On Monday, July 12, 2021, Chamber President Greg Blose spoke at the Flagler County Board of County Commission workshop on the concerns the business community and construction industry have about six separate impact fee increases the County is considering implementing. Flagler County has not updated its impact fees in many years, meaning they are no longer accurate and are out-of-date. Not updating the fees also means the government is missing out on revenue it could use to offset new or planned capital expansion projects.
If ultimately approved, Flagler County Government would raise several million dollars in revenue via new Fire, EMS, Law Enforcement, Public Buildings, Library and Parks/Recreation impact fees. These fees are used to help offset the “impact” new construction has on the community. These fees also increase the cost of housing and constructing a building to house a business by several thousand dollars.
The Chamber’s calculations show the real-world impact:
Buying a 2,000 sq/ft single-family house would incur approximately $6,500 in impact fee charges.
Building a new “quality restaurant” would incur approximately $16,000 per every 1,000 square feet of space in impact fees (2000 sq/ft? $32k…and so on).
The cost of building a “corporate headquarters” would incur approximately $5,800 per every 1,000 square feet of space in impact fees.
The cost of building a “medical office building” would incur approximately $7,500 per every 1,000 square feet of space in impact fees.
The full breakdown of where these numbers came from is below.
In the meantime, the County isn’t the only government agency eyeing an impact fee increase, Flagler County Schools has already rolled out a $7,200 per single family unit impact fee for education facilities and the City of Palm Coast is said to have an impact fee increase planned for its residents/businesses, though the Chamber has not seen that study, yet.
The Chamber is involved in this conversation and will continue to provide updates.
2000 sq/ft SFR
Fire- $729
EMS- $61
Law Enforcement- $212
Public Buildings- $1,643
Library- $312
Parks/Rec- $1,138
Transportation- $2,423
Total- $6,518
Quality Restaurant per 1000 sq ft
Fire- $456
EMS- $35
Law Enforcement- $814
Public Buildings- $6,049
Library- $0
Parks/Rec- $0
Transportation- $8,844
Total- $16,198 per 1000 sq ft
Corporate HQ per 1000 sq ft
Fire- $2709
EMS- $210
Law Enforcement- $137
Public Buildings- $1,019
Library- $0
Parks/Rec- $0
Transportation- $1,767
Total- $5,842
Medical Office per 1000 sq ft
Fire- $564, EMS- $44
Law Enforcement- $170
Public Buildings- $1,260
Library- $0, Parks/Rec- $0
Transportation- $5,518
Total- $7,556
Follow this link to view the full impact fee study report from Tindale-Oliver Consultants: https://www.flaglercounty.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/5775
The articles in this news section are courtesy of the Palm Coast Flagler County Chamber of Commerce.
