The Town Council received its first presentation related to potential changes to its development fees at its Sept. 17 regular session and it will get a couple of more looks at the plan before making a decision early next year on adopting the program.

Hank Griffin with TischlerBise, the consulting firm working on the fee study for the town, spent considerable time outlining land use assumptions and infrastructure improvement plans for the council.

Council members described the material as “dense” and thanked Griffin for his explanation.

Development fees are charged to developers with the objective of recovering the cost of critical infrastructure which the town would need to address the impacts of new commercial and residential development. In an effort to assure such fees do not discourage growth the state legislature has developed precise formulas for calculating fees and imposed strict regulations as to what improvements are eligible to receive development fee funds.

Currently the Town of Fountain Hills collects fees in two categories, fire service and parks and recreation. The existing fees collected by the town are $1,601 per residential units ($300 for fire and $1,301 for parks and recreation), and 24-cents per square foot for non-residential development.

TischlerBise is proposing that the town add fees for law enforcement services and streets.

Development fees can only be used for infrastructure costs that can be shown are necessary to accommodate the new growth associated with a development. That starts with a 10-year Infrastructure Improvement Plan (IIP). Without such a plan no fees can be imposed.

Griffin explained that infrastructure capacity is essential for accommodating new growth that comes with development. It is important to mitigate potential issues such as traffic congestion associated with new development, or making sure public safety services are adequate to provide coverage for new growth.

Costs that are eligible for development fee funds include facilities/improvements required to serve new development, and excess capacity in existing facilities.

Maintenance and repair costs are not eligible, nor are improvements required to correct existing deficiencies, unless those are included in a funding plan.

The IIP integrates comprehensive planning, economic development and revenue strategies within a single document, according to Griffin.

TischlerBise is providing the town with a proposal using a new incremental expansion approach using a formula based on existing levels of service, such as park acres per capita or square feet per service participant. This is based on current costs to replicate existing service levels (replacement costs).

The council is to consider adoption of the Land Use Assumptions and IIP at its regular session on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

There will be a public hearing on proposed new development fees on Tuesday, Dec. 17, with consideration of adoption on Jan. 21, 2020. If approved the new development fees would be implemented effective April 5, 2020.

The Land Use Assumptions and IIP proposal from TischlerBise, along with Griffin’s presentation can be found at the Town of Fountain Hills web site (fh.az.gov) with the agenda packet for the Sept. 17 council meeting.