Not off the hook yet
Thousands of county property owners could face impact fees
By Greg Pearson STAFF WRITER

The Impact Fee Ordinance Committee is studying a county proposal that would levy impact fees on lots previously zoned residential which paid no proffers for roads. There are an estimated 9,000 lots owned by as many as 4,000 property owners who could be required to pay $5,820 per lot, raising $40-$55 million for county roads. If approved by the county board after a recommendation from the planning commission, the fee would be paid when applying for a building permit.

The committee of citizens and the development community, chaired by Andrea Epps and Ryland Reamy, is also studying an option that would apply to another approximately 26,000 lots where some money was proffered at rezoning, requiring landowners to pay the difference between $5,820 per lot minus the road proffer paid. However, that option is not being recommended by county staff.

According to Budget and Management Director Allan Carmody, in those cases the typical landowner would pay an estimated $2,200 per lot, raising potentially $57 million over time.

However, depending on the language of their rezoning, some of those property owners might be vested and not pay an additional proffer. Residential rezonings occurring since 2005 would likely not be affected since the road proffer was over $5,820.

County attorney Jeff Mincks, who is playing a lead role for the committee, briefed the commission on its status last week. The commission asked the board for 60 days to study the report and hold a public hearing before forwarding its recommendation. But the board last week gave the commission 30 days, which means a commission recommendation in October.

The commission wants all affected property owners to be notified by mail in time for a public hearing on the impact fees. That same procedure was followed recently when almost 4,000 Brandermill residents received notice in the mail of a change to the community's open space requirement.

The committee is looking at various issues regarding impact fees including ordinance changes, whether impact fees should apply to the entire county, if commercial development should be included, and recommending a required appeal process. Mincks suggests using the Board of Zoning Appeals.

"The affected property owners are going to cry foul," predicted Matoaca Planning Commissioner Wayne Bass. "This is not efficient government."

The committee has requested a list of the 4,000 property owners impacted, and several committee members have questioned the fairness of applying a road proffer retroactively years after the rezoning was approved. The affected lots were rezoned before the county's proffer system was enacted in 1991.

The developers on the committee believe the costs being charged by the county - planning fees and proffers - are significantly reducing the number of people who can afford to buy homes in Chesterfield.

"Sometimes the decision is made even before the committee meets," said developer Buddy Sowers, who serves on the committee. He and Vernon McClure of Main Street Homes also served on a proffer study committee in 2004 and felt their concerns had little impact.

Developer George Emerson wants developers to get credit for the roads they build within their developments and asked why it costs so much more for the county or the Virginia Department of Transportation to build roads when developers can build them for far less.

Last November at the county's Transportation Summit, Transportation Director John McCracken said Chesterfield needs more than $1 billion to make road improvements. The summit resulted in nine possible ways to raise money for roads. Former County Administrator Lane Ramsey expected some of those solutions to be enacted last April by the time the budget was adopted, but none were. One solution was to set aside one penny of the county's real estate tax rate to fund road improvements, but supervisors decided against that in order to lower the rate in the wake of rising assessments.

There has been progress in other road-producing revenue options. Last June, the county reached an agreement to form a Community Development Authority with Magnolia Green Development to raise $27 million to improve portions of Otterdale and Woolridge roads. The county has also received the green light from the state's transportation secretary to develop its own toll road proposal to extend the Powhite Parkway nine miles west to Route 360. The county's transportation department has already talked with some road-building companies.

Authority from the General Assembly for Chesterfield to consider impact fees was granted earlier this year after the county's summit.