A formal vote was not taken, but last night, September 3, 2024, the Wake Forest five commissioners approved the new recreation impact fees on new construction and approved a staged implementation over three years.
Impact fees are applied when individuals or developers apply for a building permit. The Town of Wake Forest has two impact fees. The recreation impact fee since 2018 has been $3.61 for single-family houses and $2.202 for multi-family and the fire impact fee is $780 for single-family and $681 for multi-family dwellings.
Nilgun Kamp presented the rate study done by Benesch which calculated that the fee for single-family houses should be $8,856, the rate for multi-family buildings should be $4,789. The recreation impact fee was enacted in 1997 and updated in 2003 and 2018. The fees address the needs of the community created by growth.
Assistant Town Manager Candace Davis said in the past that impact fee had been introduced over a three-year period at lower percentage rates than the recommended rates. The commissioners also agreed to follow that model, meaning that in 2025 the new rates will be 70 percent of the recommended $8,856 and $4,789 or $6,199 and $3,352. In 2026 the rate will be 80 percent, $7,085 and $3.832, and go to 90 percent in 2027, $7,970 and $4,310, where they will remain.
Assistant Planning Department Director Jennifer Currin went to the podium to say that it may be possible to waive this fee for future affordable housing projects.
The Wake Forest Planning Board members will hear the impact fee study at a special called meeting tonight.
There will be a public hearing about the proposed new rates on Tuesday, September 17, 2024 during the regular town board meeting.
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The Gazette has just learned that Director of Planning Courtney Tanner has resigned and will be taking a position as one of the deputy town managers in Clayton. Next week is her final week. The Gazette and its editor wish her well in that new position.
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Tuesday night’s meeting largely was comprised of people reading the PowerPoint slides projected onto a large screen for the slim audience and onto the mayor’s and commissioners’ laptops. Most speakers did ask often if there were questions.
First was Jackie Berg with Houseal Lavigne Associates going through the new Unified Development Ordinance chapter by chapter before the public hearings today, tonight and tomorrow night. It was heartening to hear that the town will require more trees in more places with what appear to be very good standards.
Kenneth Withrow and Jared Draper with the Capitol Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) and North Carolina Department of Transportation said those entities are developing a comprehensive regional safety action plan called the Blueprint for Safety that will be completed in the fall of 2025.
The public and all sorts of agencies and offices have had a hand in it, and the updated Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Master Plan was presented by Shweta Nanekar.
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