Currently the Town of Wake Forest assesses developers two impact fees, one for parks and recreation which has just been updated and increased and one for fire station construction. Now the commissioners and town officials will have to determine if they want to have developers help pay for the new roads and streets that future growth and development will bring.
The consulting firm Benesch has just concluded a Multimodal Transportation Impact Fee Study including the possible fees developers could pay for single-family and multi-family development as well as commercial and industrial growth.
The report suggests a transportation fee of $4,431 per house for single-family developments and $6,748 for multifamily units and fees ranging from $4,431 to $14,085 for commercial and industrial developments.
Benesch’s draft report is available for review and comment at https://engagewakeforest.org/multi-modal-transportation-impact-fee.
The Benesch staff will provide a full briefing to the Board of Commissioners on Tuesday, Nov. 5, at 6 p.m. and to the Planning Board on Tuesday, Nov. 12, at 6 p.m. Both meetings will take place in the Board Chambers, located on the second floor of Town Hall, 301 S. Brooks St.
A public hearing on the impact fee recommendations is scheduled for the Tuesday, Nov. 19, Board of Commissioners meeting. The meeting will also begin at 6 p.m. in the Town Hall Board Chambers. Anyone wishing to speak during this meeting must complete and submit the “Board of Commissioners – Sign Up to Speak Form” available at www.wakeforestnc.gov/public-meetings-portal by 3 p.m. on November 19. For more information, email Assistant Town Manager Candace Davis at cdavis@wakeforestnc.gov.
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3 Responses
This is way past due and could/should have begun implementation quite some time ago! In some cases, developers do pay for any improvements indicated by the developer’s traffic consultant, NCDOT, etc. that are specific to their project. However, there is no contribution for the traffic impact their project will have on the overall traffic generated by the development. For example, a 100 unit apartment project will generate quite a bit of new/additional traffic throughout town and while the developer may pay for a small turn lane or help with cost of a traffic signal, etc. there is no current requirement for any other contribution to help alleviate traffic issues/congestion. When we see all the apartment complexes being built, it is not hard to imagine what the “impact will be with regard to our already “stressed” traffic infrastructure. A detailed study has been done (by a qualified source) to determine what the appropriate impact fee should be. I feel this s should be implemented as soon as possible! It is no secret that traffic issues are one the main concerns of many citizens. While growth obviously brings more traffic, lets do what we can to alleviate the problem.
This should have been done across Wake County beginning in the 1980s. I brought this up and I thought the Wake HBA was going to hang me. The response at the time was such fees would cause people to move elsewhere instead of to Wake County! GREAT example, small businessmen not seeing the big picture and we are still paying for it today, from our infrastructure to our schools.
I think many people in our community would be upset to know that such a cost is not already passed on to the developers.
Thank you Carol as always for your work.