County may link growth, road work

With more shortfalls in federal and state transportation funding expected, the Board of Supervisors may consider implementing a fee on new building construction to help bridge the financial gap.

At the board’s monthly meeting on Wednesday, the supervisors voted to bring the matter before the public in a hearing, which could possibly take place as early as next month.

Not everyone was sold on the idea though.

“I think it’s very important the public be aware of this,” said Salem District Supervisors Tom Underwood, calling the move a “fundamental change in the way we do development.”
While the idea is to have developers share the burden of increased transportation costs that growth brings, Underwood said he’s concerned about the impact it will have on individual landowners who want to build one house instead of 100.

West Fairfax Supervisor Steve Nixon agreed, saying there were “definite problems” with the proposed measure.

However, several other supervisors noted that allowing the public to hear more about the proposal and deliver feedback at a hearing should help to resolve those concerns.

“We’ve got to have a way to capture money from new development,” said Jefferson District Supervisor Brad Rosenberger.

Passed by the General Assembly during the 2007 session as part of House Bill 3202 — which included the controversial, recently repealed, so-called abusive driver fees — the legislation allows high growth areas to assess road impact fees on development.

Culpeper County has taken the first steps to do so, which include establishing an advisory committee, setting the fee service area and adopting a road improvement program which must be included in the comprehensive plan.

To implement a transportation impact fee, a public hearing is required. An amendment to the county’s comprehensive plan and the ordinance and fee schedule must also be approved by the county.

County officials have proposed a local fee of about $2,100. Churches, public schools, libraries, hospitals and other buildings used by emergency workers would be exempt.

Cedar Mountain District Supervisor Larry Aylor is chairman of Culpeper’s impact fee committee. The other members are Walter Cheatle, Kenton Dunn, John Coates and Francis Toomey. They released their final recommendations last month.

The committee has identified three priority road projects. They are the U.S. 29-Route 666 interchange, near Eastern View High School, a connector road from Ira Hoffman Lane to Keyser Road and an extension of Ira Hoffman Lane from Keyser Road to U.S. 29.
Other matters
Several other noteworthy matters were on the supervisors’ meeting agenda. They include:

n County budget planning and considerations for fiscal year 2010;

n A request from commissioner of the revenue Terry Yowell to request in court an extension to complete general property reassessments;

n Notice from Economic Development Director Carl Sachs that data firm Terremark is planning to construct another data center building at their campus just off Route 3.

Look for coverage of these issues and a follow-up to the failed meals tax initiative in the Star-Exponent later this week.

Nate Delesline III can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 110 or .