FORT WORTH -- A proposed increase in city fees on new development to help pay for arterial roads is too high and could endanger the nascent rebound in the local housing market and push construction to neighboring suburbs, real estate and business groups told the City Council on Tuesday.
The groups supported raising the impact fees by less than the city staff has recommended, a level that was proposed by an outside consultant and endorsed by the city's capital improvements advisory committee."We've got a long, long, long way to go" in housing's recovery, said Lee Nicol, a Fort Worth developer and builder representing the Greater Fort Worth Builders Association, Associated General Contractors, Greater Fort Worth Real Estate Council and Greater Fort Worth Association of Realtors."It's just not the right time."But Rusty Fuller, president of the North Fort Worth Alliance, an umbrella group of 22 homeowners associations, called for fees higher than the staff recommendation.None of the fee proposals would keep up with the annual pace of growth, and Fuller noted that the city already is shifting money from operations to pay for debt incurred in building roads and streets."If you're having trouble now supplying police and fire service, what's going to happen when you add more houses and you haven't collected the money to pay for those police and fire services?" Fuller said.The council is scheduled to vote on the fee proposal Feb. 5. The increase would take effect April 1, with developments that are already platted grandfathered in for two years at the current fees.The city charges transportation impact fees on new residential and commercial developments, and the money must be used to build roads into that development.Under the staff proposal, the fee on a single-family home -- paid before permits are issued -- would rise to $3,680 from $2,000. The staff also is proposing that the fee rise again in 2015, to $5,112 on a single-family home.Development and business groups are backing a proposal led by Nicol's group that would raise the impact fees to $3,000 on a single-family home.At the city's current growth rate, it takes nearly six miles of new arterial roads per year to serve new developments, staff members estimate. The current fees pay for 1.1 miles, said Kate Beck, the city's transportation planning administrator. The staff's proposal would pay for 1.8 miles.Scott Nishimura, 817-390-7808Twitter@JScottNishimuraHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
