Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Impact Fees topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
South Fulton council briefed on impact‑fee study to fund parks, police and fire
Summary
City officials and consultants told council members that a proposed impact‑fee program would fund capacity‑adding projects for parks, public safety and recreation; the Capital Improvements Element will go to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs for review before the city can set fees.
City of South Fulton officials on March 24 heard a briefing on a potential development impact‑fee program that would levy a one‑time charge on new development to pay for capacity‑adding capital projects in parks, police and fire.
Paige Hadley of Ross and Associates, the city's consultant, told the council the study looks out 20 years to identify systemwide projects and a near‑term five‑year list of projects that would be eligible for impact‑fee funds. "Impact fees in the state of Georgia is a one‑time fee collected from new development to help pay for future capital costs to expand city services that are going to be needed to serve growth and development," Hadley said.
Reggie McClendon, the city's managing director for community development and regulatory affairs, said the Capital Improvements Element (CIE) will be an appendix to the comprehensive plan and must be reviewed and approved by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) before council can adopt it. Hadley and staff said DCA review generally takes about two months; once the CIE is transmitted, the city will reconvene the appointed impact‑fee advisory committee to discuss fee setting and hold the two statutorily required public hearings before adoption.
Council members asked how cultural facilities would be treated, whether the city could suspend or adjust collections, and how the city would measure the program's performance after implementation. Hadley said the program is limited to capacity‑adding projects (not routine maintenance or staffing) and that an annual reporting requirement to the state will track fee collections, planned spending and priorities. On cultural facilities and nontraditional recreation amenities, Hadley said staff would ensure those uses are accounted for in the project inventory if the council intends them to be eligible.
City Manager Sharon DeSouvadev said the timetable depends on the effective date the council chooses and on operational readiness — specifically building‑permit software configuration and staff training — but that, if the council moves promptly, the program could be implemented as early as summer with adoption tied to budget steps later in the fiscal cycle. "There's a handbook that's associated with that," she said, noting staff training and system changes will be required before collections begin.
What happens next: staff will present a draft CIE for a required public hearing (staff cited late April as the target) and, after DCA review, return with fee‑setting recommendations and public‑hearing dates. No fee ordinance was adopted at the March 24 work session.
