County impact fee workshop tomorrow

Within the next 60 days, Historic City News is anticipating that the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners will adopt “impact fee” structures associated with findings made in a recent study completed by Dr. James Nicholas of the University of Florida.

The St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners and the St. Johns County School Board will hold a joint workshop tomorrow, Tuesday, January 25th at 9:00 a.m., to consider technical memoranda provided by Nicholas with updated impact fee data for each governmental body.

The workshop, which will be broadcast on County Government TV Channel 3, will be held in the St. Johns County Auditorium, located at 500 San Sebastian View in St. Augustine.

County ordinance requires that the impact fee data, which was last updated in 2005, to be updated every five years. Florida Statutes require the calculation of impact fees to be based on the most recent and localized data.

The purpose of the workshop is to hear a presentation on the 2010 Impact Fees Report and accompanying data. No decisions will be made during the workshop. Board members may discuss the findings of the report, and there will be an opportunity for public comment.

The report is available now on the County website at www.sjcfl.us.

The Board of County Commissioners and School Board commissioned Nicholas to prepare the 2010 Impact Fees Report, which includes two studies.

The Board of County Commissioners’ portion addresses Roads, Public Buildings, Law Enforcement, Fire – Rescue and Parks and Recreation. The results of the study for the Board of County Commissioners show significant decreases in impact fees for the majority of land uses. A few increases were also identified.

The School Board’s portion addresses Public Education. The results of the study for the School Board show an increase in Public Education impact fees.

At a future meeting, the Board of County Commissioners may adopt the fees at the rates identified in the study, or, adopt the fees at a reduced rate that would be applied equitably across all land use categories. The School Board will review the study findings and make a recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners for adoption regarding the Public Education impact fee.