China Grove charges developers $/lot fee (Durham, Winston-Salem: new home, transfer, buying)

[silverwing]

[I wish the dunderheads in my county had thought of this rather than raising our property taxes by 5 cents ]

From the Salisbury Post, dated September 6 http://www.salisburypost.com (their site is as bad as the Winston-Salem Journal for posting links from the archive -- waaay long).

China Grove (a small community off highway 29. south of Salisbury, north of Concord) alderman unanimously adopted an ordinance passing a $1,767-per-lot fee to developers wishing to build residences in the community. The fee will go toward maintaining the current level of services in the area.

China Grove is the first community in Rowan County to pass such an ordinance, but Mayor Don Bringle predicts this measure will be duplicated in other towns. Developers are targeting the small town for developments that could mean as many as 600 new homes in the community.

The fee per lot breaks down to:
$245 - police
$1,030 - fire
$492 - athletic parks
The fee will be adjusted annually to cover changes in community needs.

[mm34b]

It will be interesting to see if it holds up in court. As it stands now, only the NC General Assembly has the authority to grant county and local governments the authority to collect impact fees, not that the county and city governments don't try on their own.

Durham County started collecting impact fees from builders and developers in 2004. The N.C. Court of Appeals ruled against the county in June of 2006, stating that the General Assembly never granted them that authority and they must repay all fees collected. About 7 million dollars worth.

[silverwing]

Originally Posted by mm34b

It will be interesting to see if it holds up in court. As it stands now, only the NC General Assembly has the authority to grant county and local governments the authority to collect impact fees, not that the county and city governments don't try on their own.

That's interesting I'll watch the Post to see what comes from this.

The measure was couched as an "adequate public facilities ordinance" that had taken months and several meetings to formulate. Hmmm. There was a bit of political jiggery-pokery involved as well. Heh. One of the developers is also the town mayor whose property was successfully annexed into the town. (The annexation was unopposed) The more I think on it, the more I get a rueful *chuckle* out of it. This might turn out to be verrry interesting.

[Cassie]

Originally Posted by silverwing

That's interesting I'll watch the Post to see what comes from this.

The measure was couched as an "adequate public facilities ordinance" that had taken months and several meetings to formulate. Hmmm. There was a bit of political jiggery-pokery involved as well. Heh. One of the developers is also the town mayor whose property was successfully annexed into the town. (The annexation was unopposed) The more I think on it, the more I get a rueful *chuckle* out of it. This might turn out to be verrry interesting.

I hope to see some bills in the 2007 General Assembly session that require impact fees for developers. China Grove's may not make come to pass just as Durham's didn't, but dang, China Grove's proposal was REALLY low to me. You wouldn't believe the umpteen thousands that developers had to pay in northern VA. Our county here in NC was recently hit with a 5 cent ( per $100.00 of assessed value) increase too, btw.

Regards,

Cassie

[silverwing]

Originally Posted by Cassie

I hope to see some bills in the 2007 General Assembly session that require impact fees for developers. China Grove's may not make come to pass just as Durham's didn't, but dang, China Grove's proposal was REALLY low to me. You wouldn't believe the umpteen thousands that developers had to pay in northern VA. Our county here in NC was recently hit with a 5 cent ( per $100.00 of assessed value) too, btw.

Regards,

Cassie

Agreed. The example of China Grove struck me as a bit amusing, though. The paper reported the meetings and agreements. Given the mix of politicians and developers in that case, I wonder what actual words were exchanged outside chambers, over cigarettes and beer. Not that anything illegal was done ... I'm just sayin' ......

But, impact fees for developers? Bring 'em on! We live in a county that is developing a bit of a class struggle. Our side is largely rural, and we're an independent lot. People moved here and accepted that they'd have to pay for their own land to be cleared, live with installing their own wells and septic tanks, even pay for the maintenance of the roads they live on. We help fund the local volunteer fire department with weekend BBQs and door-to-door donations and even look out for ourselves in disasters. When ice storms bring trees down and block the roads, those that have tractors get out and clear the roads, the rest of us get our chain saws going. Now, the other side of the county is being gobbled up by developers building subdivisions. And our taxes went up. People are p*ssed

There's an attitude in our area that we paid for what we needed, keeping taxes down. If the developers want to come in and build subdivisions, they can d*mn well pay for the impact themselves

[Cassie]

Originally Posted by silverwing

Agreed. The example of China Grove struck me as a bit amusing, though. The paper reported the meetings and agreements. Given the mix of politicians and developers in that case, I wonder what actual words were exchanged outside chambers, over cigarettes and beer. Not that anything illegal was done ... I'm just sayin' ...... :

LOL! Great visual. Also a scenario for which Mark Twain would have an appropriate adage.

Originally Posted by silverwing

But, impact fees for developers? Bring 'em on! We live in a county that is developing a bit of a class struggle. Our side is largely rural, and we're an independent lot. People moved here and accepted that they'd have to pay for their own land to be cleared, live with installing their own wells and septic tanks, even pay for the maintenance of the roads they live on. We help fund the local volunteer fire department with weekend BBQs and door-to-door donations and even look out for ourselves in disasters. When ice storms bring trees down and block the roads, those that have tractors get out and clear the roads, the rest of us get our chain saws going. Now, the other side of the county is being gobbled up by developers building subdivisions. And our taxes went up. People are p*ssed

There's an attitude in our area that we paid for what we needed, keeping taxes down. If the developers want to come in and build subdivisions, they can d*mn well pay for the impact themselves

Ah herd they-at. People in my rural county are both an independent and self-sufficient lot too. Our tax increase was initially going to be 8 cents per 100.00 of assessed value. Over two hundred people turned out to protest it which I thought was a decent turn-out. We don't have a lot of development going on here yet, but when we do, I'll be the first one at the podium at the County Supervisors meeting suggesting that they have a state Senator or House of Representatives member sponsor a bill that *requires* developer impact fees. If that doesn't work, I will go to my state Senator and House of Representatives member and ask for the same.

You bet the developers can pay impact fees and should. After all, they pass the cost along to their home buyers.

Regards,

Cassie

[fromcenFL]

Originally Posted by silverwing

Agreed. The example of China Grove struck me as a bit amusing, though. The paper reported the meetings and agreements. Given the mix of politicians and developers in that case, I wonder what actual words were exchanged outside chambers, over cigarettes and beer. Not that anything illegal was done ... I'm just sayin' ......

But, impact fees for developers? Bring 'em on! We live in a county that is developing a bit of a class struggle. Our side is largely rural, and we're an independent lot. People moved here and accepted that they'd have to pay for their own land to be cleared, live with installing their own wells and septic tanks, even pay for the maintenance of the roads they live on. We help fund the local volunteer fire department with weekend BBQs and door-to-door donations and even look out for ourselves in disasters. When ice storms bring trees down and block the roads, those that have tractors get out and clear the roads, the rest of us get our chain saws going. Now, the other side of the county is being gobbled up by developers building subdivisions. And our taxes went up. People are p*ssed

There's an attitude in our area that we paid for what we needed, keeping taxes down. If the developers want to come in and build subdivisions, they can d*mn well pay for the impact themselves

They've been doing it in Florida for years. The county I lived in was a few thousand dollars for a long time, they finally raised it to like 7 or 8K. The faster the growth is, the faster municipalities are overwhelmed. But growth is only rapid when an area is unusually popular, usually because it is cheap in comparison. People from Orlando started buying up new homes in MY adjacent county and increasing the demand for new homes. The chools and roads can't wait years for the increased tax revenue to trickle in when there are kids and cars that need them now! So its good to let new growth pay for itself instead of raising everyones property taxes permanently to fix a temporary problem.

[mm34b]

Some updated info:

N.C. Realtors oppose taxes on land transfers

http://www.hendersonvillenews.com/ap...703270330/1151