Naperville City Council members have reaffirmed their commitment that growth in the city–especially residential development–should continue to pay for itself.
Despite a subcommittee recommendation to cut the city’s road-impact fees, council members have decided to devise their own fee schedule for builders.
Furthermore, they indicated fees will be based on the concept that developers, not taxpayers, will have to foot the bill for most of the city’s growth–so don’t expect any cuts in fees.
In April, the Transportation Management Advisory Committee suggested a broad reduction in Naperville’s road-impact fees, but the idea had no outspoken supporters among council members.
The council has decided to hold a numbers-crunching workshop session Tuesday and has scheduled a July 7 vote on amending the city’s fee structure.
Councilman Gary von Behren said that someone will have to pay for an estimated $95.8 million in road projects over the next 20 years.
The fees proposed by the advisory committee would have left city taxpayers footing more than 70 percent of the bill for future road work, he said.
The subcommittee had voted 5-4 to recommend that for each single-family home in a project, developers be charged $1,296 instead of the current $1,655. The fee for each 1,000 square feet in a commercial development would have been reduced to $1,617 from $2,223. The amount charged for each 1,000 square feet in major office buildings would have dropped to $2,111 from $3,652.
A formula supported by a minority of the committee, von Behren said, might have come closer to the goal of self-supported growth, asking developers to pay about 60 percent of the cost of road work over the next two decades.
Naperville’s road-impact fees have not hurt residential development in the city, council members said. Building continues at a record pace, despite an increase in impact fees in 1996.
Developers pass on the fees’ cost to buyers of new homes, council members said, but the market continues to be strong.
Naperville officials said the city saw 1,046 single-family homes built from 1992 to 1995. Since 1996, when the impact fees for single-family homes increased to $1,655 from $792 per unit, 1,099 units have been built.
Some council members, however, could bend a bit regarding non-residential development, believing fees have put a dent in growth categories such as office development.
Councilman Sam Macrane, however, said fees have “side effects,” including pushing office and other commercial growth out of town. The Naperville of the future may find itself relying on tax increases to support itself if the town’s total property value does not increase sufficiently, he said.
Councilman Kevin Gallaher agreed, saying suburbs that ring Naperville have seen numerous office developments built.
“I bet a good number of people who work in Lisle and (at) Cantera (in Warrenville) choose to live in Naperville,” said Gallaher, who added such a scenario could be stunting the city’s tax base.
Local attorney Craig Cobine, who represented a group of developers during the advisory committee proceedings, agreed. He urged the council to accept the reduced fees, saying impact costs are strangling commercial development.
