Chamber of Commerce opposes new impact fees

CHESTER - On March 19, the county issued a press release announcing that the County Commissioners had  reintroduced an ordinance to raise development impact fees as part of their overall plan for growth management.

The ordinance is a revised ver­sion of an earlier ordinance introduced on October of 2001.   It should be noted from the outset that, since Ordinance 01-06 introduced last year was never promulgated, references in the news release to impact fee reductions are actually increases of development impact fees now in  force.

The Queen Anne's County Chamber of Commerce's reaction to the newly proposed ordinance was one of dismay and disappointment inasmuch as the Chamber had both recommended to the County Commissioners that there be no increase in non­residential impact fees and of­fered to work closely with the county to identify alternative sources of revenues.

In a letter to the County Commissioners, Chamber President Francis  Roudiez  (Healthcare Brokerage Services) noted that alleged reductions in non-residential impact fees were, in fact, increases in current fees ranging from approximately 400 to nearly 800 percent.

Roudiez went on to say, "If this proposal is enacted,  the Commis­sioners would be hypocritical if they continued efforts to attract  businesses  to  the  County through the Department of Business and Tourism. This hostile environment would dissuade any businesses from relocating to Queen Anne’s County.  It would also be a fruitless expenditure of time and funds when the economic reality would be clear to any existing Queen Anne’s businesses seeking to expand.  The Queen Anne’s County Chamber of Commerce efforts to attract employers who will keep our residents in the County with high paying jobs will be pointless given the lower costs in all surrounding counties."

In his letter; Roudiez also told the Commissioners that, "The Chamber of Commerce had established a diversely representative committee that met with County representatives in a co­operative effort to resolve fiscal problems raised by growth. It is obvious to the Chamber that those meetings wasted the time and goodwill of the participants. The Chamber had offered the extensive expertise of its membership to help County government. That offer has been rebuffed.

"The net effect of the passage of the proposed increase in non-residential impact fees will not be to bring in revenue to the County. Impact fee revenue will decrease and overall business activity will be stifled with lower wages and tax revenues due to the loss of economic incentives."

In closing, Roudiez's letter asserted that the proposed impact fee ordinance must be rejected as it is harmful to the future economic well being of Queen Anne's County.

Some members of the Chamber, in discussions regarding the newly proposed impact fee ordinance, are suspect of publishing a list of non-residential fees based upon land use and then discounting those fees depending upon the location of the development, within or outside of designated growth areas. It appears to some that this list has been published so that the county, at some point down the road, could discontinue offering the discounts and fall back to the higher schedule of impact fees. Why bother publishing a list of fees before the applied discounts?  Simply list the non-residential impact fees for projects within designated growth areas and the schedule for projects outside of growth areas.

Several comments asserted that the quickest way to increase revenues was to cut costs.  Has any hard evidence surfaced that attempts in this direction have been seriously considered by any county department?  It goes without saying that the Chamber will be on hand, en masse, for the public hearing on the proposed development impact fee ordinance.

Published April 3, 2002 in The Kent Island Bay Times

The purpose of the public hearing before the Planning Commission is to pro­vide an opportunity for all interested persons to be heard on the proposed amendment to Section 14-177 of the Queen  Anne's County Code before the Planning Commission makes its final recommendation regarding the pro­posed amendment to the Queen Anne's County Commissioners.

The proposed amendments to Section 14-177 and all supporting documentation may be reviewed at the Department of Planning and Zoning, 160 Coursevall Drive, Centreville, Maryland 21617  between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

All hearing sites are accessible to individuals with disabilities. Sign language interpreters and assistive listening systems will be available for individuals with hearing impairments. Please  contact Tina Miles at (410) 758-4406 or TDD (410) 758-2126 at least seven (7) days prior to the hearing date if any assistance is needed for this hearing.
 

RO 3/22 3/29 4/5 BT 3/27 4/3 4/10                                                                                                    E141 049

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