Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Swedeland Data Centers topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Officials warn Swedeland data-center proposals could blunt traffic-impact fees, complicating alternate transportation plans
Summary
Authority staff said five data-center applications in Swedeland may produce low peak trips and therefore generate little if any traffic-impact fees, potentially reducing funds available for alternate transportation improvements; the Authority did not take formal action on the applications.
At the March 11 meeting, Anthony T. Hamaday, the Authority's executive secretary, reported that the Board of Supervisors had received five applications for proposed data centers in the Swedeland area and said the developments, if approved, could affect any applicable traffic impact fee.
Engineer Jack Smyth warned that the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) manual has no specific classification for data centers and said the proposed facilities’ low peak-trip characteristics "will not realize little if any impact fees," a dynamic that could reduce the revenue available to implement improvements identified in an alternate transportation plan for Swedeland.
Smyth and staff said their office is reviewing submitted plans and expressed concern that, paradoxically, developments that reduce peak traffic volumes can also reduce the impact-fee revenue used to fund transportation improvements. Hamaday said he will schedule the Act 209 subcommittee before the Authority's April meeting to begin review of the Land Use Assumptions report.
No formal action on the data-center applications was recorded by the Transportation Authority at this meeting; staff and the engineer described the concern as part of routine project- and plan-review updates. The Authority did not receive public comment on the subject during the session.
