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Berkeley County adopts residential impact fee ordinance and capital improvement plan; fees set per housing type
Summary
The commission adopted a new impact fee ordinance and capital improvement plan for residential development; single-family fees total about $5,500 per unit, multifamily around $3,857 per unit and mobile-home fees about $4,122 per unit, with funds designated for schools, public safety, parks and county facilities.
The Berkeley County Commission adopted an impact fee ordinance and an accompanying capital improvement plan that will assess residential impact fees on new development to fund schools, public safety, parks and county facilities.
County planning staff presented fee schedules and the capital improvement plan. The ordinance applies to new development only; replacement of burned or demolished structures will not trigger fees. The ordinance includes an affordable-housing discount tied to the state housing index: units built below the published index may qualify for a proportional discount when the homeowner applies.
Fee schedule highlights presented by staff: single-family homes were set at a total impact fee of about $5,500 per unit; multifamily units at about $3,857 per unit; and mobile homes at about $4,122 per unit. The ordinance breaks fees into categories: public schools, county administrative and facilities, fire and rescue, law enforcement, and parks and recreation. The fire and EMS pool will be held in a dedicated fund and disbursed based on capital improvement plan eligibility and calculations showing capacity added by a project; examples included that adding lighting to a field can double usable capacity and therefore be eligible for fee funding.
Why it matters: The county said the legislature recently changed state law to allow local governments to collect impact fees; the commission concluded the schedule represents a compromise well below consultant recommendations (the consultant recommendation was cited as near $11,000 per single-family unit) and allows annual reassessment.
In the meeting: Commissioners discussed how to evaluate requests from fire and EMS, how to calculate the portion of a project that adds capacity (and therefore is eligible for impact fees), and how to report disbursements. Staff emphasized the capital improvement plan will be a living document and that the county expects little or no disbursement in the first fiscal year while collections begin. The commission voted to adopt both the ordinance and the capital improvement plan.
Next steps: Staff will implement collection processes, provide forms for affordable-housing discounts, and present annual updates to the capital improvement plan. Eligible stakeholders (county, ambulance authority, fire board, parks) will present projects for review and calculation of eligible impact-fee funding.
