When Stafford County officials contemplated taking over the maintenance of their own roads earlier this year, they considered charging a comprehensive impact fee for each new housing unit built by-right on agriculturally zoned property.
The suggested fee was $90,557, an eye-popping figure that helped kill the proposal.
The county opted out of road maintenance, but a similar figure remains: $92,002. That's the new comprehensive plan's answer to the question: How much does each new single-family home cost the county? The plan's financial-impact model calculates each new home's share of the county infrastructure--things like schools, parks, libraries, roads, fire departments and administration buildings.
"People have to understand that growth requires an infrastructure, and the cost for that is high," Planning Commissioner Archer Di Peppe said.
According to those who worked on it, this comprehensive plan is the most thorough planning document the county has ever had.
Di Peppe has worked on the plan from the beginning--a nearly three-year process.
"We knew any model would come under extreme scrutiny," he said. "But I don't think there's any more important discussion to have."
It stands to reason that a county government would be interested in such a figure, but the number has been difficult to pin down in the past. Few localities have tackled the issue with as much vigor as Stafford County has.
"It's a complex model," Planning Commissioner Michael Rhodes said. "We're way ahead of other counties. I don't think anyone has this level of sophistication."
WHO SHOULD PAY?
Until now, arguments about who pays for growth have been waged on a largely conceptual battlefield. Most county officials agree that commercial development pays for itself, but some question the benefits of residential growth.
The findings in the comprehensive plan suggest that residents do bear a portion of the cost of residential development, but it certainly won't end the debate.
"This puts the cost out there for everyone to deal with," Planning Commissioner Pete Fields said.
Currently, the county has proffer guidelines that recommend fees when a developer wants to rezone property. The recommended proffer amount for a single-family home is $43,145--less than half the calculated impact fee.
That gap may be difficult for some to fathom. Part of the issue might lie in the basic assumptions at the heart of the financial-impact model. Calculations are based on level-of-service standards. In many cases, those are desired levels, not what people in the county currently have.
"There are certain assumptions you have to make when you do a financial analysis," Supervisor Harry Crisp said. "You have to take a good, hard look at the assumed levels of service. Are they reasonable? Are they affordable?"
For example, the comprehensive plan calls for 1 square foot of library space for each Stafford resident. The county currently has approximately 0.6 square feet per resident. The financial-impact model uses the higher number to determine the cost per housing unit.
"The level-of-service standard is where you want to be," county planner Joey Hess said. "It's a benchmark."
FUNDING ROADS
A large portion of the number is assigned to transportation costs--$46,975 per single-family home. The figure was calculated when it looked like the county might pay for its own road maintenance, although that was not assumed in the calculation. That number might be high, but with the passage of the transportation bond package and budget cuts on the state level, there are probably local transportation costs to be accounted for.
"The transportation number may very well be right, but it was done on a simplistic basis of calculation," Rhodes said. He feels that given more time and attention, planners could come up with a more accurate calculation.
Fortunately, flexibility was built into the plan, and staff said that plugging in new numbers would be easy.
"We wanted a living, breathing document," Di Peppe said. "Let's debate this. We want the most accurate numbers available to make decisions. I'm not afraid of them, whatever they are."
The comprehensive plan will soon go before the Board of Supervisors. Details are still being worked out, and more haggling is sure to come. For now, it has provided revealing information that may impact the future of the county.
impact on development
How the financial-impact model's information affects development in Stafford remains to be seen.
"I don't want to kill development," Di Peppe said. "The county will grow. But the development community didn't always want to have this discussion."
Consider the discussion started, but officials are likely to proceed with caution.
"The financial-impact model is a useful tool," Rhodes said. "It provides a perspective that I think is important. I think, though, that it is a tool, and you have to be careful that it doesn't become the tool."
Jonas Beals: 540/368-5036
Email: jbeals@freelancestar.com
| $92,002
Amount, in capital cost, the comprehensive plan says each single-family home costs Stafford County $46,975 How much of the $92,002 $43,145 Proffer amount Stafford officials suggest for each single-family home when |
The $92,002 cost of a single-family housing unit, $46,975 Transportation $26,777 Schools $12,019 Parks and recreation $1,938 Fire and rescue $1,482 Libraries $1,445 Government $1,366 Law enforcement |