Impact Fees

Impact Fees

By Phil ReynoldsSouth Jetty reporter

City council members will hear from the public, and then make a decision on Thursday, Dec. 20, on the matter of proposed impact fees to help pay for city roadways.

The question of impact fees has been discussed for months by the council. They are designed to split the cost of roadway construction and repair between city taxpayers and developers.

The state requires at least one public hearing before the council can impose impact fees. It also requires that the streets affected must be thoroughfares that are listed on the city's thoroughfare plan and in the city's capital improvements program. They must also be within the city limits.

The city plans to devote impact fee money to proposed improvements in State Hwy. 361 between Avenue G and Beach Access Road 1A; 11^th Street between Avenue G and Beach Access Road 1A; and a proposed new beach access road, to be numbered 2A, that will run between State Hwy. 361 and the beach about 1 ½ miles south of the existing Beach Access Road 1.

Impact fees, which would be paid by developers when they pick up their building permits, would be based on the type of development and the amount of traffic that development is expected to generate.

Types of development include residential, retail, commercial and industrial.

For impact fee purposes, the city has been divided into three districts. District 1 covers most of the existing city; district 2 includes the Port Aransas part of Harbor Island; and district 3 covers that part of the city south of the proposed Beach Access Road 2.

Planners say they expect the city to grow at an annual rate of about 3.25 percent, and by the time everything is built out inside the city limits, the Port Aransas population will be 9,080.

They say impact fees for roadways will divide the cost of roadway maintenance between taxpayers and developers.

As an example, in district 1, planners estimate the average single-family residence developer would pay $1,272 in impact fees. A 10,000-square-foot office complex with 10 units would pay $20,444 in impact fees and the developer of a shopping complex of 100,000 square feet with 100 units would have to pay $105,657 in impact fees.