Should residential development pay its own way? Absolutely Yes! Should residential development fees exceed the real cost of development and be used as revenue enhancement? Absolutely No! And that is the real difference between myself and Councilor Vetter and some on the Fruita City Council.

A prime example is the recent increase in the transportation impact fees otherwise known as TIF. The original proposal was to increase the existing $1,583 TIF to $4,850 as calculated by the Colorado Depepartment of Transportation and Mesa County. After taking time to investigate all of the components of the CDOT formula and realizing some did not apply to Fruita, I requested an evaluation of the correct Fruita TIF. As determined by the city engineer the TIF for Fruita is $3,200 some $1,650 less than was about to be imposed by the Council.
Increasing a TIF by 50 percent more than is justified seems to me to be business unfriendly.

Coupled with the highest cost of sewer taps fees, TIFs and other development fees Fruita is the most expensive place, in Mesa County, in which to develop and build a house. When I expressed concern these fees could strangle growth, Councilman Vetter responded, “It might not be bad for Fruita not to have any growth for a couple of years.” That expression seems to me to be business unfriendly.

I am for fair treatment of the development community but also for protecting the public’s interest. There are excellent developers, average developers and developers who are a problem. In the recent efforts to resolve a major problem with Vintner’s Farms Subdivision it was I who recommended pulling the developers bond, not the others who distrust the developers.

Development must pay its own way but applicable costs need to be determined on a fair and equitable basis. People in leadership need to understand developers finance all of the costs of development and then pass those costs on the eventual buyer. The eventual buyer of the home will bear all of the costs whether fair or not.

Business friendly means treating all of our business partners whether in retail, development or building in a fair and equitable manner. I hold a degree in business and a MBA in finance and with my background in business and real estate I understand the numbers and understand what is fair to all concerned.

KEN HENRY
Fruita

This entry was posted on Monday, March 24th, 2008 at 11:09 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.