BOMA has Impact Fee showdown
Sixteen attendees— from residents to developers, builders and real estate representatives — gave their input on a proposed developer/builder impact fee to improve roads in Farragut.
Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen heard criticisms from the attendees and Board members themselves at the workshop Tuesday, April 25, in Farragut Town Hall.
“The way you are approaching this now is unfair to future developers,” said Farragut resident Robert Hill, a former Farragut Municipal Planning Commission chair.
Brian Shugart, a Farragut builder, said he is against the Town implementing an impact fee.
“To build a home in Farragut costs thousands of dollars more than building an identical home in Knox County,” he said. “Builders want to know their costs. This impact fee shifts all the costs to builders.”
Years ago, the Town only required roads to be safe but now it requires sidewalks and other pedestrian-friendly features. Those features add costs, said Russell Rackley, president of Rackley Engineering in Knoxville, which builds homes in Farragut.
“At the end of the day, I like the Everett Road corridor fee we came up with” Alderman Louise Povlin said. “It was tied to that road being improved. We had concrete numbers. We knew what was going in there. I would rather see individual corridor fees.”
“Are you saying you want to leave it the way it has been,” Vice Mayor Ron Pinchok asked. Povlin replied, “Yes.”
“Well, for 37 years, it’s worked pretty well,” Pinchok said, adding the Town has always been able to come to a cost share agreement with developers.
“I’ve heard developers would like to know what the cost is going to be up front,” he said.
Alderman Ron Williams agreed but added, “It doesn’t seem like we can have it both ways. It seems like we either have to go with what we’ve been doing or something similar to what we have here,” referring to the impact fee.
“I think everyone has missed the whole point here,” Markli said. “We’re saying we have to keep doing what we have been doing — which to my way of thinking is really broken and everyone who has tried to work with the Town will agree that’s not working — or adopt impact fees, which if you want to throw a boat anchor to development, that’s how you do it.
“What about a third option?” he added. “How about we just fix the roads. We make it a budget item and we do it?”
“To me, the Everett Road corridor fee is actually a success,” Povlin said. “We have homes selling in McKinley Station; we have homes selling in Split Rail; the road is improved, and it’s working there.”
While no action was taken, Pinchok said the matter should come up for a vote and be voted up or down.
Town administrator David Smoak said the Town has been looking at the possibility of “development fees for future road and infrastructure improvements in Farragut since 2015.
During a feasibility study on the fees, he said Town staff determined there is about $48 million in road improvement projects left to do for roadways that currently do not meet Town standards.
