Why Should Delaware Care?
Impact fees are collected by the county to support funding services like fire departments, law enforcement, emergency medical services and other county services. An ordinance the county will consider would increase those fees for the first time since 1999.
A plan to make developers pay more in fees is back in New Castle County.
The New Castle County Council will consider an ordinance to raise the fees imposed on subdivisions and other development projects to bring in more dollars for emergency response services. The proposal is similar to one that then-County Executive Matt Meyer vetoed last December, weeks before his inauguration as governor.
Next month, the council is expected to vote on the proposal to increase “impact fees” on developers with a more receptive county executive in Marcus Henry.
The fees are assessed by the county onto new developments to offset their impact on community services, such as fire departments, county facilities and emergency medical services.
During a New Castle County Planning Board meeting last week, a representative from the county land use department said the ordinance would increase impact fees across the board for all types of development by at least 33%.
According to one version of the new ordinance, the fee for a single-family detached home would cost developers $1,736 — or $173,600 for a 100-home development. A majority of the dollars raised by the fee on homes would flow to fire and rescue services, as well as parks and facilities.
While supporters point to the benefits to emergency services, homebuilding groups have argued that impact fees come at too high a cost, and that those costs could be passed onto consumers.
In an email sent to Spotlight Delaware Tuesday, Mike Riemann, president of the Delaware Home Builders Association, said that if the council raises impact fees, his group will encourage the county to bring down construction costs by examining zoning laws and regulations.
“Even lumping impact fees into a 30-year mortgage will make a house less affordable because for every $1,000 increase, nearly 400 Delaware families become unqualified for a mortgage on that home,” Riemann said in the email.
Meyer made a similar argument last winter when vetoing the initial ordinance, saying additional costs would exacerbate an already expensive housing market.
“Now is not the time to increase the cost of housing in New Castle County,” Meyer wrote in a letter to council members in December. “This county is facing an unprecedented housing crisis, not only for the most vulnerable among us, but also for so many working families across our community.”
In response, several county councilmembers scoffed at Meyer’s stance, saying it only benefited developers.
Following Meyer’s December veto, Councilman Kevin Caneco, a co-sponsor to the original bill, took to Facebook to decry the move, writing that the ordinance would have increased support to county services and made developers pay “their fair share.”
In January, the county council held a vote to override the veto, but the effort failed.
The new ordinance now under consideration would exempt specific types of developments from the new impact fees, such as affordable and workforce housing projects. If passed, the new fees would go into effect on July 1.
Mila Myles, a spokeswoman for the governor’s office, declined to comment for this story.
