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Sorry, Mickey D 's, fee must stay on menu

Pasco shouldn't shy away from supersizing its road-building fees just because a fast-food giant threatens to boycott the county. Borrowing a line from one of their competitors, the people at McDonald's Corp. want to have it their way.

They told Pasco County they will open no new restaurants here if the commission raises the fees it charges new businesses and homeowners for road improvements. Diners apparently will have to make do with the 13 McDonald's restaurants already operating in the county.

McDonald's isn't the first to grumble, but it is the first to go public with a boycott threat. The commission, after hearing building industry gripes about its plan to quadruple its commercial road-building fees, appointed a developer-dominated citizens panel to offer alternatives. It is reasonable to explore other options, and balancing a gasoline tax increase with higher fees is an appropriate consideration.

But the reality of increased road-construction costs and meeting the demands of concurrency - ensuring roads, schools and other infrastructure are in place to handle the demands from new growth - is a phenomenon not exclusive to Pasco. Polk County, for instance, recently raised its road impact fee to $91,786 per 1,000 square feet.

In a Nov. 9 letter to Commissioner Ann Hildebrand, Susan Kurchinski, McDonald's area real estate manager, called on Pasco "to lead the state in looking for alternative resources and create a business-friendly environment instead of the deafening silence of a moratorium."

Fine, but additional road congestion shouldn't be one of the alternatives.

McDonald's said the proposed road fee, if adopted, is higher than its cost to build a restaurant, but it declined to reveal its construction costs or how many restaurants it had planned for Pasco. Part of this may be posturing. The building slowdown started long before the county began these discussions. Some high-profile developments, like the Cannon Ranch, are stalled. Wal-Mart just announced plans to delay a planned supercenter store in Dade City because residential growth was slower than expected.

Under the county's proposal, the fee for a single-family home could jump from $3,900 to as much $13,000.

The county also charges impact fees for schools, parks, libraries and public safety.

Rather than worrying about a fast-food chain's bottom line, the commission would be wise to focus on how its proposed impact fees will affect affordable housing options.

After all, those McDonald's workers will need a place to live.

The size of the road fee is worthy of discussion, but the intent is not: Development has to pay for the services it demands.

[Last modified November 15, 2006, 07:10:40]