BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
GREEN COVE SPRINGS—The author of an impact fee study for Clay County amended his report to county commissioners after consulting with the county’s development community. The new report reduces the fee by 26% for the typical home. Carlos Villarreal of Willdan Financial Services revealed his amended report to commissioners during a Nov. 28 workshop.
The consultant unveiled the first version of his report in October. In that document, he said the maximum allowable impact fee for a new home between 1,500 and 2,499 square feet, was $6,577.
In the revised report, the same home would generate a fee of $4,877, a $1,700 reduction.
Vote delayed
Commissioners were poised to vote on the higher fees during an Oct. 28 meeting but delayed the vote for 30 days after several representatives of the development and construction industries asked commissioners for more time to respond to the proposal.
The Nov. 28 workshop began with Villarreal reviewing his report and highlighting the changes he made to the document after meeting with development and construction representatives.
He said one change to the study was in the parks category where impact fees for recreation were divided into local fee zones in the way mobility fees were assigned to specific areas of the county.
In addition to parks in specific areas, the study also took into account the county’s regional sports park and allocated its costs to the entire county, since it will benefit residents throughout the area.
Assistant County Manager Troy Nagle said the total cost of the county’s regional recreation park near State Roads 21 and 16 could be as high as $33 million.
The updated report identifies $371.9 million in future projects that need to be funded through 2045 to keep pace with the county’s growth. Of that, $144.8 million could be funded through impact fees, leaving the county with $227.1 million to fund through other sources.
Values changed
Assistant County Manager Troy Nagle told commissioners the updated report also values land and buildings differently than the original document.
“We changed the value of property to the appraised value out of the property appraiser’s office versus the land value that we had calculated and instead of the price to acquire the land,” he said. “So, we went to the actual appraised value, and we changed the values for the buildings from the construction cost to what our insured cost was since there was some concerns about the construction costs being inflated.”
Nagle added that the county also used recent construction quotes for fire stations to estimate future costs of buildings.
“That’s a more conservative approach that we took,” he said.
Nine fire stations needed
During the workshop, several county agencies presented their outlook for the next 20 years.
Fire Chief Lorin Mock said that between 2015 and 2022, calls for service to the fire department increased by 40%.
Mock said he anticipates purchasing 10 ambulances, eight ladder trucks, five tenders and nine pumpers to meet growth projections. He added that the overwhelming majority of the 53,000 annual calls projected in the future will be medical calls. He also said the county will have to build seven additional stations and replace two over the next 20 years for a total anticipated cost of $90.7 million, including the additional trucks.
Assistant County Manager Troy Nagle said the county will need $104 million to fund future law enforcement needs. Impact fees would fund $25.7 million of those costs.
The sheriff’s office’s chief financial officer said the agency’s administrators are now spread out over 18 buildings. The office’s CFO said they need to be under one roof. She also said the office now lags the state average in deputies per capita.
Criticisms
Home builder Michael Bourre told commissioners that even with the revisions, the study is inadequate. He said the impact fee study does not identify current standards for service levels. He added that the county has no separate studies on county deficiencies and that the impact fee study is deficient.
George Egan of the Reinhold Corporation said his organization supports the concept of impact fees, but that the impact fee study needs more detail and depth.
Erick Saks, representing Operation Lifeline which provides affordable housing for veterans, asked commissioners to consider discounts on impact fees for affordable housing. He said his organization can’t work in St. John’s County because no such discounts exist.
T.R. Hainline Jr. of the Roger’s Towers law firm, representing the Northeast Florida Home Builders Association, said the impact fee study revisions are positive. He added that missing from the study are existing county deficiencies. “This is important because you cannot use impact fees to fund existing deficiencies,” he said.
Commissioners respond
Villarreal defended his report against the criticisms. He said the document is in compliance with Florida statutes and case law on impact fees.
Commissioner Kristen Burke said officials are criticized for not getting ahead on infrastructure. “If we are 63rd out of 67 counties in public safety funding, we are not doing our jobs,” she said.
Commissioner Mike Cella, disagreeing with a development industry representative, said impact fees do not tie the hands of future commissioners. “It provides a plan for future growth,” he said. “People don’t want to sit in congested roadways, and they want parks where their children can play.”
Cella also said Clay County is ranked near the bottom in the state in terms of per capita county government spending.
“The taxpayers are getting value for their money,” he said. “Businesses coming into the county want to see that we have a plan for the future.”
Commissioner Betsy Condon said a picture is worth a thousand words. She added that Mock’s map of current fire stations showing the lack of coverage and future growth speaks volumes.
The board of county commissioners is scheduled to take up impact fees during its Dec. 13 meeting.
