• Comm./Shop. Ctr. more than 200,001 sq. ft.: $2,098
• Office 25,000 sq. ft. or less: $1,920
• Office 25,001-50,000 sq. ft.: $1,656
• Office 50,001-100,000 sq. ft.: $1,430
• Office more than 100,001 sq. ft.: $1,235
• Light Industrial $765
• Warehousing $378
• Manufacturing $445
• Hotel (per room) $547
By Doug Cook Special to the Tribune
For Dewey-Humboldt to afford enhanced public services tied to future growth, the Town Council Tuesday narrowly approved the municipality's first development impact fees ordinance.
In a 4-3 vote, with Vice Mayor Nancy Wright and councilmen Terry Nolan and Floyd Wright dissenting, council agreed to begin assessing the fees whenever the town issues building permits for new homes and businesses. Fee proceeds would pay for such things as roads, the library and police protection.
The ordinance excludes existing and renovated residences and commercial businesses, as well as new homes and businesses owners are building on the same site as older structures.
Nolan argued that the fees, which go into effect in February 2010, would stifle commercial development. Nancy Wright said the fees are necessary but too expensive given the current economy.
Prescott Valley and Prescott do not assess commercial impact fees, which Nolan said would hurt D-H's ability to lure businesses.
Floyd Wright said he went against the ordinance because he thinks a movement in the town seeks to make D-H into something similar to Prescott Valley, which is pro-growth.
Proponents of the fees, including Mayor Len Marinaccio, say D-H has a vision of remaining a low-density residential rural community and that economic development of commercial properties is not a policy priority of the town.
"Anytime someone builds something, it has a potential impact on the town - and somebody has to bear the burden of that impact," Marinaccio said. "Having growth pay for growth is sustainable."
When the council wants to bring in commercial development, it can enter into an agreement with the developer in which the town waives impact fees and relies on the General Fund in D-H's budget to pay for it, Town Manager William Emerson said.
Family-owned restaurants, grocery stores, pharmacies, hardware stores, ice cream and candy shops might fit the type of development council craves, for example.
"If we want a grocery store so badly that we will pay the developer's impact fee, the town can do it," Marinaccio said. "We can offer all kinds of incentives."
The commercial corner at the former Young's Farm, Main Street in Humboldt and the property south of the Iron King Mine are among the sites suitable for business development.
Residential impact fees help pay for community complexes, such as a bigger library and Town Hall, as well as improved roads. Commercial fees help pay for government complexes, police protection and transportation.
"The town has committed funds in its Capital Improvement Program (CIP) to build community facilities," Emerson said. "But as development comes, the need for those facilities will increase. The plan is for the existing population of the town to pay for its share of those community facilities and for new development to pay its share."
This year's CIP commits the town to improve its roads and community complexes, and to seek an expanded library.
"We have miles and miles of horrible roads in Dewey-Humboldt, and these came about because growth happened without paying its fair share of what the roads were going to cost to put in," Marinaccio said. "We had all this growth and we didn't have money set aside to put into the infrastructure. Now we have to play catch-up for 10 to 20 years, and we don't want to perpetuate that same kind of cycle."
Emerson said if Yavapai County had instituted transportation impact fees before Dewey-Humboldt's incorporation in 2004, the town's roads would have been in improved shape today to accommodate the current traffic volume.
"We're saving the roads from further degradation," he said.
One potential stumbling block for D-H in implementing the fees is the Legislature's enactment in its third special session earlier this year of an impact fee ordinance, HB2008, that put a moratorium on such fees dating back to June 29.
The League of Arizona Cities and Towns, which represents the interests of the state's municipalities, and the Town of Dewey-Humboldt argue that the moratorium is void because it violates the Arizona Constitution.
Emerson said the Legislature's special session was not "rationally related" to the issue of impact fees and, moreover, no portion of any impact fee goes to the state.
"The state does not provide any of the services for which we use impact fees, so there's no revenue implications and no expense implications for the state," he said.
The League plans to bring a special action lawsuit in the Arizona Supreme Court against the Legislature on the grounds that the impact fee decision is illegal. Ken Strobeck, the League's executive director, said Wednesday that HB2008 goes into effect Nov. 24.
"If the lawsuit is not resolved by February, we'll collect the new fees, but we'll hold them in a separate escrow fund where the fees will earn interest," Emerson said. "If the constitutionality of the Legislature's actions is upheld, then we'll refund the fees."
Council gives nod to election canvass; hires new magistrate In other action from Tuesday's meeting, the Dewey-Humboldt Town Council:
• Approved the canvass of the Nov. 3 special election for the town's General Plan, which voters rejected for the second time in as many years.
Council is asking everyone who voted for and against the plan to submit a written comment about the document and give it to a council member so council has more information about the pros and cons.
Council members will meet for a study session in December and likely again in January to discuss the plan's future.
• Hired Judge Catherine J. Kelley as the town municipal court's new presiding magistrate in a 6-0 vote, with councilman Terry Nolan abstaining. Kelley likely will not begin sitting on the bench until next month.
