With Governor Tim Kaine’s amendments and the General Assembly’s approval, Virginia now has its first comprehensive transportation plan since 1986, potentially bringing up to $1.1 billion per year to Virginia transportation. Most of the plan is designed to benefit Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. But Kaine amended the bill to include one measure that could have significant effects in Albemarle County: the ability to assess impact fees for by-right development.
We at C-VILLE can hear the anti-wonks out there collectively snore at the lullaby “impact fees for by-right development.” But what these unsexy sounding fees mean is that the county can charge more developers for their share of necessary road improvements. That means dedicated money to improve overburdened roads. And that has meaning for you anti-wonks who aren’t so thrilled about waiting at red lights or traffic congestion that makes bicycling a daredevils’ sport.
The county already has a way of charging those developers who want increased density for their projects, through what are called proffers. But what Kaine and the General Assembly have now authorized is the ability to collect cash from developers putting up projects “by right,” meaning they don’t require as extensive government oversight. It also allows the county to charge those putting up housing in the rural areas.
There are a number of hoops that Albemarle will have to jump through in order to enact impact fees, and the Board of Supervisors will have to muster the political will to approve such a measure—something that didn’t happen with the defunct “clustering and phasing” plan of 2006. The Home Builders Association of Virginia has attacked impact fees because of the extra costs they add to real estate prices.
Wayne Cilimberg, director of planning, anticipates that the Board of Supervisors will at least ask county staff to look into impact fees. “It’s been a part of the legislative priority to have this,” says Cilimberg. A fiscal impact committee is already drawing up findings for how much development costs the community per unit, with their results due in the next few months.
Recently retired developer Vito Cetta says it’s appropriate for the county to charge some impact fees, though he notes that people who already own homes never had to pay them. “But that’s just life, right?”
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