CRESTVIEW — The City Council next week will discuss a traffic impact fee moratorium that expires Dec. 31.
While council members Mickey Rytman and Robyn Helt support extending the moratorium, city attorney Jerry Miller has said that could place the city in legal jeopardy.
If the city adopted waivers for impact fees, it could even wind up reimbursing developers who previously paid the fee, Miller said.
Helt has said the city should look for a way to maintain the moratorium.
“I am for continuing it if it is feasible,” she said during the council's Nov. 10 meeting. “Let’s do it in a manner that can hold up to litigation.”
Councilman Joe Blocker, heeding Miller’s advice, advocated letting the moratorium expire while the issue is studied.
“By the (council) meeting in January or February, we should know the position we’re in,” he said. “If need be then, we will reinstitute the moratorium.”
Local contractor Jeremy Stewart, the Florida Homebuilders Association's acting secretary, supports extending the moratorium.
“Across the state, the majority of constituencies are extending the moratorium,” he said.
Builder and general contractor Felix Beukenkamp, the Building Industry Association's past president, said builders and city officials must work as partners in development.
“We’re here to help you raise the money that needs to be raised. Without those roads we can’t do business,” he said. “One thing we can’t support is a very narrow tax, which this fee is.”
Bobby Fischer, president of the Building Industry Association of Okaloosa and Walton County, said with material prices rising faster than home sale prices, the moratorium is the only thing making homebuilding profitable in the Crestview area.
Fischer said he has 20 Crestview lots on which he intends to build. If the moratorium expires, he said he might have to flood city planners on Dec. 31 with many sets of building plans for approval, “or, we’re going to pull out of this area.”
WANT TO GO?
The Crestview City Council will discuss extending the traffic impact fee at a special meeting, 6 p.m. Nov. 24 at City Hall
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Traffic impact fee to be discussed at special council meeting