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Plan would increase park impact fees
By JAMES THORNER © St. Petersburg Times, published April 26, 2001 Buyers of new homes in Pasco County had better break out the checkbook again: The cost of ball fields, gymnasiums and swing sets could raise the price of a house another $890 this year. With a grand vision of five new regional parks crisscrossing the county, Pasco has finalized a master plan that would raise park impact fees far beyond the $150 to $250 per home charged to most buyers. The park fee hasn't changed in 25 years, but land prices have quintupled during that time, said Pasco parks and recreation director Jim Slaughter. As the need for parks becomes dire in booming Wesley Chapel and Land O'Lakes, the county will demand that builders pay a fuller share of the cost of buying land and park equipment. "It used to be mostly retirees moving to Pasco. Now everybody moving into this county is bringing a kid or two with them," Slaughter said. For the Pasco Building Association, which unsuccessfully opposed the Feb. 27 adoption of a $1,694-per-home school impact fee, the park fee is further proof that the county wants to shift the cost of growth to its members. In addition to the school fee, the county charges residents of each new home $2,166 for roads, $556 for sewers and $1,500 for water lines. Builders pass the cost on to home buyers. "We've got some beautiful parks in Pasco County. This fee is something that's too much to take after getting hit in February with these school impact fees," said Nita Beckwith, executive director of the building association. Builders fear that the added fees -- those both adopted and proposed -- could put Pasco at a competitive disadvantage with neighboring counties. Including the proposed park fee, total impact fees for new, single-family homes in Pasco would total $6,806. That compares with $7,521 in Hillsborough County, $5,065 in Hernando County and $4,204 in Pinellas County. "It will throw a lot of people out of the market for buying a home," Beckwith said. "They'll just go farther north, especially with the opening of the Suncoast Parkway." But the park master plan, which Tampa consultant Wade-Trim Inc. plans to present to county commissioners May 8, contains goodies for nearly everyone. Wade-Trim has also spent the past year assembling master plans, including additional impact fees, for libraries and police and fire stations. The county's highest priority is a 120-acre park in Wesley Chapel near Curley Road between State Roads 54 and 52. Second on the list is a park near the SR 54 corridor between Little Road and U.S. 41. that would serve residents of more than 7,000 proposed homes. Three other parks fill out the master plan: one near Ridge Road Extension and the Suncoast Parkway, another near Dade City and a third in the proposed Connerton New Town development southeast of SR 52 and U.S. 41. All the parks would include gymnasiums, a large meeting room, soccer and baseball fields, fountain-filled water parks and tennis courts. Skateboard areas and inline hockey rinks are optional. Slaughter said he expects the park fees to win over developers who dislike the unpredictability of the current park-financing system. "So long as developers know what the costs are, regardless of what those costs may be, that's acceptable," he said. - Discuss this and other issues in our online discussion forum at http://www.sptimes.com/pascoforum.
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