Are traffic impact fees "just part of doing business," or are they a barrier to attracting businesses to Crestview?
The City Council needs to decide before the end of the year.
CRESTVIEW — The city's three-year experiment with traffic impact fee waivers expires Dec. 31, and the City Council faces two options.
One is to let the waiver expire and resume collecting the fees. After all, with new business comes additional traffic, officials say, and the waiver's purpose was to stimulate development during the recent recession.
The alternative is to renew the waiver, which proponents say encourages businesses to locate in the city. But that option isn't simply a matter of a quick council vote.
Renewal requires a state-mandated traffic study that Growth Management Director Teresa Gaillard said could cost between $12,000 and $35,000.
TRAFFIC STUDY
In preparing council briefs, Gaillard discovered Moore Bass Consulting — which created the 2009 study that allowed the fee waiver — no longer provides traffic consulting services.
An alternate, Gaillard said, is to have SEAS, the city's engineering firm, provide the study through its relationship with Southern Traffic Services.
However, SEAS's contract with the city expires Dec. 8. Further, "Southern Traffic can do portions of it but they can't do the same data package that Moore Bass gave us," Gaillard said.
Options included extending SEAS's contract with the city another year or hiring another engineering firm to keep on retainer. That would require the city to issue and advertise a request for proposals and evaluate responses.
To simplify the process, at its Nov. 9 meeting the council unanimously approved retaining SEAS's services for another year.
NEW ORDINANCE
Extending the waiver requires the council to pass an ordinance, Gaillard said, a draft of which she will present for consideration at a Nov. 30 special council meeting.
Council members have sought further details about the current waiver's effectiveness since the traffic impact fee was implemented in 2009, then waived in 2013.
"I would like to know how much the city has lost in fees under the traffic impact fee waiver," Councilman Joe Blocker said at a recent meeting.
"Oooh, I really didn't need a Thanksgiving vacation," Gaillard said jokingly, indicating answering his question would involve considerable research.
Councilman Bill Cox questioned if the waiver has stimulated much business growth in the city, while expressing concern about growing traffic on State Road 85.
"I don't think there's anybody who doesn't care about the traffic conditions on 85, so what have we done? We waived the impact fees for three years," Cox said. "We haven't seen an avalanche (of new businesses) in that time."
MORE APPLICATIONS
Gaillard said she's noticed an uptick in development plans as the waiver faces expiration.
"I have three developments on my table and a fourth one to be delivered," she said.
Councilman Doug Faircloth said beliefs that the city's impact fees discourage development often come from "coffee klatch discussions perpetuating rumors about traffic."
However, he said, the fees "may not bring anyone in, but we know it'll keep them out."
Gaillard confirmed his assertion.
"Just now in the past year we are seeing an increase — a substantial increase — of new developments trying to beat the Dec. 31 deadline," she said. "They can do it now but they won't be able to do it in January."
Public Works Director Wayne Steele, however, said having the fees in place rarely affects a business' decision to come to town.
"The fees don't have an adverse reaction to development," Steele said. "Most entities use that money to help manage traffic and provide better accessibility to and from these developments. The developers don't mind paying it because they know if it's used correctly, it's going to help bring them more business."
"Most larger businesses already have it factored into their development cost," Gaillard said. "Some of them say, 'Oh, that's just business.' It doesn't inundate them like it would a smaller business."
'A GOOD TOOL'
"If used correctly, (fees are) a good tool to provide more accessibility and better serviceability to all developments," Steele said. "I have heard that we have been a very good model for using our impact fees the correct way."
One example is the city's use of water and sewer impact fees, he said.
"We have been able to set this city up for new growth for the future with our sewer and water capacity," Steele said. "We did more in the last five or 10 years than was done in the last 40 or 50 years by using impact fees without raising water and sewer rates."
But without traffic impact fees, Crestview has very little road money flowing to its coffers, even while more development comes to town and affects traffic.
"How do you pay for roadway improvements?" Gaillard asked. "All we have is our impact fees."
Without the fees, the city's only roads money currently comes from the city's general fund, which is allocated for road repairs, and local option gasoline taxes collected by the county and distributed to municipalities, City Clerk Betsy Roy said.
Even if the traffic fee moratorium is allowed to expire now that the recession is over, city leaders seem to believe imposing the fees again will have little impact on developers' plans.
"I don't think they're worried," Steele said. "We're still one of the most affordable places to build in."
CRESTVIEW'S IMPACT FEES REDUCTIONS
Through a series of ordinances, the city of Crestview has waived several impact fees to stimulate business growth during the recession. Here's a timeline:
●Jan. 16, 2009: Ordinance 1419 creates traffic impact fees
●Sept. 28, 2009: Ordinance 1432 waives impact fees by varying amounts over 18 months
●Sept. 24, 2009: Ordinance 1484 removes public schools and transportation concurrency requirements ("impact fees") and proportionate fair share provisions from the city's comprehensive plan
●Dec. 10, 2012: Ordinance 1487 waives traffic impact fees for two years
●Jan. 1, 2015: Ordinance 1579 extends the waiver another year.
Source: Crestview Growth Management Department
WHAT DOES IT COST?
Crestview's transportation impact fees are calculated by a formula involving vehicle miles traveled, cost per vehicle-mile of capacity, and credits involving miles per gallon and motor fuel taxes.
Businesses that attract more customers are estimated to cause more wear and tear on public streets. Some typical fees collected before the fee waivers are:
Fast food restaurant (per 1,000 square feet)
$27,000 transportation cost
$13,200 fuel credit
$13,800 for impact fee
Furniture store (per 1,000 square feet)
$517 transportation cost
$253 fuel credit
$264 impact fee
Single family residence (per dwelling unit)
$3,448 transportation cost
$1,686 fuel credit
$1,762 impact fee
Source: Crestview Code of Ordinances
IMPACT FEES AT WORK
Residents will soon see benefits of traffic impact fees collected before the three-year waiver went into effect, Public Works Director Wayne Steele said.
"The impact fees that we had collected are what we're using for the Crestview Corners connector road," he said. "The plans are complete and everything is done and we're ready to bring it to the City Council for approval."
The connector will remove some State Road 85 shoppers' traffic between Hospital Drive and Redstone Avenue East by directing it through the shopping center that includes Big Lots and Bamboo Sushi.
Public Works crews will handle construction, which may start within two months. Of the total estimated $60,000 cost, $23,000 was approved for plans and permitting.
WANT TO GO?
The Crestview City Council will hold a special meeting 6 p.m. Nov. 30 at city hall to discuss traffic impact fees.
CRESTVIEW'S IMPACT FEES REDUCTIONS
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview ponders extending traffic fee waiver or letting it expire