Scrambling to beat the impact fee rush

Jennie Gasperon is used to the long lines that happen once in a while at the Collier County Community Development and Environmental Services office.

“Every time there is an impact fee or a code change, I expect it,” said Gasperon, owner of Nolen’s Permitting Service. “My load is fairly light today. The contractors try to submit them a little earlier (when there is going to be a change). I just have 28 today.”

The permit office was bustling Thursday as contractors and permit service employees worked to beat the 4 p.m. deadline before the impact fees were raised. The new fees go into effect today, June 30, but anyone who had a permit before the deadline Thursday won’t have to pay the new fees.

Impact fees are one-time assessments on new construction that are intended to make growth pay for growth. They are assessed for every new home and business built in the county and are paid for by developers, who typically pass those costs on to consumers in the form of higher prices.

Collier County now has 10 impact fees. They are charged for schools, roads, parks, fire departments, water, sewers, law enforcement, government buildings, jails and emergency medical services.

The cost of all impact fees is now about $30,000 for someone building a 2,000-square-foot single-family home.

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Permitting technician Michael Portell, center, questions Rosalie and Greg Silguero, owners of GMC Homebuilders, about plans for residential homes they submitted at the Collier County building permit office on Thursday. The office was bustling as contractors and office employees worked to beat a deadline before new impact fees take effect today.

“The house I have here, the impact fees are going to cost $21,000. Monday, they’ll be $32,000,” said Bill Herrick, a permit expediter with Permit Professionals.

Herrick said the increase will cost customers he works for an average of $11,000 per job.

“They’ve hiked the fees so high,” he said.

The road and school impact fees saw some of the more dramatic increases this year.

The impact fees for Collier County schools went up 200 percent after the Collier County Commission voted in May to increase the fees over objections of Collier County School Board members and Schools Superintendent Ray Baker. The vote was 4-1, with Commissioner Tom Henning dissenting.

The new school impact fee schedule includes a sliding scale of $8,228 to $10,017 for single-family homes, $2,862 for multifamily dwellings and $5,724 for a mobile home.

The school impact fees hadn’t increased since 1992, when the county raised the fees to $1,778 for new single-family homes, $827 for multifamily homes and $1,234 for mobile homes.

School impact fees are one-time assessments imposed on new residential construction. They raise money to pay a portion of the cost of providing services to new development.

Road impact fees went up 40 percent. The road impact fee for a single-family home less than 1,500 square feet increased from $4,489 to $6,359. For a single-family home of 1,500 to 2,500 square feet, the road impact fee increased from $5,985 to $8,884, and a home more than 2,500 square feet saw an increase from $7,062 to $9,884.

The road impact fees pay for the construction of new roads, and the widening or extension of existing roads.

Gasperon said dramatic increases aren’t helping contractors and builders provide affordable housing.

“The commissioners talk about the need for affordable housing and then they raise the impact fees,” she said. “It’s obvious that growth needs to pay for growth, but this is making people in the county who were born and raised here sell out and move out.”

Thursday, contractors talked on their cell phone and tried to find seats, which was difficult as more and more people came to the permitting office.

Christine LaPenta, a roofing contractor, was shocked at the size of the crowd.

“I can’t believe all the plans,” she said, looking at contractors with stacks of papers on desks and the floor. “I guess it means a long wait for me to pull my permits.”

Cindy Williams, owner of Naples Permitting, had been at the office so long Thursday, she had her own chair to sit in.

“I’ve been here since 7:30 a.m.,” she said at 4 p.m. “I’ve done probably 300, 400 (single-family) units in the last two days.”

The office planned for the last-minute rush, said Joe Schmitt, administrator of the Collier County Community Development and Environmental Services Division, which oversees the Building Review and Permit office.

“We know that on (the day of the deadline), the lobby will be mobbed. Past history has told us there will be an enormous spike in the number of people wanting permits,” he said. “We have a process to deal with the volume. We have preliminary checklists so that we are accepting what the staff will need for review.”

Schmitt said the last time impact fees were increased, developers had plans spread out on the floor, trying to get approval before the deadline.

“This is a financial impact that will be passed on to the consumer,” he said. “We will do everything submitted.”

But those hoping to get in before the deadline had to be there before 4 p.m. Signs were posted on the doors and around the office warning customers of the deadline.

“Our doors will close today due to the large impact fee response. We will open for normal business hours Friday, June 30. We apologize for any inconvenience,” the sign read.

True to their word, staff locked the doors at 4 p.m., allowing those who had received a number to get their permits.

“Considering the fact that this is a serious monetary issue, we knew some people might try to show up after 4. We want to help out the staff,” said Bill Hammond, director of the Building Review and Permit office. “We’ve been very busy today.”

Patricia Jackreece, owner of Dependable Permitting, was one of the last ones through the door.

“We came earlier, but we had something to resubmit,” she said. “Everyone wants to hurry up and get everything in so they can be grandfathered in.”

Jackreece said there are some people who didn’t have everything in order to make the cutoff.

“You can’t win them all,” she said.