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It's about to get a lot more expensive to build a house in Spotsylvania County.
When developers seek rezonings to build new subdivisions, the Board of Supervisors now expects them to offer the county more than $35,000 per house.
Supervisors want the money and/or infrastructure improvements--dubbed proffers--to offset the cost to the county of providing public services to the new residents the houses likely will draw.
The supervisors voted Tuesday night to boost the proffer standards for rezonings for single-family houses, townhouses and apartments.
The increases ranged from 59 percent to more than 280 percent, depending on the type of dwelling.
Those who don't need a rezoning to build a home won't get off scot-free either.
The state has instructed county staff to lay the groundwork for imposing transportation levies on certain by-right developments that don't require rezonings.
The so-called impact fees would finance road construction and improvements needed because of by-right developments. The fees would be limited to specific zones set up by the Board of Supervisors and wouldn't apply to rezoned developments.
County staff have estimated it may take as much as two years to establish the fees, due to state regulations. Several supervisors expressed hope Tuesday that the county can streamline the process and follow the lead of Stafford County.
Stafford has collected more than $1.9 million in such fees since establishing them in 2003.
Spotsylvania Supervisor Emmitt Marshall worried Tuesday that the fees will disproportionately affect people who build homes on land subdivided for them by their parents.
Deputy County Administrator Doug Barnes stressed yesterday that the fees will apply only to the zones set up by the supervisors. He also noted that they could--if they choose--apply the fees to by-right subdivisions with a certain number of houses.
"I think we have all that flexibility in the way it's drafted," he said. "I don't think it's a cut-and-dried, 'This is the way it's going to be.'"
And Supervisor Jerry Marcus may partially have mollified Marshall by pointing out that the fees could help pave dirt roads--a cause dear to Marshall's heart.
But it was the discussion and vote on proffer guidelines that consumed far more time at Tuesday's meeting.
The Planning Department proposed boosting the proffer guidelines for a single-family house to more than $35,200--up more than $13,000 since the last revision in 2003.
The minimum expected proffer for a townhouse is now more than $30,400, while each apartment should generate more than $25,000.
Planning Director Ric Goss recommended delaying a vote on the guidelines to give staff more time to tweak them.
Supervisor Vince Onorato then wanted to know why the guidelines hadn't been increased since 2003.
"I'm making a motion tonight that we pass these proffers. If they need amending, the planning staff will amend them," he said. "We vote on these tonight. We get these where they need to be. Right now, every rezoning is potentially a disaster for the taxpayers of the county."
Supervisor Gary Jackson agreed.
"These are just guidelines. I don't see any reason why we can't move forward with this," he said. "I think, frankly, that we need to make sure proffer guidelines stay front and center and are updated on a regular basis."
The supervisors then voted unanimously to increase the expected proffers.
Harvey Gold, director of government and public affairs with the Fredericksburg Area Builders Association, described proffers as a form of taxation that will distort the housing market and ultimately hurt Spotsylvania home buyers.
"My reaction to all of it, but especially to the apartments, is there will be no affordable housing," he said. "Who pays for that? It's the person who buys the house who pays for it. So it just increases the cost of the house. What does the homeowner get out of it? It's uncertain."
Onorato doesn't buy that argument, suggesting that area developers have done nothing to create affordable housing.
"Where has the affordable housing been built in the last two years?" he asked. "Growth needs to pay for itself. The taxpayers that are already here can't be paying for the infrastructure for the people who are moving to the area."
To reach GEORGE WHITEHURST:
Email: gwhitehurst@freelancestar.com
