Warsaw Plan Commission Hears Road Impact Fee Presentation
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Jennifer Peryam-jperyam@timesuniononline.com
Warsaw Plan Commission Monday night heard a presentation on road impact fees for new developments.
City Planner Jeremy Skinner requested representatives from Butler, Fairman & Seufert Civil Engineers attend the meeting to discuss the fees."I thought it would be educational for us to hear what an impact fee is and how it could be applied to our city," Skinner said.
An impact fee is a fee implemented by a local government on a new or proposed development and determines future growth to the area as a result of the development, said Steven Hardesty, senior transportation engineer with the Lafayette firm.
Hardesty said an impact fee helps the city or town pay for a portion of the costs that the new development would cause while providing public services.
"The fees are a charge on new development to help fund and pay for the construction or needed expansion of a building and help reduce the economic burden on cities or towns dealing with population growth in an area," he said.
Hardesty said to determine if a city needs to implement an impact fee for its developments, the number of trips generated by the public on an undeveloped parcel should be considered.
Other components include determining intersection improvements and roadway improvements required to support development and determine total costs for intersection and road improvements.
"The impact fee helps developers to know the impact the development will have on its surrounding area before it is built," Hardesty said.
He said impact fees are often used for park and road creation and are currently used in areas such as Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, Franklin, Greenwood and Valparaiso.
"I think an impact fee would help us as planners and create more fairness and stability in the building process," said commission member Jeff Grose.
Commissioners are Grose, Joe Thallemer, Tom Allen, Tammy Dalton, Lacy Francis and Rick Keeven.
