There is nothing covert about Pasco County's higher transportation impact fees.
But that is the gripe from some soon-to-open central Pasco businesses that say the charges are "a whack in the face."
Maybe "kick in the rump" is more appropriate and certainly warranted considering the tired objections trotted out from some quarters each time the county tries to offset the costs of growth, beautify roadsides or invest in the community's quality of life.
This time, tenants at Collier Commons shopping center at State Road 54 and Collier Parkway in Land O'Lakes are upset. The major traffic generators - including fast-food restaurants and drive-through banks - face 300 to 400 percent increases in transportation impact fees - onetime charges on construction to offset the traffic it will generate. It means an additional $50,000 for a bank branch, $92,000 for a restaurant and $200,000 for a department store. The developer contends the county didn't give proper notice of the fee increase.
Proper notice? Let's see, the county began discussing raising its impact fees in December 2000, just after newly elected commissioners Ted Schrader and Peter Altman took office. By the next fall, the talk turned serious. Rising right-of-way costs pushed back state projects in Pasco County. The state Department of Transportation delayed widening State Road 54 from Little Road to Gunn Highway, blaming unexpectedly high land acquisition costs for the 5-mile route. The state budgeted $11-million for the right of way but spent $28-million, which squeezed other road-building projects.
It is one reason why the increase fees are justified. As DOT announced the delays, county transportation consultants said Pasco needed to increase road impact fees to meet demands. By spring 2002, the county retained those consultants, Tindale Oliver Associates, to devise the fee schedule.
The firm sent its researchers to survey motorists' driving habits. Clipboard-toting interviewers wanted to know two things: Where are you coming from? Where are you going? After that, researchers left the neighborhoods and headed to three sit-down restaurants, three fast-food establishments, three stand-alone drugstores and two shopping centers to gather similar data.
In the meantime, the county commissioners debated and adopted or increased impact fees for schools, parks, libraries and emergency services and spoke publicly about the looming increase in transportation fees.
So, it was no surprise when the county unveiled its road impact fee proposal late last year. The commission adopted the plan, which increased the fee by 50 percent on a new single-family home to $3,316 and included a substantial jump in fees paid by new businesses.
The county even met with the Pasco Builders Association a month before the commission adopted the fee schedule to try to publicize the charges.
It can be construed as covert only if your eyes are closed to the county's genuine attempt to try to catch up to the growth curve. Of course, the next thing you know, someone will probably tell us they didn't know the sales tax rate might change.
