The county where my office is located, Brevard County, Florida just announced a moratorium on transportation impact fees. The reason – to help stimulate the local economy. Or in the official language of the new ordinance,

… the Brevard County Board of County Commissioners has determined that putting its citizens back to work is a high priority for every level of government, including county government; and …

… the County Commission has determined that the removal of certain regulatory and economic impediments to new commercial development is one way in which County government can join the State and Federal government in strategies designed to stimulate the local economy…

This is a big deal. My firm is often involved with property developers who are forced to pay transportation impact fees that exceed $1 million dollars.

Reducing the cost of a project by that amount is no laughing matter, and it would certainly make some projects financially feasible that weren’t doable without the savings.

If that is the case, maybe Brevard County will succeed in “putting its citizens back to work”.

Do you have land development projects in your area where the waiving of impact fees would make them profitable? If so, and even if not, you might want to let your local government agencies know about what other counties are doing to spur growth.

Cities and Counties are much more willing to adopt changes when they know others have done it as well. A simple letter or email linking them to Brevard Counties website may be enough to save your next project tens of thousands of dollars. (Here is the link, http://www.brevardcounty.us/landdevelopment/).

But please remember, just because it may make your property developments cheaper to build, that doesn’t mean there is now demand for what you are building. Do your research first.

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