Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Transportation Funding topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Tampa to move multimodal impact‑fee ordinance to December hearings, staff recommends phased June start
Summary
After a consultant update showing much higher maximum multimodal impact fees than Tampa’s decades‑old rates, council directed staff to place a rate ordinance on Dec. 4 and Dec. 18 agendas, asked for a phased four‑year implementation and a delayed effective date (proposed June 1) and requested targeted exemptions for affordable housing and corridor projects.
City transportation staff and outside consultants presented an updated multimodal impact‑fee study and council directed staff to bring ordinances to upcoming hearings after a lengthy discussion about timing and impacts.
Catherine Tales of Farr & Pierce walked through the methodology (person‑trip generation, trip lengths, construction cost escalation and credits for existing gasoline tax), presented maximum allowable rates by fee district and compared Tampa’s inflation‑adjusted averages to other Florida jurisdictions. The consultants noted Tampa’s current fee tables rely on rates that largely date to 1989/2014 and, under ordinary statutory phasing (50% increases phased over four years), the city would take decades to recover current construction costs.
Staff recommended that council consider a finding of 'extraordinary circumstances' so the city may adopt rates closer to the calculated maximum; staff also proposed delaying the effective date to June 1 to reduce immediate shock to development activity and to phase increases over four years. Council unanimously directed staff to place ordinance readings on the Dec. 4 and Dec. 18 agendas and to work over the next six months on potential carve‑outs and incentives — for example, reduced fees for affordable housing or projects on transportation corridors.
What happens next: Staff will prepare an ordinance reflecting council direction (delayed effective date, phased increases and proposed exemptions) for first reading on Dec. 4 and a public hearing/adoption on Dec. 18. Councilmembers signaled interest in additional mitigation measures (longer phase‑in, developer credits, and targeted reductions for affordable housing) and requested the administration examine those details before adoption.
Representative quote: “Our current impact fees are so low that it would take us nearly 20 years to catch the cost of construction,” said interim transportation director Adam Purcell. Councilmember Young suggested a June 1 effective date and asked staff to explore an 80% reduction for deed‑restricted affordable housing as a possible 'carrot' alongside the fee increase.
Timing: Council instructed staff to schedule ordinance readings for Dec. 4 and Dec. 18, 2025 and to prepare an implementation timeline including the proposed June 1 effective date and four‑year phase‑in.
