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City of Opa-locka presentation recommends phased increases to impact fees, with largest rise for sewer
Summary
A consultant told the City of Opa-locka commission that updated impact-fee calculations would raise the typical combined fee for a new single-family home from about $5,200 to $7,300, and recommended phasing increases to comply with recent state caps; formal adoption and public hearings were scheduled next.
A consultant for the City of Opa-locka told commissioners at a Dec. 10 workshop that updated calculations would raise the municipality’s impact fees for parks, public safety, water and sewer and recommended phasing those increases to comply with new state limits.
Peter Napoli, project manager for Stantec, said the city’s last impact-fee update was about 2015 and the firm recalculated costs for parks, public safety, stormwater, water and sewer. He said those recalculations produced an overall increase such that a representative 1,500-square-foot single-family home would see the combined impact fees rise from roughly $5,200 under the current schedule to about $7,300 under the proposed schedule — an increase of about $1,400, or roughly 38 percent.
The consultant described the proposed changes by service. Parks went from about $0.99 per square foot to $1.31 per square foot (a 31 percent increase). Public-safety fees were recalculated at roughly $0.20 per square foot (about an 18 percent increase). Stormwater was essentially unchanged (the study produced only about a 1 percent increase, and staff recommended keeping the current fee). Water and sewer both rose in the calculations: the water fee was recalculated higher (Napoli cited an increase on the order of 18 percent to about the mid-thousands per account), and the sewer calculation produced the largest percentage increase in the study.
Napoli said state law now restricts how jurisdictions may phase increases: increases up to 25 percent (as calculated by a study) must be split over two years; increases of 25–50 percent must be phased over four years; increases above 50 percent are not allowed; and an increase may be adopted only once every four years. Because the study’s sewer increase exceeded 50 percent, Napoli recommended capping that change at the statutory 50 percent maximum and phasing it over four years.
Commissioner Santiago questioned whether the single-family example applied only to single-family homes. Napoli said the single-family figure was illustrative and that the fees in the study apply to all new development — multifamily, commercial and industrial uses — with certain fees scaled by square footage or meter size. He also noted that qualifying affordable-housing projects can sometimes be exempt from impact fees under statutory criteria.
Napoli recommended that the commission adopt updated fees by ordinance after the required hearings and a 90-day notice period before the city may collect the new amounts. Staff and commissioners discussed a target to bring the ordinance back for commission consideration in January, with the earliest effect after the required notice period in February or later.
The workshop closed after questions; no public commenters spoke during the public-comment period. A motion to adjourn was made and seconded, and the meeting ended.
