Wednesday, July 17, 2002
By LARRY HANNAN, ljhannan@naplesnews.com
No one was carrying torches and pitchforks Tuesday afternoon at the North
Naples Regional Library.
But during a public presentation at the library, the local development
industry still registered its displeasure over Collier County government's plan
to raise road impact fees.
A study commissioned by Collier officials has recommended raising road impact
fees by an average of 228 percent.
About 90 people, most of whom were affiliated with the development industry,
attended Tuesday's meeting to express reservations about the study.
Impact fees are assessed for each new home and business built in the county
and aren't limited to transportation. The fees initially are paid by developers,
who typically pass them on to consumers in the form of higher prices.
Phil Tindall, Collier County's impact fee coordinator, said the No. 1 reason
for the impact fee increase is that the cost of purchasing right of way for
building and widening roads has significantly increased.
Right of way costs are going up because land prices have increased, Tindall
said.
County officials also say purchasing right of way can be more expensive than
purchasing land at market value.
Collier County Transportation Administrator Norman Feder said the cost of
building one lane of road over a mile has increased in the past two years from
$1.6 million to $3.8 million. The main reason for that increase is the cost of
right of way. Other items that have gone up include design, moving utilities,
construction and mitigation for environmental effects, Feder said.
Most of those attending expressed doubt that impact fees need to be raised as
high as was recommended in the study, which was conducted by URS Consultants of
Tampa.
"The cost for purchasing right of way disturbs me," said Ross McIntosh, a
local real estate broker.
McIntosh said the county appeared to be paying above market value for most of
the land it purchased.
"I don't understand how the county got these numbers," McIntosh said.
Feder said the county probably is paying more than market value but said
purchasing right of way can be difficult.
"Right of way prices might seem high but we don't have much flexibility in
what we can buy," Feder said. "The cost also includes condemnation fees and
legal fees in most cases."
David Ellis, director of the Collier Building Industry Association, said
there are still a lot of unanswered questions on how the impact fee increase was
calculated. He wondered if the construction projects planned in the next five
years need all the right of way the county plans to purchase.
"I'm worried that impact fees are being inflated by purchasing right of way
that isn't needed," Ellis said.
The county is planning to widen portions of Immokalee Road and
Goodlette-Frank Road from two to four lanes within the next five years.
Ellis said the county is planning to purchase enough right of way for six
lanes on those roadways because they expect to widen both roads up to six lanes
at some future time.
If the county would just plan to purchase enough right of way land to
four-lane the roads instead of six-laning them, the impact fee increase wouldn't
be as large, Ellis said.
Feder said it was possible that Ellis is correct and said that issue would be
looked at prior to the County Commission meeting.
Ellis said this was an example of why the county shouldn't go forward with an
impact fee increase at its July 30 meeting. He wants the commissioners to wait
until September before any final decisions are made.
"I discovered the issue with those two roads just by looking over the study,"
Ellis said. "I'm not an engineer. Who knows what mistakes someone who is
qualified in this area might discover."
CBIA has hired its own consultant to examine the study and look for flaws in
how it was done.
Ginny Blaine, a broker at Downing-Frye Realty Inc. in Naples, said she was
concerned the impact fee increase would drive middle class homeowners out of
Collier County.
"I am very concerned that middle-class people will have no place to go
because of this," Blaine said. "Working people aren't going to be able to afford
to live here."
Blaine used teachers in the Collier County school system making about $30,000
a year as an example of people who couldn't afford to live in the area.
Impact fees for residential homes of less than 1,500 square feet would
increase from $1,825 to $5,655, a 210 percent increase, if the study's
recommendations are approved.
Residential homes from 1,501 to 2,499 square feet would increase from $2,433
to $7,536 and residential homes over 2,500 feet would have an impact fee
increase from $2,871 to $8,990. Both of those increases are also 210 percent.
Ellis also made the point that impact fees are excessive.
"No one will argue that land prices have gone up," he said. "But they haven't
tripled or quadrupled. That makes me wonder if this impact fee is appropriate."
Todd Gates of Gates McVey Builders Inc. wondered why the cost of building one
lane of road over a mile has increased in the past two years from $1.6 million
to $3.8 million.
"I see Lee County only has a cost of about $1.8 million a mile," Gates said.
"That makes me wonder why we're going up so much."
Feder said Lee County was going raise its impact fees in the near future and
said its estimate on the cost of building one lane of road per mile would also
probably increase significantly.
Joe Schmitt, head of Collier County Community Development and Environmental
Services, said the county staff doesn't plan to make any major changes to the
impact fee study before the July 30 commission meeting.
The county staff will attempt to determine how the impact fee increase will
impact low-income housing in the county before July 30. But Schmitt said it
would be up to commissioners to determine if the impact fee rate recommended in
the study would be damaging to Collier County residents.
"The bottom line is that the commissioners are going to have a tough decision
to make," Schmitt said.
Schmitt rejected CBIA claims that the impact fee study inflated impact fees
beyond where they should be.
"There is a perception that the figures (in the study) are arbitrary,"
Schmitt said. "I can tell you that is not true."
Tindall said all of the impact fee increases had been calculated based on
reliable data and said the recommended impact fee increase is legal under
Florida law