact fee will be the highest …
School impact fees for West Hawaii postponed
Hawaii 24/7, HI – July 1, 2010
The collection of school impact fees in West Hawaii is postponed until further notice. The state Board of Education approved the department’s recommendation to create the state’s first “School Impact District” in West Hawaii at its April 15, 2010 meeting. …
Appeals court rejects challenge to town’s impact free process
Pierce County Herald, WA – June 30, 2010
In a decision released last week, Wisconsin’s District III Court of Appeals upheld a judgment dismissing the St. Croix Home Builders Association’s challenge to a town’s impact fees. The three-judge panel ruled the association should have used mechanisms in …
Appeals court weighs Mesa’s cultural impact fees
AZ Central.com, AZ – June 29, 2010
Three judges on the Arizona Court of Appeals are weighing whether Mesa has a right to impose impact fees on new development to pay for cultural facilities. The fees, which add $218 to the price of a new house, are under attack by the Home Builders Association …
Mesa’s cultural impact fees under fire
ABC15.com (KNXV-TV), AZ – June 23, 2010
A fee in Mesa is under fire as attorneys take the city to court. The Goldwater Institute is challenging Mesa’s impact fee on new development. “We were challenging one of those fees, a fee for cultural facilities that all of the people of Mesa should be paying …
County to continue impact fee hiatus
News-Sun, FL – June 23, 2010
Highlands County Commissioners voted 5-0 at their meeting Tuesday afternoon to continue the suspension of impact fees until June 30, 2011. Commissioners originally voted to suspend the fees in June of 2009, and had to vote to extend the suspension before July 1. …
Impact fees suspended again
Tbo.com, FL – June 23, 2010
For those who detest impact fees, two items of good news came from the county commission on Tuesday: impact fees were suspended again, and if they do come back in a year, they’ll be one-third smaller. In a two-hour discussion, the commission looked at …
Nye won’t defer impact fees
Pahrump Valley Times, NV – June 23, 2010
The suspension or elimination of impact fees was an issue in vogue as candidates sought to project the most pro-business stand during the 2010 Nye County District 4 county commission race. It’s not all that simple. County commissioners took no action on a request …
Atlantic Beach rejects Habitat For Humanity’s request for break on impact fees
Florida Times-Union, FL – June 23, 2010
In a stark sign of the tough economic times, the City Commission denied Beaches Habitat for Humanity’s request for reduced impact and utility fees for construction of low-income housing. The nonprofit housing organization that builds homes for needy families said …
New Fees For New Home Buyers In New Castle
MyFox Philadelphia – June 23, 2010
New home builders in New Castle County will have to pay an extra fee on new home permits. Of course, this fee will trickle down to new home buyers. They will inevitably have to pay a percentage of the value of their new home, along with that $510 impact fee. …
Bellingham council votes to end parks fee dispute
Bellingham Herald, WA – June 22, 2010
City leaders have voted to settle a three-year-old dispute over whether developers of a housing project should have to pay parks impact fees, and, if so, how much. The City Council on Monday, June 21, voted 6-0 to settle a lawsuit by Skeers Construction over the …
Court protects right of towns to impose fees on developers
Isthmus Daily Page, WI – June 22, 2010
Here is an interesting display of conflict developer-municipality conflict. The town of Oak Grove won a case in appeals court today against the St. Croix Valley Valley Home Builders Association, who protested the fees the town levied on developers. Oak Grove, like …
CARD wants to review fee implementation stints
Enterprise-Record, CA – June 22, 2010
Higher park impact fees are the goal, but how long it takes the Chico Area Recreation and Park District to raise the fees is under discussion. A Bay Area consultant came back to the CARD board Thursday with a new set of fees after board members observed …
County commissioners address garbage, school impact fees
Polk County Democrat, FL – June 21, 2010
With a faltering economy on their minds, the Polk County Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday took measures to contain costs on several “hot button issues,” chief among them an education impact fee. However, long before that issue was addressed in the …
Impact-Fee Raise to Be Discussed
The Ledger, FL – June 21, 2010
City commissioners in Lakeland today are scheduled to hear the first reading of an ordinance that would raise impact fees that would pay for city parks. With the goal of having development pay for itself, impact fees are paid by the developers of new buildings, …
Impact-Fee Moratorium Could Bring Down Housing Prices Further
The Ledger, FL – June 21, 2010
Before the County Commission leaps to lift impact fees, it may want to fully consider the negative impact that could have on our already-depressed housing prices. In addition to the reasons for hesitation wisely voiced by Commissioner Jean Reed, we should …
Ocean City Impact Fees Reduced
The Dispatch, MD – June 18, 2010
When it came to impact fees, the Ocean City Council passed on an opportunity to cut them entirely, but chose to chop them in half for the foreseeable future. City Engineer Terry McGean was tasked to come before the Mayor and City Council on Tuesday at City Hall to …
Reaping the Benefit
The Ledger, FL – June 18, 2010
When the County Commission voted April 21 to contribute $10 million to build a road at the new USF Polytechnic campus, Commission Chairman Bob English made a point of thanking his colleagues for voting in 2005 to increase property taxes to build roads. That tax …
Commission Reduces School Impact Fees
The Ledger, FL – June 17, 2010
Polk County commissioners will decrease school impact fees slightly. Commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to accept the latest consultant study but adopted 44 percent of the recommended rate. That will mean a fee of $4,160 for a new single-family home. …
Kalispell studies system of business licenses
istockAnalyst.com, MT – June 16, 2010
Business licenses could be on the agenda for Kalispell business owners soon. That’s the word from City Manager Jane Howington. “There’s a lot of public safety reasons why you would” want business licenses, said Howington, who has been on the job for just over …
Impact-Fee Proposal: Do Not Buy Into False Hope
The Ledger, FL – June 16, 2010
Polk County commissioners are scheduled to meet today with a consultant to discuss a possible doubling of school-impact fees for new residential and commercial construction. Meanwhile, some of them want to impose a yearlong moratorium on collecting impact …
Higher impact fees on new homes coming Oct. 1 in Martin
TCPalm, FL – June 15, 2010
Despite calls from business leaders to keep the current low impact fees on new construction until the economy improves, Martin County commissioners decided to go forward with higher fees as of Oct. 1. Martin County commissioners voted 3-2 to affirm their March 16 …
Developers to pay higher development fees to build in Buckeye
Arizona Republic, AZ – June 14, 2010
Developers who build in Buckeye will pay increased development fees that are used to pay for new roads, police and fire stations and other services.It’s the town’s first increase in five years for development-impact fees, Buckeye Finance Director Gail Reese said. The town …
Court sides with Lemoore on impact fees
Fresno Business Journal, CA – June 14, 2010
South Valley builders are unhappy with a recent court opinion upholding a slew of development fees enacted in the City of Lemoore.Lemoore may continue charging new-home builders for impacts in such areas as park land acquisition and community/ …
One-year moratorium on Polk impact fees looking possible
News Chief, FL – June 11, 2010
A one-year moratorium on almost all Polk County impact fees on new construction – as a means to kick-start the local economy – became a real possibility Thursday. The moratorium, which would exempt only the impact fee that goes to education, was adopted as an agenda…
County Considers Impact Fee Moratorium
The Ledger, FL – June 10, 2010
Polk County commissioners agreed Thursday to consider a one-year moratorium on impact fees next month. Commissioners are scheduled to consider the change July 7. It was unclear Thursday when the moratorium would take effect, but county officials said it should …
Arlington panel wants impact fees unchanged as it studies incentives
Fort Worth Star Telegram, TX – June 9, 2010
After months of study, a City Council committee on Tuesday recommended that impact fees stay unchanged while it continues to explore possible incentives, such as rebates or fee reductions, aimed at making the city a more financially attractive place to build. …
Mandatory fee may be in store for road maintenance
Ocala, FL – June 9, 2010
A top Marion County transportation official suggests it might be time for some homeowners to pay more for their road maintenance. County engineer Mounir Bouyounes recently told the County Commission he needs extra funding to keep pace with needed …
School-impact-fee ruling put off
Daytona Beach News-Journal, FL – June 8, 2010
After nearly two years of swapping written arguments, lawyers for three parties to a lawsuit challenging the validity of the Volusia County school impact fee got their first chance Monday to plead their cases to a judge. But they’ll have to wait a little longer to find …
Anti-impact fee group organizes
The Ledger, FL – June 8, 2010
Just in time for Thursday’s County Commission work session on impact fees, we have a relatively new Facebook group called Moratorium on Polk County Impact Fees. One of the prime movers is Lakeland lawyer Robert Stanz, who has been lobbying …
City gives initial OK to nixing impact fees
The Coloradoan, CO – June 7, 2010
New housing in Fort Collins no longer will help pay for new libraries. The Fort Collins City Council last week gave initial approval to a pair of ordinances that would do away with impact fees charged on new residential development to support the expansion of the local …
SANY getting impact fee cut
Fayette Daily News, GA – June 7, 2010
Without discussion, Peachtree City’s city council voted unanimously Thursday to offer SANY America a 75-percent reduction in impact fees for phase one of the company’s massive new job-creating project in the city’s industrial park. The Development Authority of …
Impact Fee On New Homes Proposed For Funding Street Improvements
KWTX, TX – June 3, 2010
Killeen officials say several roads in including Stagecoach and Cunningham Roads need upgrades as a result of growth in the and one option on the table to pay for the work is an impact fee on homebuilders for each newly developed lot in a subdivision. Killeen …
Raising impact fees may be a deal-breaker, developers tell Arlington panel
Fort Worth Star Telegram, TX – June 3, 2010
Developers already consider Arlington an expensive place to do business and the city’s many building, inspection and permit-related fees could be deal-breakers when the economy begins picking up, those in the industry warned Arlington City Council members …
Fee Waiver Sought to Aid Growth
The Ledger, FL – June 2, 2010
The Town Council in Lake Hamilton unanimously approved an agreement Tuesday with Polk County aimed at attracting new business to the town. If also approved by the Polk County Commission, the agreement would create a “core improvement …
Trustees waive a fee, set public hearings
Berthoud Recorder, CO – June 2, 2010
Mayor Patterson was absent this evening and Mayor Pro-tem Greg presided over the board meeting. The April Financial Statement was approved without comment and the attention turned to Associated Thermoforming (ATI), a long time business on Second Street. …
Houston engineers seek to fix city’s flooding problems
Houston Chronicle, TX – June 2, 2010
An influential group of engineers has begun to solicit voter approval for a 20-year, $8 billion campaign to shore up Houston’s infrastructure and protect the city from the intense flooding problems it has experienced in recent years. Renew Houston, the non-profit …
Bonita council, chamber hash out plans to draw new businesses
Naples Daily News, FL – June 2, 2010
Bring us your big-wigs, your techies and your tree-huggers. This will be the ultimate goal of today’s Bonita Springs City Council and Bonita Springs Area Chamber of Commerce workshop to draw targeted businesses, such as corporate headquarters, aviation, internet …
PTC to decide on fee break for Sany plant
The Citizen.com, GA – June 1, 2010
Thursday night the Peachtree City Council will consider offering a 75 percent break on impact fees for a Chinese heavy equipment company that is preparing to build its first U.S. location here. Sany Corporation is asking for the maximum impact fee exemption of …
Newsom announces new development initiatives
California Chronicle, CA – May 27, 2010
Mayor Gavin Newsom signed legislation to stimulate development and generate much-needed construction jobs and General Fund revenues. The Development Impact Fee Reform Deferral Program is a 2-part impact fee reform legislation re-designing how and when …
Impact fee gets panel’s informal backing
Culpepper Star Exponent. VA – May 27, 2010
The Town-County Interaction Committee expressed informal support Wednesday for implementing a transportation impact fee that would link development and roadwork funding. However, local leaders will probably hold off on the matter until all of Culpeper Town Council’s …
Tehama County Impact Fee workshop today
Red Bluff Daily News, CA – May 26, 2010
Tehama County will hold its first workshop on Development Impact Fees today at 6 p.m. at the Board Chambers on 727 Oak St. The workshop marks the beginning of a process expected to take months, Planning Director George Robson told the Board of Supervisors …
Habitat for Humanity will not have to pay $28000 roads fee
San Luis Obispo Tribune, CA – May 26, 2010
Habitat for Humanity will not have to pay a $28,000 road impact fee when it moves its industrial recycling operation, known as ReStore North, a quarter-mile from its present building in a Templeton industrial park. Supervisors disagreed with their Department of …
Impact fee drop builds business
Cherokee Tribune, GA – May 26, 2010
County officials are seeing some improvement in construction activity months after moving to slash impact fees. Last July, the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners voted to amend its impact fee ordinance to reduce the fees charged to new development. …
County votes to lower transportation impact fees to zero
Citrus Daily, FL – May 25, 2010
The Citrus County Commission today voted to lower transportation impact fees to zero percent. The vote was 3-to-2, with commission chairman Gary Bartell and Dennis Damato holding out to keep the reduction of fees from sinking to zero. To clarify, all commissioners …
SF builders will be allowed to defer impact fees
San Francisco Business Times, CA – May 25, 2010
San Francisco’s mayor on Tuesday signed legislation allowing developers to defer impact fees in hopes that will spur more construction in the city. The city’s impact fee deferral program allows developers to defer payment of 80 percent of impact fees from …
Proposed park impact fees a significant jump
Enterprise-Record, CA – May 24, 2010
In their second visit to the Chico Area Recreation and Park District board, an array of park impact fee increases were reduced, but in the case of fees on new single-family dwellings, they are more than double the current amounts. After hearing comments from the …
School board debates impact fees
Tampa Tribune, FL – May 23, 2010
With the one-year suspension of impact fees nearing an end, the School Board of Highlands County grappled with its recommendation to the county on whether or not to continue the suspension of fees. After the school board unanimously approved the new impact fee …
Fairness reason impact fees are being changed
Newnan Times-Herald, GA – May 23, 2010
Coweta County’s new cap on impact fees was devised as a way to bring some fairness and equality to the impact fee system. On Tuesday, the Coweta Board of Commissioners approved a new impact fee schedule and methodology, and the “capital improvements …
Kent Council looking at developers, businesses, residents, for more dollars
PNW Local News, WA – May 21, 2010
Fees for transportation impacts, business licenses and vehicle-license registrations all could be part of a funding package the Kent City Council may tap for funding city street projects. The Council conducted a second workshop May 18 at City Hall to discuss how …
County to consider $15 EMS fee for residential property owners
Baker County Press, FL – May 20, 2010
The Baker County Commission will soon consider establishing a $15 annual residential property assessment for emergency medical services [EMS] and beginning a one-year hiatus on impact fees. Commissioners authorized the advertisement of public hearings for …
Habitat for Humanity appeals $29000 county fee for ReStore project
San Luis Obispo Tribune, CA – May 20, 2010
Habitat for Humanity says it should not have to pay $29,000 the county says it owes because of additional traffic it expects the nonprofit organization to generate when it adds improvements to its existing ReStore operation in Templeton. The nonprofit, whose …
Developers, Tehama County dispute fee structure
Red Bluff Daily News, CA – May 18, 2010
Developers are asking Tehama County officials to consider a straight across the board frontage fee for all developments, which they say would be an equal fee for equal use of roads. During the Tehama County Public Works Committee meeting Monday, talk continued …
Whittier council expected to approve lower development fees
Whittier Daily News, CA – May 17, 2010
The days of tough negotiations with housing developers over park fees should be over once the City Council gives final passage to a lower development impact fee, city officials believe. The City Council is expected to give final approval next Tuesday to new fees that …
Cape Coral city leaders look to lower utility rates and pay off debt
Wink News (blog), FL – May 17, 2010
City leaders are looking for ways to curb the proposed 92 percent utility rate increase that residents face over the next 5 years. Council members requested city staff to come up with different senarios to pay off the 400 million dollars in loans the city owes …
115 agencies statewide defer impact fees
North Bay Business Journal, CA – May 17, 2010
One-hundred-fifteen local governments and special districts in California have adopted deferrals of development impact fees allowed under a 2008 state law intended to help struggling builders, according to the Home Builders Association of Northern California. So far, …
Hammond Board waives impact fee
New Richmond News, WI – May 15, 2010
The Village of Hammond Board received another request to waive an impact fee at the regular board meeting Monday night, this one for 1345 Afton Lane. The former owners of the house had paid an impact fee previously. The board did approve the request, on a 6-1 vote. …
Patterson to pay back developer fees
Patterson Irrigator, CA – May 13, 2010
A settlement concerning a case involving $775,000 in affordable housing fees paid by developers of a housing subdivision several years ago has been reached, the Patterson City Council announced Friday, May 7. After months of settlement conferences …
Impact fees drop by half
Forsyth County News Online, GA – May 13, 2010
Figures Forsyth County officials reviewed Tuesday show that impact fee revenues have dropped nearly in half from 2008 to 2009. The fees, charged per square foot on new developments, fund public safety, library, administration and parks and recreation expenses …
County commission drops road fees
The Durango Herald, CO – May 12, 2010
La Plata County will not impose road-impact fees on new development after county commissioners failed to come to an agreement on the proposal. After about an hour of heated debate, Commissioner Kellie Hotter, who has repeatedly expressed her …
Sonoma County supervisors cut largest proposed construction fee increases in half
North Bay Business Journal, CA – May 12, 2010
The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a number of fee increases for planning, engineering and building permits but compromised on the largest increases to lessen the impact on the already economically hammered local construction industry …
Transportation impact fees reduced by 35 percent
Citrus Daily, FL – May 12, 2010
The Citrus County Commission on Tuesday voted to reduce transportation impact fees by 35 percent across the board. The county has implemented the new fee structure, effective Thursday, that essentially amounts to a “sale”, for a limited period of time. …
Impact fee hearing prompts call for wider review
Laconia Citizen, NH – May 11, 2010
Rather than just act on the current Planning Board proposal to implement impact fees for new construction, the City Council wants a soup-to-nuts review of the entire municipal site permitting process so that it can get the bigger picture facing both developers and …
Orange Beach impact fee revenue slips with lowest yearly take yet
Press-Register, AL – May 10, 2010
After peaking at nearly $427,000 in 2008, impact fee revenue dipped to its lowest annual total since the tax on new development was enacted in late 2006. Slightly more than $352,000 was collected last year, city records show. Of that, about 88 percent came from …
Impact fees playing role in city growth
Waxahachie Daily Light, TX – May 9, 2010
Impact fees play a large part in the growth, development and future of a city. These fees help to pay for the future expansion of water and waste water lines and construction of the proper infrastructure by increasing the capacity on roads as necessary. Impact fees …
Open Space Purchase Impact Fee should be charged to new developments
Tucson Citizen, AZ – May 8, 2010
It was once estimated that we lose about one square mile of virgin land in Pima County a month to urban development. In 1954 when I arrived here Tucson covered an area roughly from A Mountain to about Swan and from the lower Catalina Foothills; to Valencia. …
Tu-Co Peat avoided paying $54000 impact fee
Tampa Tribune, FL – May 8, 2010
Tu-co Peat, an Avon Park business that makes potting soil, will be fined by the Highlands County building department for not obtaining a property permit and not paying $54,000 in impact fees. Building Official SY Mosley said Friday he’s been working on the case for …
New home impact fee suggested for Helena
Helena Independent Record, MT – May 7, 2010
The cost of building a home in the Helena area could jump by $2,000 or more over the next few years if city and county leaders adopt the recommendations of a committee that spent the past year developing a plan to start charging impact fees on new developments. Many …
County hits brakes on impact fees
The Durango Herald, CO – May 5, 2010
La Plata County commissioners on Tuesday delayed a vote on new road-impact fees after Commissioner Joelle Riddle expressed reservations. Commissioners will gather in a closed meeting with the county attorney today, and then the proposal is scheduled to …
Council rejects impact fee discounts for developers
Maryland Gazette, MD – May 5, 2010
Developers will no longer continue to get discounts on the fees that pay for growth, ending a two-month County Council debate on whether to buttress the flagging construction industry by subsidizing the cost of development. The council Monday night voted 4-3 …
County Council ends impact fee discounts
Annapolis Capital, MD – May 4, 2010
Developers will not get discounts on the fees that pay for growth, ending a two-month County Council debate on whether to buttress the flagging construction industry by subsidizing the cost of development. The council last night voted 4-3 against a scaled- …
Impact fee questions
The Ledger, FL – May 3, 2010
Here we go again. Polk County Commissioners were scheduled to have yet another discussion about whether the county’s water and sewer connection fees were excessive Monday when Commission Chairman Bob English called it off. He told commissioners instead …
CRA will award $88700 in tax incentives to Walgreens
Polk County Democrat, FL – May 3, 2010
In a move to stimulate business, the Community Redevelopment Agency agreed, at Wednesday’s meeting, to award incentives worth up to $88,700 to Walgreen Co.Walgreens expects to build a new 15,000-square-foot pharmacy, but doesn’t plan to move far from …
The long & binding roads
The Durango Herald, CO – May 2, 2010
Notwithstanding the fact that La Plata County is experiencing one the worst real estate markets in its history and many people are out of work, our county commissioners are currently proposing a schedule of new road-impact fees designed to generate $120 million in …
Commercial impact fee program expanded for local businesses
Naples Daily News, FL – April 30, 2010
The Collier County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) has approved changes in the Impact Fee Program for Existing Commercial Redevelopment that will allow additional businesses to participate in the program. The original program provided qualifying businesses …
Study: Double School Impact Fees
News Chief, FL – April 29, 2010
The Polk County School Board met with county commissioners Wednesday to review a study that recommends doubling the school impact fee next year. The school portion of the county’s impact fees for a new single-family home, now $4,171, would increase to …
Proposed county road-impact fee worries businesses
The Durango Herald, CO – April 28, 2010
A new county road-impact fee appears poised to pass if the positions taken by La Plata County commissioners during a discussion Tuesday are any indication. Commissioners are scheduled to make a final decision on the proposal next week. Meanwhile, homebuilders and …
Farmington OKs new impact fees
StandardNet, UT – April 28, 2010
City leaders Tuesday approved a pair of new impact fees aimed at generating funds for capital projects. The city council voted to implement a new fire facilities impact fee and in a separate vote adopted new water impact fees. The new fees take effect in 90 …
City looks to lower development impact fees, temporarily
InMaricopa.com, AZ – April 28, 2010
The city of Maricopa is looking at the possibility of adopting a new development impact fee schedule that would temporarily bring the city in line with some of the lowest fees in the state.The temporary fees would set the price of developing a commercial building …
Doubling School Impact Fees Recommended
The Ledger, FL – April 28, 2010
School impact fees could more than double under a recommendation presented Wednesday by consultant Randy Young during a joint meeting between the Polk County Commission and the Polk County School Board. Young recommended increasing the fee from …
Council to revisit impact fee issue
Today’s News-Herald, AZ – April 27, 2010
The City Council will reexamine its impact fees following a plea from representatives with one builders organization who say the fees could be hurting construction activity.Lake Havasu City is currently in the middle of a three-phased increase of its impact fees, …
Farmington approves rise in impact fees
Davis County Clipper, UT – April 22, 2010
Farmington City council members approved raising impact fees Tuesday night to help pay for a new fire truck and equipment, as well as well line repairs and an increase in the costs of water meters with a 3-1 vote and one absentee. The fire, water, and parks capital …
Complex business lures get scrutiny
Tampabay.com, FL – April 21, 2010
His lease at one Pasco industrial park was almost up, so Keith Binney got to thinking about where he might relocate his growing company. Hernando County was offering a good deal on industrial land. But in late 2008, Pasco commissioners sealed the deal to keep Binney’s …
Commission grapples with impact fees, land development code, more
Citrus Daily, FL – April 21, 2010
The Citrus County Commission’s plate had sideboards on it today in an agenda-item cornucopia that that spanned nearly five hours. Commissioners heard from Duncan and Associates in the company’s studies of the county impact fee system and land-use regulations, …
Boardman considers new fee on businesses
Youngstown Vindicator, OH – April 19, 2010
The township is looking for ways to ensure that developers or businesses that put a drain on resources help foot the bill. One possibility is development impact fees on new or expanding businesses or subdivisions. These fees would be assessed to a …
Guest Column: Impact fee delay will hurt our county
Maryland Gazette, MD – April 17, 2010
Bill 12-10 sponsored by four members of the Anne Arundel County Council to delay an increase in impact fees will harm our county’s financial well being and force taxpayers to subsidize new development with no documented benefit to the county. This …
New school impact fee coming on Big Island
Honolulu Advertiser, HI – April 17, 2010
The state’s education department will soon have the authority to impose impact fees on all West Hawaii developments. The Board of Education on Thursday voted 8-3 in favor of implementing the West Hawaii School Impact Fee District. The plan will go into effect in …
Impact fee subject of hearing
Daytona Beach News-Journal, FL – April 16, 2010
Recommended changes to Volusia County’s school impact fee will be the subject of an administrative hearing today requested by the Volusia Building Industry Association. The fee currently stands at $6,066 for each new housing unit in Volusia County, including a 3 …
Stay issued in water/sewer legal battle
The Herald-Mail, WV – April 16, 2010
The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals on Thursday granted a stay requested by Berkeley County public water and sewer districts in their legal battle with developer Larry V. Faircloth. The utilities requested the stay pending their high court appeal of a judge’s …
City may lower water, sewer fees
Ocala, FL – April 15, 2010
If the Ocala City Council gives its approval, water and sewer impact fees in the city may be going down, and front footage connection charges may go away completely. Public Resources Management Group Inc., the city’s consultant, presented its evaluation of …
Council seemingly receptive to impact fees
Laconia Citizen, NH – April 14, 2010
Saying that an economic recovery is on the way and that Laconia should be ready to capitalize on it, the City Council appears closer to enacting impact fees for many types of development, but before it does it wants to hold one more public hearing on the matter. …
Washougal council approves impact fee deferral program
The Columbian, WA – April 14, 2010
Washougal city officials have a plan they hope will help boost development: defer payment of most impact fees until closer to when the impact actually occurs. The city is launching a pilot program this month that will give developers and builders the option to defer …
Water rate hike may halt use of reserves
Payson Roundup, UT – April 13, 2010
Payson needs a big hike in its water rates to stop slurping up the money it needs to maintain the existing system before it’s too late, says Assistant Public Works Director Buzz Walker. The Payson council has asked Walker to update a 2006 report that recommended …
Homebuilders want county to kill new fees
The Durango Herald, CO – April 13, 2010
Local homebuilders on Tuesday urged La Plata County commissioners not to adopt proposed road-impact fees that would be imposed on new development. Builders said the one-time fee, which would run as high as $5,110 for a single-family home in 2013, would tamp …
Council sets aside $500000 for road repairs
Kingman Daily Miner, AZ – April 12, 2010
The Kingman City Council renewed its commitment to preserving the city’s decaying streets Monday, when Council members agreed to set aside up to $500,000 in contingency funds to continue the city’s chip-sealing and overlay program through the next fiscal year. …
City challenges county road fees
Gustine Press-Standard, CA – April 12, 2010
Local leaders are voicing their opposition to Stanislaus County’s proposed regional transportation impact fee, or RTIF, which officials at City Hall say would tap the pocket books of new businesses and residential developers without delivering significant …
Impact fee controversy is back on the agenda tonight
Examiner.com, NC – April 7, 2010
Impact fees are always controversial in Wake County and this hearing this evening promises to be no different. The City Council tonight will hold a public hearing on a proposal to raise impact fees increase for water and sewer development fees by $700. The hearing …
Residents protest impact fee discounts
Annapolis Capital, MD – April 6, 2010
Frustrated by perceived favors to the construction industry, county residents last night protested continued discounts on impact fees for developers. About 30 people complained that Anne Arundel’s infrastructure needs are too great to let builders pay only a …
County extends impact fee break until 2011
Ocala, FL – April 6, 2010
Three weeks after indefinitely continuing a moratorium on transportation impact fees, the County Commission on Tuesday unanimously agreed to set an expiration date: the end of 2010. This action, designed to further stimulate the local economy, came …
North Port fees for roads not forgotten
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL – April 1, 2010
Opposition from Southwest Florida home builders has not swayed North Port from collecting a fee to help repair local roads damaged by construction traffic. North Port’s imposition for the per-square-foot fee on new building prompted lawsuits from developers, …
Washington Township debates best way to lower impact fees
The Herald-Mail, PA – March 31, 2010
Two leading plans to lower traffic impact fees in Washington Township would accomplish the cut by shortening a planned relief route or reverting to a previous figure. Several residential and commercial developers have asked the township to lower its …
Businesses benefit from break in city impact fees
Issaquah Press, WA – March 30, 2010
A city program to make Issaquah more appealing to businesses has aided the developers of Overlake Center, a Northwest Maple Street medical building, offices along East Sunset Way and more than a dozen construction and remodeling projects citywide. …
PV officials: No plans for moratorium on impact fees
Prescott Daily Courier, AZ – March 30, 2010
Town government officials have no plans to follow the examples of their counterparts in Prescott and possibly Chino Valley when it comes to impact fees for residential development. “I’m not aware that we are looking at it,” Councilwoman Fran Schumacher …
County puts brakes on impact fee study
Tampa Tribune, FL – March 27, 2010
County commissioners have put a halt to a study examining impact fees until the economy improves. The last thing the county needs to do right now is even consider raising impact fees, County Commissioner Dave Russell said Friday. Back in January 2006, …
‘School impact district’ plan advances
KPUA, HI – March 27, 2010
A state Board of Education committee has approved a plan to establish Hawaii’s first “school impact district” on the Big Island. The plan developed by the Department of Education calls for assessing a fee for anyone building a home from roughly Kealakekua and …
Impact district plan moves ahead
Honolulu Advertiser, HI – March 26, 2010
A state Board of Education committee yesterday advanced a Department of Education plan to assess fees on anyone building a home on the Big Island roughly between Kealakekua and Waimea. If approved later by the full Board of Education, the West Hawai’i …
Prescott approves impact fee refunds to homebuilders
Sun Shopper, AZ – March 25, 2010
Refund checks and explanation letters should begin going out soon to more than two dozen homebuilders in Prescott. By unanimous action Tuesday, the Prescott City Council rolled back the water and sewer impact fee increases that the city imposed in July 2009. …
Canton votes no to cutting impact fees
Cherokee Tribune – March 25, 2010
The city of Canton rejected a plan to spur more development by temporarily changing the amount of impact fees it charges. The city council on Tuesday declined to reduce impact fees or pass a moratorium on the collection of impact fees, but the city is still …
Sequim City Council creates Peninsula’s first developer impact fees
Peninsula Daily, WA – March 23, 2010
The price of building a house in Sequim is soon to be steeper, while the living will, the City Council hopes, be a little easier. In a landmark vote Monday night, the council voted to adopt $4,868 in new impact fees for each single-family home built in Sequim. Those charges …
County supervisors slice road fee in half for man building home
San Luis Obispo Tribune, CA – March 23, 2010
A retired teacher who was hit with a $10,445 road impact fee for a home he plans to build in Templeton had the amount sliced in half by a Board of Supervisors who were sympathetic to his argument that he was not going to create a lot of traffic. Supervisors also …
Development impact fee changes to be discussed by supervisors
San Francisco Examiner (blog) – March 22, 2010
A plan by Mayor Gavin Newsom’s administration to spur construction activity by offering developers relief from some city building fees will be discussed by city supervisors on Monday. Legislation introduced by Newsom and Supervisor Bevan Dufty that would change rules …
Use it or lose it: Bonita Springs has six years to use nearly $700000 for parks
Naples Daily News, FL – March 22, 2010
Bonita Springs must spend $691,000 on acquiring, building or improving parks in the next couple of years or risk losing it, the city’s finance director said Monday. The money, from residential building impact fees, comes with a six-year time-frame in which to allocate …
Kingman reports on impact fee use
– March 20, 2010
Kingman’s finance director says the Arizona city’s impact fees have saved taxpayers nearly $4 million on capital projects. Coral Loyd came to that conclusion in a report to city councilors compiled at the request of 1 councilor who wanted to show that impact fees …
‘Worst time’ for school impact fee, Kenoi says
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, HI – March 20, 2010
Big Island Mayor William Kenoi said he is against imposing an impact fee that requires residential builders to contribute money to develop schools in West Hawaii. “It’s absolutely at the worst place at the worst time,” Kenoi said yesterday in a telephone interview. …
Big Isle may set school fees
Honolulu Advertiser, HI – March 20, 2010
Facing a building boom of new schools in West Hawai’i, the state Department of Education is considering designating the North and South Kohala regions as a “school impact district,” the first such zone in the state. The designation would provide a more formal …
County won’t halt construction tax
Pahrump Valley Times, NV – March 19, 2010
Nye County School District board members wanted to suspend the $1,600 residential construction tax on new construction but county commissioners wouldn’t let them. Nevada Revised Statutes spell out how to impose the tax but not how to remove it, Commissioner …
Council discusses revamping impact fee policy
Rowlett Lakeshore Times, TX – March 18, 2010
Rowlett City Council met in a special work session Feb. 23 to discuss possible changes to impact fees collected by the city. Rowlett collects the fees on new buildings that are built in the city to help cover the cost of increased capacity on capital projects. The …
Camden County to continue impact fee collections
Florida Times-Union, FL – March 18, 2010
Two weeks after openly supporting a proposal to suspend the collection of impact fees to stimulate new construction, the Camden County Commission has done a reversal. At a work session this month, a majority of the commissioners said suspending the …
Civic Leader Opposes Decreasing Impact Fees
The Ledger, FL – March 17, 2010
County commissioners should not decrease impact fees on new construction, the leader of a local civic group told commissioners Wednesday. “Impact fees are not a deterrent to growth, but necessary to finance infrastructure,” David Hupp of Florida …
Lehigh plaza owner receives bill for unpaid impact fees
Lehigh Acres News Star, FL – March 17, 2010
The owner of DeLaCruz Professional Plaza in Lehigh Acres is being billed nearly $60,000 for impact fees the water and sewer utility company didn’t collect in 2004. But Lupe DeLaCruz said today that he thinks the billing is fair. The fees were due in 2004. The unpaid …
School Board needs more time to make a decision on impact fees
Daily Commercial, FL – March 17, 2010
Facts, figures, pie charts and projections weren’t enough for the Lake County School Board to make an informed decision about deferring impact fees. At a special meeting Monday, Chief of Business Services Carol MacLeod and Director of Growth Planning Harry Fix …
County impact fee debate to continue
The Ledger (blog), FL – March 16, 2010
Earlier this month the County Commission heard from the Polk County Builders Association criticizing impact fees and other ideas they thought were impediments to development, claiming they had no real basis. On Wednesday commissioners will hear what will …
Taiwan capital to tax advertising billboards
eTaiwan News – March 16, 2010
Advertising billboards in the capital will be subject to a “scenery impact fee,” Taipei City Mayor Hau Lung-bin announced Tuesday. The levy is the first of its kind in the country and will amount to 0.2 percent of operating costs, reports said. The fees will apply to flat …
State impact-fee moratorium could affect local builders
Prescott Daily Courier, AZ – March 16, 2010
About 30 local homebuilders likely will be getting a refund check soon from the of Prescott, thanks to a state moratorium on impact fee increases. City officials reported Tuesday that the moratorium on impact fee increases that the Arizona State Legislature approved …
Panel: Mounting debt and slow growth will continue to challenge Collier’s economy
Naples Daily News, FL – March 16, 2010
Collier County government continues to face big challenges, from the mounting burden of debt to slower growth. Three economic experts offered their views on the county’s fiscal stability during an event Tuesday night sponsored by the Naples Daily News and the …
Council leaves impact fees intact
Fort Worth Star Telegram, TX – March 15, 2010
Developers will continue to pay impact fees when building homes in new additions in Weatherford. City Council members voted 4-1 not only to leave impact fees as they are, but also to take another look at them in the future to see if they should be increased. …
City impact fee update slated
Kingman Daily Miner, AZ – March 15, 2010
Fees, taxes and grants will dominate the agenda at Monday’s meeting of the Kingman City Council. Council members will first revisit the issue of impact fees, with Finance Director Coral Loyd set to give a report updating them on how much has been collected and …
Visalia Chamber of Commerce plan would offer ‘local stimulus’
Visalia Times-Delta, CA – March 15, 2010
A “local stimulus” proposal that would eliminate a number of developers’ fees and offer gift cards for shopping locally will be discussed today by the Visalia City Council. The Visalia Chamber of Commerce proposal will be addressed at 5 p.m. at the Visalia …
Prescott City Council mulls refunding impact fees
Sun Shopper, AZ – March 14, 2010
A possible refund of some city impact fees, and the purchase of new kiosks to collect parking fees at city recreational sites will be among the issues the Prescott City Council will discuss this week. At its study session at 3 p.m. Tuesday, the council will consider an …
Suspension of impact fees being considered
Pahrump Valley Times, NV – March 14, 2010
A request to suspend impact fees is on the agenda when the Nye County Commission meets at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Bob Ruud Community Center. It will also consider a request by the Nye County School Board to discontinue its residential construction tax. The …
Noblesville waives fees for Habitat home
Indianapolis Star, IN – March 11, 2010
The Noblesville City Council decided to waive certain fees so Habitat for Humanity can lower its expenses to build a home for a needy family. The Hamilton County chapter recently acquired six lots in Creekside at Cedar Path subdivision in Noblesville, according to …
Council hears public’s takes on Sequim impact fees proposal
Peninsula Daily, WA – March 10, 2010
It all came together in one night: Sequim’s future, its past and its present struggle. When will the economy rebound? How much should Sequim residents pay for parks and roads, and which residents should owe the most? And what is the “elephant in the room” when …
City impact fee would offset costs
Baraboo News Republic – March 10, 2010
State law allows Baraboo to recoup part of the cost of a new police, fire and ambulance station by charging an impact fee of about $2,630 to new residences constructed in the city, a financial advisor reported Tuesday. James A. Mann of Brookfield-based …
Polk City Official to Work Out Impact Fee Payment Plan
The Ledger, FL – March 9, 2010
City Manager Cory Carrier has agreed to work out a payment plan on at least $539,055 in unpaid impact fees Polk City owes to Polk County. Carrier spoke with County Manager Mike Herr on Monday about the impact fees that had not been paid through Sept. 30, …
Development fees to rise near Casa Grande, Maricopa
TriValley Central, AZ – March 9, 2010
Unincorporated county areas adjacent to Casa Grande and Maricopa will see an increase to development impact fees, effective June 2, after the Pinal County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved adjustments to all such fees throughout the county last week. …
New home permits trending upward
Tampa Tribune, FL – March 8, 2010
Single-family building permit numbers are trending upward since December when the county’s new impact fee rates went into effect. Hernando County issued 17 single-family permits in February, up from 13 the month before and 14 one year earlier. To spur activity …
Bill would continue developer discounts
Annapolis Capital, MD – March 8, 2010
Developers would continue to get big discounts on fees that pay for roads and schools under a plan backed by a majority of County Council members. A bill introduced last week would freeze impact fees at a discounted rate that recaptures less than 22 percent of the …
Downtown Developers Could See Lower Impact Fees
KECI-TV, MT – March 8, 2010
If you’re looking at building a house or business in downtown Missoula, you could also be looking at lower fees. Two years ago, Missoula officials implemented the downtown transportation impact fee. Its purpose: to pay for street repairs resulting from increased…
Chino Valley eyes placing moratorium on impact fees
Sun Shopper, AZ – March 8, 2010
Will the Chino Valley Town Council place a moratorium on impact fees on residential units?Mayor Jim Bunker, at the request of the Mayor’s Economic Development Committee this past week, said he will ask the council at its March 25 meeting to consider placing a moratorium …
Polk City Drowning In Debt
The Ledger, FL – March 7, 2010
Polk City has narrowly averted a cut-off of state revenues for missing the deadline to file its fiscal year 2008 audit by more than five months. But that hardly ends the city’s financial troubles, according to a Ledger review that uncovered numerous other problems with …
Impact-fee suspension a boon to projects in the works
Orlando Sentinel, FL – March 7, 2010
Lake County commissioners not only removed an impact-fee hurdle for future developments by voting to suspend the controversial assessments for 12 months, they also forgave thousands more in road fees owed by developers of commercial projects now …
Miami’s shifting of fees could pose serious problems in inquiry
Miami Herald, FL – March 6, 2010
Desperate to stop its financial bleeding, Miami broke its own laws by shifting millions of dollars reserved for parks and police to fill budget holes and make it appear the city was on sound footing, legal experts say. The move, which prompted a sweeping federal investigation, …
City OKs impact fee issue change
St. George Daily Spectrum, UT – March 5, 2010
The Hurricane City Council hopes Thursday’s approval of an impact fee ordinance will help spur home building and boost the city’s struggling economy. The ordinance, which allows property owners to pay power impact fees after either a six-month period or at the …
CARD looking at new, higher fees
Enterprise-Record, CA – March 5, 2010
The Chico Area Recreation and Park District is going to be asking the governments of Chico and Butte County to consider raising park impact fees for the district. At a meeting Wednesday, the CARD board heard a consultant’s draft proposal that would raise the …
Legislators to meet with city
St. George Daily Spectrum, UT – March 4, 2010
Enoch City Council members will have the chance at their next meeting to ask Sen. Dennis Stowell, R.-Dist.28, questions about the recently passed Senate Bill 20 that allows for the creation of special districts by local entities to assess water rights. The City Council …
Cape Coral in bind over utility cost
The News-Press, FL – March 4, 2010
During a two-hour meeting Wednesday, the City Council heard from consulting firm Burton and Associates on ways to knock down a pending increase in utility bills. The city has already built about $465 million worth of new water and sewage treatment facilities. …
Council passes developer stimulus
Newcastle News, WA – March 4, 2010
The City Council has unanimously passed a developer stimulus ordinance that will help certain development projects in the city withstand the economic recession, by deferring fee collection and allowing more time to obtain permits and city approvals. …
Cedar City Council cuts impact fees
Deseret News, UT – March 4, 2010
The City Council approved a resolution to cut $116,152 from the originally proposed impact fees of $153,527 for the Southern Utah University science center, settling a disagreement over the fees. City Manager Ron Chandler said when the city impact fee ordinance …
Some ideas for prosperity
BlueRidgeNow.com, NC – March 4, 2010
To The Editor: We have a great community that people from other places want to move to. Our downtown is the envy of most other towns. I believe we need to protect this asset by planning ahead. Our city manager and council did a great job handling the …
Lake County commission suspends transportation impact fees for one year
Daily Commercial, FL – March 3, 2010
County officials aren’t bracing for a tidal wave of building permits just yet, but they are hoping Tuesday’s decision triggers at least a brisk surge. By a 4-1 vote, with only Elaine Renick dissenting, Lake County commissioners approved a suspension of transportation …
Council permanently tables water ordinance
Chino Valley Review, CA – March 2, 2010
The Chino Valley Town Council Thursday, on a 6-0 vote, permanently tabled the town’s controversial proposed Water Sustainability and Conservation concept paper. Councilwoman Gloria Moore was absent. Mayor Jim Bunker said at the council’s Feb. 16 study session …
Building industry balks at city’s fee proposal
The Sacramento Press, CA – March 1, 2010
Representatives from the building sector are fighting a proposal from the city to charge developers fees for transportation-related construction. City staffers said that Sacramento must address how the city’s transportation infrastructure will be affected by …
New plan for impact fee debated in Washington Township
The Herald-Mail, PA – March 1, 2010
Debate about traffic impact fees in Washington Township, Pa., continued Monday, as developers offered plans to build Washington Township Boulevard while taking steps to stimulate growth. Rod Krebs, a developer from York, Pa., suggested to supervisors that …
Editorial on fees part of NIMBY syndrome
The Valley Chronicle, CA – February 26, 2010
Regarding the Feb. 19 editorial, titled “Cut in fees help builders, not residents”: From the editorial, it would appear that those evil and greedy developers are at it again: trying to make a profit. Yes, the real estate market is in a severe slump, and home equity has …
Atherton residents, businesses to get refund on road impact fees
San Jose Mercury News, CA – February 26, 2010
Anyone who wrote a check to the town of Atherton for “road impact fees” between July 2006 and September 2009 will soon be eligible for a refund, town officials said Friday. At its regular meeting last week, the Atherton City Council voted 3-1 to authorize $1.6 …
County commissioners look at suspending impact fees on roads
Orlando Sentinel, FL – February 25, 2010
Lake County commissioners will decide next week whether to suspend transportation impact fees, a pricey assessment viewed as both a crucial money source for new roads and a roadblock to economic growth. Commissioners appeared to be leaning toward suspending …
Washington Township Supervisors seek legal opinion on impact fees
The Herald-Mail, PA – February 25, 2010
The Washington Township (Pa.) Supervisors are looking for a legal opinion on how approved land development plans could be affected by lowered traffic impact fees before deciding the fees’ future. On Wednesday, the supervisors further discussed the impact fees, …
Potential downtown tenants get break on fees
Issaquah Press, WA – February 25, 2010
City Council members last week extended a break on city fees to merchants who open businesses in downtown Issaquah. The council agreed to continue a year-old measure to exempt businesses from the city transportation impact fee for the first 10,000 square feet …
Newsom plan would defer up-front developer fees
San Francisco Chronicle, CA – February 25, 2010
It’s not a cure-all for San Francisco’s sputtering economy, but Mayor Gavin Newsom says his plan to let developers defer up-front fees owed to the city will jump-start major construction projects while creating at least 700 blue-collar jobs. “This is a big deal,” Newsom …
Union continues to search for revenue vs. raising taxes
Pottstown Mercury, PA – February 25, 2010
A stagnant tax base plus increasing township costs equals the need to cut township services, said supervisors at a recent meeting, but they aren’t ready to do that. “We’re going to have to make decisions which aren’t popular,” said supervisors board Chairman John …
More ‘business friendly’ impact fee OK’d
Davis County Clipper, UT – February 25, 2010
Starting a business in Kaysville just got a little easier thanks to a recent change in how fees are collected by the city. The Kaysville City Council voted to give new businesses the option of paying the entire road impact fee up front, or extending payments over …
Impact fees up for vote
St. George Daily Spectrum, UT – February 24, 2010
Cedar City Council members are prepared to vote on an impact fee charge of $37,375 for construction of a new Science Center at Southern Utah University during tonight’s action meeting. When the ordinance for impact fee assessment was first created, university …
City to study impact fees
Bethany Beach Wave, DE – February 23, 2010
After suspending a $5,000 impact fee for new construction two weeks ago, City Council members are scheduled to begin studying the issue further when they meet Wednesday. Last year, the developer of a new Food Lion and four adjacent retail spaces was the only one to pay the …
Sequim hears pitch for fees on new homes in its future
Peninsula Daily, WA – February 23, 2010
Whether they build them for $200,000 or $2 million, owners of new homes not subject to a potential low-income waiver would pay an additional $9,036 in impact fees if the City Council approves a plan outlined Monday at a study session. But while council member Bill …
Berkeley Co. water board plans to appeal ruling
The Herald-Mail, WV – February 23, 2010
A dye test of streams in the vicinity of a proposed quarry mining operation near Gerrardstown revealed a connection to a well used by the Berkeley County Public Service Water District, the utility’s executive director said Monday. “It showed up in our well,” …
Fairness at center of impact fee debate
Fort Worth Star Telegram, TX – February 22, 2010
Real estate developer John Rapkoch had reason to ask Weatherford City Council for a one-year moratorium on residential development impact fees at the Feb. 9 meeting. He told council members that if they did as he asked he would start the next day finishing a
Public hearing scheduled on impact fees
Greenville Herald-Banner, TX – February 22, 2010
A public hearing has been scheduled Tuesday to reveal how City of Greenville officials have updated the method used in assessing impact fees to help pay for local economic development. The city’s Capital Improvements Advisory Committee (CIAC), comprised of …
Judge issues decision against water, sewer fee
Martinsburg Journal, WV – February 20, 2010
The future of the county’s capacity improvement fees may be in question thanks to a ruling in a case filed by local developer Larry Faircloth. In a declaratory judgment order, Justice Elliot Maynard ruled that neither the Berkeley County Public Service Sewer …
Parties disagree on fee decision
Martinsburg Journal, WV – February 20, 2010
Justice Elliot Maynard’s ruling on the capacity improvement fee has elicited strong reactions from both its critics and supporters. Since its inception, Larry and Laura Faircloth said they felt strongly that the fee was wrong and needed to be challenged. That’s exactly …
High Springs to cut impact fees
Gainesville Sun, FL – February 20, 2010
With its vote last week to suspend impact fees on new homes, High Springs joined a growing list of Florida municipalities to suspend or reduce such fees in hopes of kick-starting sluggish housing starts. Local builders would like to see that list grow further, with other …
Council backs off impact fees
Delmarva Now, MD – February 19, 2010
The City Council wants to send the fee structure for developers back to the drawing board. Council President Louise Smith suggested the course of action after another impact fee discussion left her uncomfortable with moving forward. Impact fees have been …
Atherton to refund $1.6 million in road fees
The Almanac Online, CA – February 18, 2010
It seemed like a good idea at the time: charge builders a road impact fee and use it to repair Atherton roads torn up by heavy construction vehicles. Now, town officials are preparing to refund $1.65 million in road fees collected since July 1, 2006. The Atherton council …
QC watching bills that affect its finances
East Valley Tribune, AZ – February 18, 2010
Changes in development fee rules and possibly getting a break on a $10 million loan are among issues Queen Creek is keeping an eye on at the Arizona Legislature this year. The Queen Creek Town Council received an update on bills its lobbyist is keeping an eye on …
PETER GADDY: Eyes Only – HB 227 – a sweetheart deal for industry
Naples Daily News, FL – February 17, 2010
Article VII of the Florida State Constitution is probably not the most read or discussed article of our State Constitution. It is the section of our Constitution that limits the authority of the legislature to prohibit municipalities — like cities, counties, and school districts …
Open house crowd questions impact fees
Sequim Gazette, WA – February 17, 2010
The city’s consultants did their best during last week’s open house but still couldn’t convince many in the audience of the city’s need to adopt impact and mitigation fees. Concerns about increased housing costs driving growth elsewhere and shutting out borderline …
POLL: Marco eyes public art requirement on non-residential construction
Marconews, FL – February 17, 2010
It’s not a tax and it’s not an impact fee, assured proponents of a new requirement for developers to pay for public art on Marco Island. Not all council members agreed, but in a narrow majority vote (4-3) of City Council members Tuesday night, the city is moving forward …
Impact fees for builders justified
Camp Verde Journal – February 16, 2010
Camp Verde could charge builders $2,627 in impact fees for every single-family home constructed in the future, according to a Development Fee Study released at a public forum Thursday, April 13. The town could charge slightly more for multi-family construction …
City Council considers fee rollback for downtown businesses
Issaquah Press, WA – February 16, 2010
City Council members could extend a break to merchants who open businesses in downtown Issaquah. The council will consider legislation Feb. 16 to exempt businesses from the city transportation impact fee for the first 10,000 square feet of floor area. DownTown Issaquah …
Report on impact fees available online
Citrus Daily, FL – February 16, 2010
The Citrus County Commission Web site has added an item of interest to residents and businesses on amending impact fees. The report is from a county consultant on impact fees, entitled latest “Update Policy Memorandum from Duncan & Associates.” The commission …
Another fee-free year in Putnam?
Palatka Daily News, FL – February 15, 2010
County commissioners are leaning toward extending the suspension of impact fees on new construction for another year. “I feel that times are tough and people need all the breaks we can give them right now,” Commissioner Nancy Harris said. “I’m not against impact …
Impact fees back on Salisbury’s agenda
Bethany Beach Wave – February 15, 2010
A subject gone dormant in the public eye is scheduled to be revived during the City Council work session this week. Impact fees are first on the agenda for the Thursday morning meeting. City councils in Salisbury have tossed around impact fees for more than a decade, …
Counties sue Legislature over impact fee law
Tampa Tribune, FL – February 12, 2010
On Wednesday, the Florida Association of Counties sued House Speaker Larry Cretul and Senate President Jeff Atwater in Leon County Circuit Court over a new law that revises how impact fees can be challenged. Whether impact fees are fair is at the heart of …
County a part of suit challenging state impact fee law
Gainesville Sun, FL – February 12, 2010
Alachua County is a plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging a state law that may make it more difficult for local governments to prevail in legal challenges over impact fees. Passed in the 2009 legislative session and subsequently signed by Gov. Charlie Crist, House Bill 227 …
Local governments sue to block changes in impact-fee law
Orlando Sentinel (blog), FL – February 12, 2010
Lake County joined eight other Florida counties in a lawsuit to challenge whether an impact-fee law signed by Gov. Charlie Crist last year is constitutional. The lawsuit, also filed by the Florida Association of Counties, the Florida League of Cities, the Florida …
Lee sues over state impact fee restrictions
The News-Press, FL – February 11, 2010
Local governments, including Lee County, filed suit to overturn new restrictions on local impact fees Wednesday, saying the Legislature unconstitutionally forced them to prove their fees are accurate. The Florida League of Cities, Florida School Boards Association and …
Counties File Suit Over New Impact Fee Law
The Jacksonville Observer, FL – February 11, 2010
The Florida Association of Counties sued House Speaker Larry Cretul and Senate President Jeff Atwater in Leon County Circuit Court Wednesday over a new law that revises the way government impact fees are challenged in court. House Bill 227, passed by …
City council rejects fire impact fee proposal 4-2
Blaine Northern Light, WA – February 11, 2010
Blaine taxpayers and current residents could be forced to pick up the tab for increased fire and rescue services as a result of new development following a recent city council decision. In the regular meeting Monday, Blaine City Council voted 4-2 against a resolution …
Impact fee deferment approved in vote
St. George Daily Spectrum – February 11, 2010
The Washington City Council approved an impact fee deferment for contractors Wednesday night with a 4-1 vote. Drew Ellerman, community development director, said the issue of a deferment payment came up when one contractor came to the council …
Lawsuit challenges state impact fee mandates
Naples Daily News, FL – February 10, 2010
Today, the Florida Association of Counties, the Florida League of Cities, the Florida School Boards Association, and nine counties (Alachua, Collier, Lake, Lee, Levy, Nassau, Pasco, Sarasota, and St. Lucie) filed suit challenging HB 227 (2009) relating to impact fees, …
Schertz urges AG to look at impact fee law
San Antonio Express, TX – February 10, 2010
The city of Schertz believes it should not have to pay impact fees for any of its public facilities, so much so that it is taking its case to the state’s top lawyer. At its Feb. 2 meeting, the Schertz City Council approved hiring a law firm that would provide legal support for …
City looks at impact fee deferment
St. George Daily Spectrum, UT – February 9, 2010
A member of the Hurricane City Impact Fees Task Force approached the Washington City Council Tuesday to show an initiative Hurricane is working on to help revitalize the construction industry. Jon Prince, task force member, said Hurricane Mayor Tom Hirschi asked …
County may extend impact-fee freeze
Florida Today, FL – February 9, 2010
Space Coast builders may receive an extra year to secure permits for new construction without shelling out transportation impact fees. Tuesday morning, the Brevard County Commission unanimously decided to draft an ordinance that would extend its current …
Butler ponders traffic fee
Standard Speaker, PA – February 7, 2010
Butler Township may create a new advisory committee that would be tasked with establishing a traffic impact fee for new residential and commercial development. Township engineer Joseph Calabrese said information is still being compiled on the traffic impact …
Brevard Commission may extend impact-fee moratorium
Florida Today, FL – February 5, 2010
Since March, Brevard County has suspended $6 million in transportation impact fees to try to spur new construction, records show. But 2009 housing starts still plunged to their lowest level since 1975, after the Apollo program ended. And the Space Coast has …
County may suspend impact fees
Camden County Tribune, SC – February 5, 2010
Who got to you guys?” was Camden County Commissioner Steve Berry’s rhetorical question when the four other board members agreed to move forward with refunding more than $40,000 in development impact fees. During the board of commissioners meeting on …
Zionsville sues to recoup loss in impact fee judgment
Indianapolis Star, IN – February 4, 2010
Months after a Boone County judge ordered Zionsville to pay back nearly $400,000 in improperly set fees, town officials are suing a former consultant whom they blame for the loss. The Zionsville Plan Commission is suing Mishawaka-based Lehman & Lehman for nearly …
Monterey City Council approves transportation-impact fee cut
Monterey County Herald, CA – February 4, 2010
A 20 percent reduction in the development fees used to offset new projects’ transportation costs on the Monterey Peninsula was approved Tuesday by the Monterey City Council. The reduction was recommended by the Transportation Agency for Monterey County …
Developers may face Big Isle impact fees
Honolulu Advertiser, HI – February 4, 2010
The Hawai’i County Council is considering charging impact fees for building permits as an alternative to the county’s current reliance on “Fair Share” contributions from developers. The proposal came up Tuesday during a Finance Committee discussion of a report that …
Impact fees – pay ’em or waive ’em?
Orlando Sentinel, FL – February 4, 2010
A doctor who wants to build a new 5,000-square-foot medical office in Lake County must ante up about $33,000 in road-impact fees before his construction crews can turn the first shovel of dirt. A handyman who hopes to open his own hardware store in a new …
Arlington reviews increasing impact fees to developers
Fort Worth Star Telegram, TX – February 3, 2010
The City Council is reviewing whether to increase the impact fees charged to developers to help pay for nearly $300 million in roadway, water and wastewater capital improvement projects over the next decade. The council took no position Tuesday after a City staff …
Interim affordable housing fees OK’d
San Francisco Examiner (blog), CA – February 1, 2010
In an effort to protect the city’s requirement that developers provide affordable housing units in their developments or pay an lieu-fee, Mayor Gavin Newsom and Board of Supervisors President David Chiu introduced legislation that would transform the existing …
Developers waiting on board to discuss impact fees
The Herald-Mail – February 1, 2010
The Washington Township (Pa.) Supervisors said Monday they haven’t discussed impact fees as a board since last week’s meeting in which developers and real estate agents claimed the fees are hurting commercial growth. Representatives of at least 10 major …
Jefferson County Commission eyes changes to impact fees
Martinsburg Journal, WV – January 29, 2010
The number of impact fees being collected in Jefferson County has taken a tumble with the economic downturn, and some say that in order to reverse that trend the fees themselves may need to be decreased. “In these times, we’re losing jobs and we are …
Some say impact fees hurting growth in Washington Township
The Herald-Mail, PA – January 28, 2010
Impact fees designed to pay for a $16.7 million relief route are hurting commercial growth in Washington Township, Pa., developers and Realtors told township supervisors on Wednesday. Representatives of at least 10 major housing and commercial …
Impact fee deferment tabled
St. George Daily Spectrum, UT – January 28, 2010
A motion for deferment of impact fees for the Bristol Park Townhomes was tabled by Washington City Council members Wednesday with three ayes and one nay vote cast. Roger Carter, city manager, said Chuck Spilker, developer of Bristol Park Townhomes approached …
NM fire chief highlights impact of impact fees
FireRescue1, NM – January 28, 2010
There’s something of a squeeze on funding for the Santa Fe County Fire Department, according to Chief Stan Holden. Holden attended a meeting of the Edgewood Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday to help explain the fire department’s position as it relates to …
Eliminating fees not enough for economy
Seminole Chronicle, FL – January 27, 2010
Last week, the mayors of Oviedo and Winter Springs spoke at a luncheon of the Oviedo-Winter Springs Chamber of Commerce to discuss the state of each city. The economic outlook in the near future isn’t as bright as it was a few years ago. The local …
Prescott braces for $3M shortfall
Daily Courier, AZ – January 26, 2010
With everything from state-shared income tax to city sales tax taking a major hit this year, the City of Prescott will have a $3 million obstacle to overcome when it compiles its general-fund budget for the next fiscal year. During the second installment of the Prescott …
Pamlico County braces for water impact fees lawsuit
New Bern Sun Journal, NC – January 26, 2010
The Pamlico County commissioners, bracing for a possible lawsuit from the developers of a failed upscale Stonewall subdivision, have turned down a second request for a $3 million refund of water impact fees. An attorney for Cutter Bay developers RR Development North …
BIA wants Manteca to slash growth fees 50%
Manteca Bulletin, CA – January 26, 2010
The Building Industry Association of the Delta wants Manteca to reduce all growth impact fees for three years in a bid to rev up new housing construction. That request is part of a six-point plan the BIA has submitted to Manteca. It is in response to the council …
Impact of development fees far-reaching
Yuma Sun, AZ – January 25, 2010
There is a common impression that the city of Yuma’s development impact fees – money which is charged to cover city infrastructure and service costs – only impact the “rich guys,” the ones who put in large developments. The reality is that they also touch ordinary …
Jerome Co. puts impact fees on hold
Twin Falls Times-News, ID – January 24, 2010
The Jerome County Commission on Tuesday put proposed impact fees on new construction on hold, until July at the earliest, following a recommendation that additional fees might be counterproductive to a slumping economy. Impact fees are levied against new commercial …
High Springs suspends impact fees for half-year
High Springs Herald, FL – January 22, 2010
With home building at a crawl in High Springs due to the recession, the High Springs City Commission voted to suspend nearly $3,500 in fees that normally are charged to connect a home to the city’s sewer system. The fees, called impact fees, will not be charged for …
Commissioners reworking methodology for impact fees
Newnan Times-Herald, GA – January 21, 2010
The latest set of proposed changes to Coweta County’s impact fees reduces the fees for transportation, but not enough to suit the Coweta County Commissioners. The commissioners heard a presentation on the draft amendment to the impact fee …
Court Rules Against Union County
The Lincoln Tribune, NC – January 20, 2010
In 2006, Union County adopted an adequate public facilities ordinance (APFO) to help pay for school construction. In a Dec. 8 ruling, the state’s second highest court ruled that the county lacked the legal authority from the General Assembly to impose such an …
Development impact fee changes supported by most building commissioners
San Francisco Examiner (blog), CA – January 20, 2010
A proposal to provide builders with some relief from development impact fees was supported Wednesday by a majority vote of the city commission that oversees building inspections. Mayor Gavin Newsom’s proposed legislation, which is designed to help stimulate …
Washingon Township eyes new options to pay for bypass
The Herald-Mail, PA – January 19, 2010
The Washington Township (Pa.) Supervisors are searching for ways to pay for development of a major road that has been halted by the recession. Washington Township Boulevard, a $16.7 million bypass project, was supposed to provide motorists an opportunity to …
Business group decries levels of impact fees
Payson Roundup, AZ – January 19, 2010
If you ever researched opening a business, you probably quickly realized it will cost you. From impact fees with the water department to capacity fees with the sanitary district, when all is said and done, the average business owner shells out a pretty penny long …
Midlothian Lowers Fees to Jumpstart Growth
Midlothian.com, TX – January 18, 2010
The City of Midlothian may now be the first community in North Texas to waive its impact fees as a means of jumpstarting its housing market. At its January 12th meeting, the Midlothian City Council approved an ordinance to temporarily suspend its residential …
Development impact fee changes to be discussed in separate hearings this week
San Francisco Examiner (blog), CA – January 18, 2010
Officials during separate hearings this week will discuss a proposal by Mayor Gavin Newsom’s administration to overhaul the way that The City charges development impact fees; The proposal is designed largely to stimulate construction activity. Builders and developers …
Habitat Layoffs
Tampa Tribune, FL – January 16, 2010
It was distressing to learn of the loss of jobs at Habitat for Humanity. Worse, the decision of the county commissioners to not fund $500,000 presumably because the county doesn’t have it, means the loss of $1.54 million grant money that would have been spent …
North Okaloosa Medical Center requests $150K impact fee waiver
Crestview News Bulletin (blog), FL – January 15, 2010
At the Crestview City Council’s Monday night meeting, North Okaloosa Medical Center CEO David Sanders asked the body to waive impact fees as the local hospital prepares to construct a 40-bed “patient tower.” Sanders said the planned $18.2-million project will …
State law requires farm impact studies
Manteca Bulletin, CA – January 14, 2010
Tuesday’s Bulletin had an article entitled: “Redundant farm conversion studies adding to the cost of housing projects.” The premise of the article is that the City requires developers to fund unnecessary farmland conversion studies when the impacts have already been …
Ignacio approves helping store owners
The Durango Herald, CO – January 14, 2010
The Ignacio Town Board voted unanimously to waive impact fees for Ignacio Shur Valu Market, to help the business rebuild after a December 2007 fire. Gregg McClanahan and Cindy Swanemyr, co-owners of the market at 535 Goddard Ave., made the request …
County may eliminate port area’s impact fees
Bradenton Herald, FL – January 13, 2010
Adopting a new “Jobs Now” theme, the Manatee County Commission will look at a proposal to eliminate impact fees for seven years on property developed near Port Manatee. Carlos Beruff, president of Medallion Homes, suggested the moratorium on the fees …
Rate hikes on water, sewer up for review; average monthly rate could top $100
Prescott Daily Courier, AZ – January 13, 2010
Increases in city water and sewer rates over the past four years have produced more dramatic results than even the consultant who recommended the hikes imagined they would. After Prescott raised its rates for water in 2006 and 2007, and then for sewer in 2008, …
Lake eyes dropping fees to spur economy
Daily Commercial, FL – January 13, 2010
Lake County commissioners are considering temporarily waiving transportation impact fees to help spur commercial development and create jobs. “How do you get short-term results?” Conner said. “I would like to go through a process to waive commercial impact …
Developer fees mulled by Sequim officials
Peninsula Daily, WA – January 13, 2010
One of Sequim’s hottest buttons is to be the subject of a public forum next month, City Manager Steve Burkett said Tuesday. New developers’ fees — to help pay for parks, street improvements, a new police station and a new City Hall — have all been discussed, …
Collier County eyeing 5 percent across-the-board cuts this year
Naples Daily News, FL – January 12, 2010
Collier County will scramble for every penny it can capture in the upcoming year. Anticipating a 10 percent decrease in money from property tax, Collier County budget staff told commissioners Tuesday that the year ahead might call for an across-the-board 5 percent …
City to revisit talk on proposed impact fees
Las Cruces Sun-News, FL – January 12, 2010
Should additional impact fees for major road improvements, increased public safety and drainage be assessed citywide or should they only be charged in the growth areas of Las Cruces’ east and west mesa. There was no consensus Monday from city council as it discussed …
Make the hard decision
Cape Coral Daily Breeze, FL – January 9, 2010
Mayor John Sullivan has opened the new year with his first major proposal since the November election. In an effort to tackle the challenge of escalating utility rates due to the previous board’s inability to reach consensus on the remaining portions of the …
Pamlico sends letter to explain fee refund rejection
New Bern Sun Journal, NC – January 8, 2010
Pamlico County has sent a letter to attorneys for the failed Cutter Bay subdivision outlining why county commissioners rejected a request for nearly $3 million in water impact fee refunds. Commissioners voted unanimously earlier this week to deny a …
Bonita building’s new owners won’t face impact fee
The News-Press – January 7, 2010
The owners of an empty bank building in Bonita Springs won’t have to pay tens of thousands of dollars in impact fees to the city when they convert the space. Planning and zoning Manager John Dulmer said no impact fees will be charged to open a store there or to later …
County takes step toward impact fees
Bryan County News – January 6, 2010
Bryan County is taking a tentative step toward implementing impact fees. Bill Ross with Ross & Associates presented the Bryan County Board of Commissioners a draft impact fee ordinance Tuesday during a regular meeting. The commission previously forwarded …
Water bills are going up
Charleston Post Courier, SC – January 6, 2010
Residents urged to conserve water will now be charged more partly because they did exactly that. Mount Pleasant Waterworks’ rates have been increased 9 percent, adding about $4 to the monthly bill of a typical residential customer. Customers who are used …
Mayor proposes fee to help cover utility costs
Cape Coral Daily Breeze – January 6, 2010
Mayor John Sullivan is proposing a plan that would charge property owners who have not paid impact fees for being hooked up to city water roughly $300 – $400 a year, per property. The annual charge would help to offset the monthly utility rates being paid by current …
Bonita Springs council waives additional impact fees for couple who already paid
Naples Daily News – January 6, 2010
A Bonita Springs couple will not have to pay impact fees to open a retail shop in an empty bank building they own. Abe and Danka Asli faced tens of thousands of dollars in impact fees because one interpretation of an ordinance would have required additional fees …
County halts impact fees for 3 months
Ocala.com, FL – January 5, 2010
Heeding the pleas of local builders, developers and economic development authorities, Marion County commissioners on Tuesday narrowly agreed to temporarily suspend the collection of transportation impact fees as a way to stimulate the economy. …
Mayor proposes fee for landowners in north Cape
The News-Press, FL – January 5, 2010
Property owners of vacant land in north Cape Coral could soon be paying a special fee to help pay for the new water plant in the northern part of the city. In a memo to City Council members, mayor John Sullivan is proposing the impact fee “in order to help pay …
Town closer to getting sewer system
Times Daily, AL – January 5, 2010
The town of Killen moved a step closer to providing a sewer system for residents. The Alabama Department of Environmental Management, which permits these systems in the state, has opened the 30-day public comment period for an underground injection …
Lincoln’s development impact fees to remain unchanged this year
Lincoln Journal Star, NE – January 4, 2010
Development impact fees will remain unchanged this year after the Lincoln City Council voted Monday not to lower them as required by city ordinance. Impact fees were implemented in Lincoln in 2003 to offset the strain new development puts on streets, parks and …
Collier suspends impact fee relief for affordable housing units
Naples Daily News, FL – January 1, 2010
For several years, Collier County government offered incentives to those who built affordable housing. One of those perks was deferred impact fees, large sums of money that could be paid later. But Collier County officials recently decided that’s no longer an option. …