New Sedona Impact Fees Effective April 1, 2007

By Staff Writer | Sedona.biz

(Sedona, Arizona):  The Sedona City Council on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 approved ordinance #06-21 amending the City’s Development Impact Fees based on recommendations submitted by the city’s consultant, TishlerBise. The new Development Impact Fee ordinance is effective on April 1, 2007.

Impact Fees are one time fees assessed on new developments to cover the cost impact that these new developments will have on parks & recreation, general government, police, transportation, and storm drainage.  However, the fees assessed must be consistent with the Arizona Development Fees Act, meaning that new developments cannot be disproportionately assessed fees and such fees may generally only be used by the City to defray costs associated with City capital improvement projects.

The fees vary depending on whether the development is residential or non-residential and is further divided into single family and multifamily properties for residential (multi-family properties have lower impact fees because the cost can be spread out among more units); and commercial, office space, and hotels for non-residential.  Non-residential properties are assessed fees on a square footage basis and hotels are assessed on a per room basis.

The new impact fees will approximately double or triple from current levels, but will generally be waived for new affordable housing, historic preservation, economic development, schools, and city government.  The increased fees will remain in effect until 2010 and be adjusted for inflation in July of each year beginning 2008.

For the portion of impact fees related to storm drainage development, the City has determined the amount of the fee depending on the location of the nearest drainage basin:  Dry Creek Wash, Coffeepot Wash, Soldier Wash or Oak Creek Wash.  Whether the development is in a high density or low density area is also considered.  For example, high density areas have lower storm drainage impact fees because the cost can be spread out among more properties.

Storm Drainage Impact Fees (by Drainage Basins)

All other impact fees are assessed, not by location, but the additional burden that such development will have on citywide services such as parks, transportation, and police.  These costs are as follows (for simplicity, line items have been omitted).

Citywide Impact Fees

From a drainage perspective, being near the Dry Creek Wash is the most costly.  From a citywide perspective, the parks & recreation costs have the biggest impact on residents who use the parks, followed by transportation.

For a single family residential development near the Dry Creek Wash, the impact fees would be more than $11,000.

In an impact fee study commissioned by the City, it was estimated that 104 new housing units would be added each year and that 87% of them would be single detached homes, 6% multi-family units, and 7% other.  The City had about six thousand housing units as of 2006 and a population of approximately twelve thousand.

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