Council receives 2025 impact‑fee restudy; public hearing draws competing views from builders and business groups

The Lubbock City Council received July 8 a statutorily required 2025 impact‑fee restudy and held a public hearing that produced sharply divided public comment from home‑builder and business groups and from the Capital Improvements Advisory Committee (CEAC).

City Engineer John Turpin summarized the restudy and told council the study uses a 2.2% annual growth assumption, a 10‑year planning window and updated trip‑generation factors from the 11th edition of the Institute of Transportation Engineers manual. The methodology groups the city into service areas (A–H), projects vehicle miles traveled per service unit, and converts those travel demands into a maximum assessable fee and a per‑unit fee once a service unit (for residential, per dwelling unit) is applied.

Why it matters: impact fees are one tool to help pay for new road capacity triggered by new development. The council must receive the restudy report before proceeding to any later ordinance that would set or change rates. Council received the…