Proposed Changes to Impact Fees
September 19, 2007
The City Council convened a Special meeting on Tuesday, September 18, to discuss changes to the city’s impact fees. Although the ordinance has not yet been approved, the Council reached a general consensus on a plan to increase impact fees by 7%, 5% and 5% over the next 3 years. The details will be presented in a proposed ordinance at the next regular Council meeting.
What are impact fees? In short, impact fees are fees cities charge developers to help pay for the cost of new infrastructure. It is an attempt to shift the burden of paying for public improvements to developers.
Municipalities charge many types of development-related fees. Most fall into three broad categories: (1) planning fees, which cover the administrative costs associated with reviewing required planning documents; (2) building permit, plan check, and inspection fees, which cover the costs of reviewing building permit and other site specific permit applications; and (3) capital facilities fees, or development impact fees, which cover the up-front costs of providing capital infrastructure.
You can think about the development process as having three stages. The first involves gaining land-use approvals. This is the stage covered by planning fees. The second stage involves getting various site preparation and architectural approvals to build one or more structures. This is the stage covered by building permit and plan check fees. The third stage involves connecting the structure to infrastructure systems and public services. This is the stage covered by development impact fees.
There are impact fees for water systems, sewer systems and roads. Each of these areas involves a separate calculation of the “maximum justified fee.” These are complicated calculations that require independent consultants. State law provides guidelines to cities about how much of a fee can be charged based on the maximum justified fee.
In past years, Cedar Hill’s impact fees have been less than other cities. These adjustments to the impact fees should bring us in line with other cities in the area that are similar to Cedar Hill.
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Welcome!
My name is Wade Emmert and I am a Council Member for the City of Cedar Hill. This web site is a way for me to share with you some of my thoughts about issues important to the City.
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If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at Wade.Emmert@cedarhilltx.com or (214) 740-3164.