Agenda - 04-04-2017 - 8-a - Minutes

Browse Search

3 1 2 Representative Meyer suggested that they do not use the verbiage "being rushed"in the opening 3 statement first. 4 5 Senator Foushee said they only know that the bill has been introduced. 6 7 Representative Meyer said he would like to know the "whys" of impact fees and he asked why the 8 assessment of the impact fees is important. 9 10 Travis Myren said every few years there is study of student generation fees and these were indicated 11 recently and these new developments were showing more students and he said the largest increase in 12 fees was in apartment buildings. 13 14 Representative Insko said she heard that this development in Chapel Hill was only for UNC students. 15 16 Commissioner Rich said a lot of the impact fees decreased in this study and where the fees increased 17 were in the multifamily home dwellings, 18 19 Representative Insko said if she were the Commissioners, she would focus on how to respond to the 20 huge increase in the impact fees for this one development. She suggested starting the letter by saying 21 that many fees went decreased. She also suggested adding in that any large unit can appeal these impact 22 fees. 23 24 Representative Meyer said he understood that with this particular project in Chapel Hill that the increase 25 of impact fees for it increased from $100,000 to $1.2 m and in the Board's proposed letter they it states 26 that these bills will take away$2.8m in impact fees for Orange County. The perception is that this one 27 project is paying over 1/2 of all of the impact fees that Orange County will be collecting. 28 29 Travis Myren referred to the back sheet of the hand out at their places-Historical Impact Fee Activity. 30 31 Commissioner Rich added that impact fees have not increased since 2008. 32 33 Representative Meyer said their impact fee structure will make housing that much more expensive. 34 35 Commissioner Rich said impact fees are not an affordable housing tool. 36 37 Commissioner Burroughs said the unattended consequences are that developers are not interested in 38 affordable housing and this is outside of the impact fees. 39 40 Representative Insko said this whole current issue had become a public relations problem. 41 42 Representative Meyer said the increases in impact fees will slow or stop the growth of larger housing 43 complexes and this will affect the housing market. 44 45 Commissioner Jacobs said they hired a consultant that did the impact fee analysis and the Board picked 46 a mid-point as to the enactment of the impact fees and they understand the impact of their decision. He 47 said state and federal governments are not helping local governments build schools. Orange County is 48 trying to balance the competing interests and if a development is joining our community, it needs to 49 help the impact they are creating. The board's decision was to create a balance.