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Officials hone outlook for fees
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET © St. Petersburg Times, published January 10, 2001 INVERNESS -- Realtors and builders told the County Commission on Tuesday that they generally support the proposal to raise the decade-old impact fees, although they pointed out several issues they hope the county will resolve before the Jan. 23 adoption hearing for the new fees. "The (Citrus County) Builders Association understands the need for these things," president Chris Ensing said. "We don't question the need at all." The proposal calls for raising four of the eight impact fees as a consultant has suggested, while leaving the other four unchanged while additional studies are done. Specifically, the fees for roads, schools, libraries and public buildings would increase, driving the fee for a single family home from $1,432 to $2,663. Other types of construction would see similar increases in impact fees, one-time taxes on new construction that pay for public facilities. County officials say additional information is needed on law enforcement, ambulance service, fire service and the use of parks before the consultant can propose revisions to the fees that pay for those services. Ensing and others questioned the fairness of certain parts of the proposed fee structure. Impact fees would not be charged when a homeowner builds an addition that may allow more people to live in the house. Dan Wilson, an official with Florida Low Income Housing, asked whether his organization could use state grants for low-income housing to pay for the impact fees charged to homes for low-income residents. "It may not seem like much, but it comes out to about $10 a month (more) for these families," Wilson said. Commissioner Vicki Phillips questioned whether developers should get a 50 percent reduction on the parks impact fee when building a private recreation facility for their residents. Sometimes the private facilities do not contain the same amenities as public parks, and therefore do not reduce the need for those county facilities, she said. Commissioner Roger Batchelor said the county would review the impact fees every year, so commissioners will have frequent opportunities to evaluate the fairness of the rates. Even so, Commissioner Jim Fowler added, "If you had the wisdom of Solomon, you could not make them fair in every case." In other commission news: Foul ball. Phillips said she was disappointed that the Central Ridge District Park baseball fields will not receive lights before Central Citrus Little League starts practicing next month, although lights should be in place for the first game March 3. Phillips said county staff should have brought the issue before the board sooner, so the lights could have been ordered and delivered on time. "Now we're in a situation that is most unfair to the children, but not one we can do much about, unfortunately," she said. Moving more muck. Commissioners agreed to apply for a state Department of Environmental Protection permit to remove up to 3 feet of muck from the Tsala Apopka chain of lakes. The permit would be good for five years, and the county proposes to use "heavy equipment" such as bulldozers and track hoes to remove muck from exposed lake beds. Mastering the future. The commissioners approved master plans outlining the county's utility infrastructure growth for water, sewer and water reuse systems over the next 20 years. Commissioner Gary Bartell suggested that county staff draft a proposal for commissioners to consider that would require builders to install reuse lines with any new construction. The lines would carry cleaned-up wastewater to lawns and golf courses for irrigation. Offer accepted. The county has accepted a state grant that will pay for building a 0.8-mile road from Citrus Springs Boulevard to County Road 491, providing access to the currently landlocked industrial park where Pro-Line Boats plans to build its new factory. County officials initially said the grant from the Governor's Economic Development Transportation Fund was for $700,000, but by the time engineering costs for the road were included, the award jumped to $780,000.
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