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Apple Valley adopts updated fire impact fees to fund stations, apparatus
Summary
The Town Council unanimously adopted a fire protection development-impact fee schedule after a consolidated public hearing. The fee update, prepared by the Apple Valley Fire Protection District and consultant RCS, increases the per-unit fee to address inflation, rising equipment costs and planned new stations in North Apple Valley.
The Apple Valley Town Council voted unanimously to adopt an updated development-impact fee (DIF) schedule prepared by the Apple Valley Fire Protection District and consultant RCS, the town announced after a consolidated public hearing. The council passed the town resolution implementing the district's nexus study and fee schedule (Resolution 2025-24) after presentations and public comment.
The fee update — required under state law and presented to the council by Fire Chief Buddy Pratt and consultant Greg Brown of RCS — is intended to pay for new fire stations, apparatus and capital equipment needed as the town grows. Chief Pratt said the fees will not be used for personnel costs and emphasized the district’s independent governance and the need to prepare for projected development in the North End.
Greg Brown of RCS summarized the methodology used in the nexus study: build an updated land-use database for the town, compute call-generation rates from the district's empirical calls-for-service, identify the capital projects needed to preserve the existing level of service, and apportion the capital cost to new development. Brown told the council the district’s 2007 fees had not been updated for 18 years and that construction and apparatus costs have risen substantially, driving the increase in fees for new development.
Chief Pratt said the updated DIFs aim to help the district respond to development without degrading services to existing residents, and he pointed to the North End’s current Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating of 10 (the worst rating) where there is no nearby station. Pratt and Brown said shifting development-related capital costs to new development is consistent with the Mitigation Fee Act and the procedural requirements of Assembly Bill 602 as implemented in the district’s nexus work.
Council members asked questions about the fee comparisons with neighboring jurisdictions and whether the county’s unincorporated area inside the district boundaries would be included in future updates. Councilmember Cusack and Councilmember Bishop emphasized the importance of spreading the cost fairly and asked staff to pursue county inclusion so county-area development that uses district services would also contribute to capital costs. The district and town attorney noted that only the town, as land-use authority, can adopt and collect the DIFs inside the town; county adoption would require a separate process for county lands.
During public comment a resident asked whether DIF revenue would fund firefighting personnel; Chief Pratt answered that DIFs are restricted to capital and cannot be used for ongoing personnel costs. The council adopted the town resolution implementing the district’s nexus study and updated fee schedule by unanimous vote.
The adoption does not immediately expand staffing or change current operations; it creates an updated capital-funding mechanism for stations, engines and equipment identified in the Nexus study and lists projects the district intends to pursue. The district said it will continue to work with the town and county to refine boundaries and the list of projects that DIF revenue will fund.
The council’s formal adoption of the resolution completes the town’s role in implementing the Fire Protection District’s updated DIF schedule; the Fire Protection District board had previously approved and forwarded the study to the town for action.
