BUNNELL -- The Flagler County Chamber of Commerce & Affiliates asked members to "pack the house" for Wednesday's Flagler County Commission meeting as a show of support for a moratorium on impact fees, but the topic won't be discussed.
"It's not going to be on the agenda until the next meeting," Flagler County spokesman Carl Laundrie said by phone Sunday. "It's just a mix-up."
Chamber officials called a potential moratorium important for Flagler County's business community.
"If approved, the change will reduce regulatory costs for all vertical development, spur growth, and create jobs," Chamber President Doug Baxter said in a written statement.
Laundrie said the moratorium will instead be put on the agenda for the commission's Sept. 17 meeting.
Commission Chairwoman Barbara Revels at a workshop meeting last week asked staff to prepare commissioners to further discuss the topic and said "we'll ink the time frame then" with regard to the moratorium's length.
Revels asked for an impact fee moratorium to be discussed during the workshop "because many municipalities have put off impact fees."
"I have listened to testimony from Volusia County, and that permit fees doubled because of this ability to spur economic development," Revels said. "The city of Bunnell has already done this. The hope is that other municipalities will look at this. Somebody has to get the ball rolling."
The Volusia County Council approved a two-year residential impact-fee moratorium in certain areas last summer, hoping to encourage new construction in places with the infrastructure to handle it.
Those impact fee collections had already decreased as homebuilding slowed -- from $13 million in 2005 to less than $4 million in 2010.
Volusia's fees, which can total about $3,000 for a single-family home, are scheduled to come back slowly after the moratorium expires in 2013. They'll start at a third of the original fee, then two-thirds in 2014, and the full amount in 2015.
Flagler Commissioner Alan Peterson said during the workshop that he'd use impact fees -- or the withholding of them -- as an incentive, rather than waiving them up front.
"If you increase the supply, then the price of existing property will stagnate or not increase the way it should," he said.
Revels argued the point.
"There are not that many roofers left. You aren't getting those (low) prices any more," she said. "New construction costs more than (the cost of purchasing what is) existing. You are raising the value of the properties around them."
Jason DeLorenzo, government affairs director with the Flagler/Palm Coast Homebuilders Association, said eliminating or reducing fees has increased growth.
"I used single-family permitting because it is the easiest to get. I compared a bunch of different counties," he said. "The biggest thing is marketing: We are open for business and we want you to consider us. Builders are losing to Volusia County because the fees are so much less. Someone built a $289K house across the street from me, and I could not be more thrilled."
The Flagler County Commission will consider a moratorium on impact fees for two to four years.
"I'm going to support the chair in this initiative," said Commissioner Nate McLaughlin. "I'm not a big fan of impact fees. I struggle with their fairness anyway."
The County Commission will discuss its 2013 legislative priorities during the "general business" portion of Wednesday's meeting, slated to begin at 9 a.m. in commission chambers at the Government Service Building, 1769 E. Moody Blvd.
No comments:
Post a Comment