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Council paves way for new fee
By JENNIFER GOLDBLATT © St. Petersburg Times, published February 7, 2001 NEW PORT RICHEY -- Council members on Tuesday night laid the groundwork to allow for a impact fee in the city for new school construction. To do that, they had to go back to square one. Last month the council approved an ordinance for the impact fee, but kept the Community Redevelopment Area exempt. Since the council is making that area include the entire city, the ordinance effectively kept residents immune from the fee. However, on Tuesday night, at the second reading of the ordinance, council members instead said they want to create a new ordinance that would support the fee. Council members voted 3-1 to reject their original ordinance and asked city staff to prepare a new ordinance that will allow for the fee in the city. "We've been given additional information regarding redevelopment areas and our ability to help some of these folks in the event that there's a new property," Mayor Wendy Brenner said. ". . . We can do something to answer our concerns about hampering redevelopment." If the council does approve a new ordinance, it would pave the way for an agreement between Pasco's six municipalities that would help the impact fee stand up to legal challenges, should the county commissioners approve it. City Manager Gerald Seeber told council members in a recent memo that they could create a program where the city would pay impact fees for developers who want to build homes in certain areas where the city wants to foster redevelopment. Council members could devise eligibility requirements for that program, which probably would be designed to encourage the construction of new single family homes. School Board officials approached the City Council in December and explained the dire need for the impact fee -- a $1,700 fee on new single family homes that would generate about $4-million annually to fund new school construction. School officials have said that if the impact fee is approved, they can use the money they are getting from the state to renovate existing schools that need repair. The School Board has sought approval from Pasco's six municipalities so that the impact fee will stand up to legal challenges. All of the other cities have expressed support for the project. "I don't want to hurt redevelopment efforts but I don't want to harm the children (in the schools) either," Brenner said. In other council action Tuesday, Councilman Tom Finn unsuccessfully asked the council for an emergency motion to discuss other ways of financing a proposed $1.5-million street improvement project that would impact about 725 property owners. The plan, which city engineers initially estimated would cost residents $1,019 to $4,412 over 10 years, drew fire from more than 200 residents at a public hearing last week. Also, the council voted 4-0 to begin studying the acquisition of LWV Utilities and Orangewood Lakes Services, two New Port Richey utilities that have been customers of the county for years. Both utilities have 450 customers each and have indicated to Pasco County they are for sale.
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