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Resident asks Charleston County to study development impact fees; councilman directs staff to prepare legal feasibility review
Summary
A Johns Island resident urged the council to consider development impact fees used in other South Carolina counties; Councilman Boykin asked county staff and legal to prepare a presentation on the fees’ legality and applicability.
Danny Imfinger, a Johns Island resident, told Charleston County Council during the Feb. 11 public‑comment period that local growth creates service costs for roads, stormwater, utilities and public safety and urged the county to study development impact fees as one option for offsetting those costs.
“New development creates new cost for local government,” Imfinger said, quoting the Municipal Association of South Carolina. He pointed council members to Beaufort County’s development‑fee ordinance as a possible model and asked that planning and legal staff “move forward in exploring this as an additional source of funding” and report back in April.
Why it matters: Impact fees shift some infrastructure costs to developers of new projects. If legally permissible and carefully designed, they can provide a dedicated funding source for roads, stormwater and other infrastructure needs tied to new growth.
Council response: During council‑member comments, Charleston County Councilman Boykin asked staff to work with the county attorney’s office to prepare a presentation on the “legality and application and feasibility of the impact fee laws that have been used by other counties in this state to see what it may or may not do for us.” Boykin did not make a formal motion for immediate adoption; his request was a direction to staff to prepare informational material for council consideration.
Clarifying details offered at the meeting included Imfinger’s assertion that at least 29 states and 59% of communities with more than 25,000 inhabitants use impact fees, and that Beaufort County’s ordinance includes income‑based discounts for lower‑income residents. Imfinger said he supplied council members with copies of Municipal Association material and the Beaufort County ordinance.
Ending: The council asked staff and legal to prepare a feasibility presentation on impact fees; no change to county code or fee adoption was made at the Feb. 11 meeting.
