Representatives of developers maintained at a Tuesday Raleigh City Council meeting that they are already paying plenty in fees to Raleigh, just before council members agreed to proceed with a planned $6 million hike in development services charges that will go into effect in July.
Developer Michael Kaney, who served on a committee that advised the city on the new rules, pointed out that new buildings in Raleigh require a number of other payments in addition to those considered as the new fees were being devised. They cover the impact of everything thoroughfares to stormwater, Kaney said. However, the developers’ chief concern seemed to be whether projects already in the works would be affected by the new fees.
“You are subject to the fees in effect at the time of application,” said Thomas Hosey, director of the city’s development services department. The city could allow a phase-in system for as long as six months, although the terms of this period were not defined Tuesday.
Mayor Nancy McFarlane noted that the city had not revised the amounts charged to developers in many years.
A presentation on the new fees included information on much higher rates charged in comparable cities, some in North Carolina and in other locations such as Austin and Denver.
The new fees are designed to fill an estimated gap of $6 million between Raleigh’s current fee structure and its costs in permitting and regulating construction. They will not cover the city’s indirect cost of administering the fees, such as legal and human resources expense, which development services officials said amount to about $1 million annually.