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La Marque council pauses proposed impact fee increase after engineer presents $8,448.70 recommendation
Summary
After an engineering update that recommended a citywide impact fee of $8,448.70 (a 50% discounted figure), the La Marque City Council voted to hold the current rate and ask staff for more analysis, citing concerns about deterring development and local economic conditions.
La Marque — The La Marque City Council on April 14 voted to hold the city’s impact fees at the current rate and directed staff to continue studying alternatives after the engineering department presented updated calculations that would set a recommended citywide impact fee at $8,448.70.
Brent of the engineering department presented the study and told council the $8,448.70 recommendation already reflects a 50% statutory discount the city may apply. “This amount is already discounted or reduced by 50% of what the recommendation is,” Brent said, then listed the fee breakdown: the water component at roughly $3,600 and the wastewater component at $4,855.29.
The recommendation prompted sustained discussion. Mayor Pro Tem Compion said he opposed immediate adoption because of national and state economic uncertainty and pushback he’d heard from local developers. “I speak against actually taking any action against impact fees,” Mayor Pro Tem Compion said during the meeting. Council members expressed competing concerns: some said higher fees would help the city fund needed infrastructure; others warned the $8,448.70 figure could drive builders to neighboring municipalities and slow housing growth.
Councilmember Lauer and other members asked for a middle ground or more analysis. Councilmembers also confirmed a grandfathering clause described in the presentation: developments in the pipeline would be governed by the existing fee for a transition period (12 months) after the ordinance is adopted.
In a motion moved by Mayor Pro Tem Compion, the council voted to keep the current impact fee in place and ask staff to return with further research and recommended alternatives. The council’s Chair summarized the vote as three in favor of the motion, one opposed and one abstention (the clerk recorded the abstention as a no for tally purposes).
Why it matters: Impact fees pay for system capacity — sewer and water — needed to support new development. Raising them shifts some costs to developers; lowering or holding them shifts the burden to the city budget and taxpayers. Council members said they did not want to make a decision that would immediately deter builders during a period of market uncertainty.
What’s next: Staff will return with more analysis and comparisons to nearby jurisdictions, and the council may revisit the fee before the statutorily required five‑year update if it chooses to amend the ordinance earlier.
