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Commission urged to review impact-fee basis and compile permitting barriers for council
Summary
Deputy City Manager David Brooks asked members to review the city's basis-of-assessment reports for impact fees (most recent: January 2024) and recommended consistent categories to avoid legal risk; members also discussed perceptions of onerous permitting and the need for commission input to the council.
Deputy City Manager David Brooks reviewed the impact-fee program, noting that the city has five basis-of-assessment reports on lebanonnh.gov/impactfees and the most recent was completed in January 2024.
Brooks explained that impact fees apportion the city's prior capital investments (schools, police, fire, recreation) across development types and that consistency in categories is legally important to avoid lawsuits. He described how fees are applied by use category and how a change of use can increase or reduce the net fee without refund.
Members agreed it would be useful for the commission to review the reports before the next meeting; several suggested the commission provide recommended refinements to the assessment structure (for example, separating industrial from warehouse). Brooks noted that undertaking a finer-grained assessment will require additional time and consultant work.
On permitting, members described business complaints about perceived difficulty navigating approvals. City Manager and staff said they are tracking permitting queues, added a third inspector to address slowdowns and urged the commission to compile specific obstacles so council and staff can consider policy or administrative remedies.
Brooks recommended the commission review the published basis-of-assessment documents and suggested that the group could make suggestions at its next meeting or ahead of the next formal reassessment.
