Dripping Springs council grants Edison Equity $75,000 credit on permit fees after lengthy review of prior payments

Mark Suppulveda, chief development officer for Edison Equity, told council the company has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on permit fees, renewals and related costs while financing dragged on. He said the project — a proposed 175-unit market-rate senior living community — has incurred roughly $194,000 in prior permit fees and related expenses and faces a new calculated permit fee near $299,000. "We've already paid a lot large sums of money and we'd like to see if you had mitigate some of that back towards what we've to this new fee," Suppulveda said.

City staff explained the historical record: the earlier plan reviews in 2019 and 2021 included third-party reviews by Bureau Veritas and subsequent re-submissions. Staff traced approximately $132,714 previously paid to the city for building-department plan-review and identified roughly $31,240 paid to the third-party reviewer; the remainder was applied to the city’s earlier review work. Staff also outlined how fee schedules changed and how an updated valuation produced a new permit-fee calculation.

Council discussed precedent, fairness, and the portion of earlier fees that remain unspent; council members noted large economic benefits from the proposed development. After deliberation, council voted to grant Edison Equity a $75,000 credit against the new permit charges. Staff will apply the credit and advise on remaining fee obligations and which third-party or internal review costs remain outstanding.