Cda Moves Toward Impact Fees If Approved, They Will Add Between $1,106 And $1,222 To The Cost Of A New Coeur D’Alene Home

Next Tuesday, the wheels begin turning to make the Lake City the first in the state to implement impact fees under a law passed last winter.

If approved, the fees will add between $1,106 and $1,222 to the cost of a new Coeur d’Alene home, depending upon location. The fees for homes north of Interstate 90 will be higher than homes south of the interstate.

That’s because the city will need more new streets to handle growth north of the interstate, said John Austin, city finance director. Impact fees on commercial buildings are higher and depend upon how much traffic a particular business generates.

The proposal then moves to the City Council, which must hold public hearings before impact fees could become law.

Dec. 1 is the earliest the fees would be required.

The proposed residential fees are from $95 to $155 lower than similar impact fees imposed by the city in 1993. Those fees were ruled illegal and about $450,000 refunded after builders successfully sued the city.

The 1996 Idaho Legislature, lobbied to approve fees by some of the same builders and real estate agents who opposed the 1993 fees, passed a law allowing impact fees. Before that, Ada County - including the Boise area - was the only place impact fees could legally be charged.

The new law limits the fees to future impacts from growth and doesn’t allow fees to be charged for libraries and schools.

The city used a recently updated impact-fee study, originally done by a consultant in 1993, to calculate the proposed charges. The money will go for police, fire, streets and parks.

The North Idaho Building Contractors Association, one of the plaintiffs to sue over the 1993 fees, hasn’t had a chance to study the new fees. But the group is tentatively optimistic.

“We feel impact fees are good when they are applied properly,” said Lori Barnes. The group’s main concerns in 1993 involved charges for park land and what the criteria were for levying the fees.

“Our biggest concern was you had to pay for (parks) when you subdivided the land, which doesn’t make sense because until someone moves in, there is no impact,” Barnes said.

Coeur d’Alene’s new plan allows a developer to wait until the building permit is issued to pay the $406 fee.

Another concern with the 1993 fees was that, “we were getting hit with all of these odd little fees,” Barnes said.

Under the new law, “you have to provide a direct correlation to a home being built and the services needed” in order to charge an impact fee,” Barnes said. “It’s an accountability thing.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Impact fees

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: What’s next? The Coeur d’Alene Planning Commission will consider the impact fees Tuesday night at City Hall in a meeting beginning at 6 p.m.