House takes up impact feel bill
By Don Del Rosso
Del. Clifford L. "Clay" Athey Jr. (R-18th District) called the bill "clearly inadequate."Del. Mark L. Cole (R-88th District) likened it to a one-size-fits-all measure that ignores the fact that the cost of providing roads, schools and public safety to serve new homes differs from one community to another.
But by a 21-19 margin, the Virginia Senate last week approved a system that requires developers to give local governments a fixed amount of cash per new home built to offset a residential growth's effects on infrastructure.
Like local governments across Virginia who object to the bill, Athey and Cole believe the proposed impact fees system simply would fall well short of the covering the public-service costs required by new homes.
Developers' failure to fund their share of new growth costs means taxpayers would get stuck with the bill, critics contend.
The proposed impact fees would replace Virginia's proffer system, which permits local governments to negotiate how much developers should pay to ease growth's effects on public services.
The House Rules committee will decide whether to defer action on the Senate bill or send it to the 100-member House for a vote.
"I don't want to predict what a committee will do," Athey said. "But I think our argument [to further study it the impact fee bill] is the more reasoned argument."
Let a special committee "get something together over the next two years and bring it back to the General Assembly something we can work with," the delegate said.
Cole believes the committee will postpone action on the bill for more review.
"I suspect it's going to be rolled into a study, but I can't say for sure," he said.
If the rules committee refers the bill to the House intact, Athey and Cole, who represent Fauquier, said they would vote against it.
Athey believes a House vote would be too close to call. But, he warned, "don't ever underestimate the building industry lobby. It's very strong."
Coles worries the House would approve it.
"I suspect if it got to the floor it would pass," he said.
To become law, the bill would need the House's approval and Gov. Tim Kaine's signature.On a regional basis, the impact fees bill, which the home building industry helped prepare, would cap the amount local governments could collect to $12,500 or $8,000 per dwelling.
Fauquier's cap would be $8,000 per home.
The proposed cap would apply to all new development costs.
Under Fauquier's proffer system, the county suggests developers contribute $28,503 per single-family home. That amount excludes road improvement costs, which can reach $6,000 per dwelling in some areas of Fauquier.
Under the impact fee bill, that means Fauquier could come up about $27,000 short per dwelling compared to the amount it collects through proffers.
"I have some concerns about the limits," Cole said. "Some [counties] are going to have certain [funding] requirements that others don't. Right now I don't think we have to rush into wholesale changes."But the home building industry stresses the bill would apply to all new homes constructed, not just those granted through rezonings.
That provision would allow local governments to charge a reduced per-dwelling development fee to more homes and therefore collect more revenue than through proffers, according to proponents.
But Fauquier Supervisor Peter Schwartz (Marshall District) noted that the bill would exempt lots for site plans and subdivisions approved within the last five years.
He described the home building industry's actions on the bill as "very sneaky" and "nefarious."
"There's no good will in this," Schwartz said. The bill "was a back-door way of [effectively] eliminating impact fees and proffers," leaving taxpayers to pay the freight for the new home infrastructure tab.
Despite the bill's shortcomings, Athey believes "there is a positive out of this. The home builders, for the first time, are willing to come to the table and talk about a complete impact bill."The impact fee "concept is good," but the bill "comes nowhere near" meeting his or local governments' expectations, he said.
Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter (R-31st District), who also represents Fauquier, couldn't be reached for comment.E-mail the reporter: ddelrosso@timespapers.com