St. Johns County moves forward with proposed updates to impact fees

The St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners had a consensus at their Sept. 16 regular meeting to proceed with proposed updates to the current impact fees applied to residential and non-residential projects. The board provided county staff with direction on implementing a new conservation impact fee, adjusting current fee levels, offering fee discounts for affordable housing projects and providing updates to the current non-residential “buy down” fee.

“We have a path forward to present the proposed impact fee updates and look forward to future public hearings,” said Mike Roberson, director of growth management. “We will present the first and second readings of these proposed impact fee updates at two future Board of County Commissioners meetings.”

The county hired a consultant to study the county’s cost of infrastructure improvements since the last impact fee update. The results were analyzed to determine if any changes were needed based on the county’s resources committed to its infrastructure improvement plans. The recommendations were presented to the commissioners.

Based on the staff presentation and public feedback, the board had consensus to move forward for future consideration on the following impact fee changes:

• Adding a new conservation impact fee. The additional revenue will specifically be used for the county’s future purchases of conservation land.

• Increasing current impact fees to the statutory limit. These fee increases are the maximum allowed per the new Florida Statute. Local jurisdictions are prohibited by the statute from increasing their current fees by more than 50% at any time they are updated unless the local jurisdiction provides data to support extraordinary circumstances to justify fees beyond that 50% threshold.

• Removing the current 40% subsidy provided to non-residential projects. In 2018, the county commission approved the 40% subsidy for non-residential development and a maximum increase in residential development, supported by data analysis at that time.

• Providing a 50% waiver of fees on certain affordable housing projects. The waiver would be applied to affordable housing projects that offer rent/purchase costs that fall under 80% of annual median income for St. Johns County in an effort to incentivize more affordable housing.