A county news release outlined the following changes between the October 2001 ordinance and the March 2002 ordinance:
 

* The overall impact fee for a single-family home was lowered from $6,854 to $6,360. 

* The non-residential impact fee (which had ranged from 52 cents per square foot to $1.90 per square foot) was reduced from 28 to 43 percent.

* Fees for non-residential developments will also be lowered by an additional 50 percent for projects located in incorporated towns and growth areas and by an additional 25 percent for projects located in non-growth areas. 
 

The county's current impact fee ordinance, in effect since 1991, is charged for schools and emergency services. The fee is $2,280 countywide for a single-family home. The emergency services fee - $55 per dwelling and 15 cents per square foot for non-residential development - only applies on Kent Island and the Grasonville and Queenstown areas.

Under the impact fee ordinance introduced Tuesday, the residential impact fee would allocate funds in three areas: $4,730 for public schools; $1,014 for fire stations and apparatus; and $616 for community parks. 

Tischler & Associates Inc., fiscal, economic and planning consultants, completed a study which included a schedule of "justifiable impact fees" for Queen Anne's County. The Tischler report said impact fees are "one-time payments used to fund system improvements needed to accommodate new development." 

The county's proposed October 2001 ordinance, based on recommendations in the Tischler study, would have set five separate impact fees for residential development and three separate fees for non-residential development. All developers would pay fees for law enforcement, fire stations and apparatus, and emergency services communications. Residential developers would also pay fees for public schools and community parks.

The Queen Anne's County Chamber of Commerce and area business owners strongly objected to the fee hikes outlined in the October 2001 ordinance. The commissioners pulled the ordinance in November. The chamber of commerce appointed a committee which offered alternatives to the impact fee ordinance, including imposing a countywide fire tax.

The law enforcement and emergency services communications components were pulled from the October 2001 ordinance.  Steve Ziegler, county director of planning and zoning, said non-residential developers will be charged only the impact fee for fire stations and apparatus. Residential developers will be charged three impact fees: for fire stations, public schools and community parks. 

Ziegler said the revised ordinance contains a discount for non-residential development as a means of encouraging economic development in Queen Anne's County. The full impact fee will not be charged to non-residential developers. 

Developers with projects in a growth area or within an incorporated town would get a 50 percent discount. Developers with a project outside a growth area would get a 25 percent discount. Ziegler said the revised impact fee bill contains a provision which says the county will contribute the funds to the impact fee account to make up the 25 percent and 50 percent discounts.

There is no discount in the revised ordinance for residential developers. Ziegler said the total impact fee for mobile homes would also be $6,360 per home, while the total fee for apartments and other multi-family homes would be $3,900 per dwelling. 

©The Star Democrat 2002