Item 6D CIAC letterJanuary 18, 2018
Dear City Council:
Capital Improvements Advisory Committee
Of The City of Southlake
Written Comments on the Impact Fee Process
Submitted To the City Council
Introduction
These comments are provided to comply with Chapter 395 of the Local Government Code, which outlines
the process and procedures necessary to initiate and update impact fees in Texas. As background, the City Council
appointed the Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z) to fulfill the role and duties of the Capital Improvements
Advisory Committee (CIRC), as allowed by law, since there is at least one representative of the real estate,
development, or building industry who is not an employee or official of the City. Our charge included the legal
duties of the CIRC:
The advisory committee serves in an advisory capacity and is established to:
• Advise and assist the political subdivision in adopting land use assumptions;
• Review the capital improvements plan and file written comments;
• Monitor and evaluate implementation of the capital improvements plan;
• File semiannual reports with respect to the progress of the capital improvements plan and report to the
political subdivision any perceived inequities in implementing the plan or imposing the impact fee;
and
• Advise the political subdivision of the need to update or revise the land use assumptions, capital
improvements plan, and impact fee.
For the sake of brevity in this report, the council has been or will be furnished with the Impact Fee Update which
contains the land use assumptions and capital improvements plans to be reviewed by the Capital Improvements
Advisory Committee.
We will not attempt to restate the details of these reports or the full conversations and issues discussed in our
meetings. Instead, our comments will be regarding our observations of the process. We relied heavily on the
expertise of the City staff and consultants engaged to conduct these studies in compliance with state law.
However, we individually and collectively made inquiries of the Study Team and provided advice that was
incorporated into the final reports. The particular highlights of our advisory duties are contained in these written
comments being sent to you in advance of a public hearing on the impact fee process and results.
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Observations and Advice
Impact Fee Ordinance Update
• The purpose of the Impact Fee Ordinance update is to add the SH 114 frontage road project from Dove Road
to the west City limits and add Citywide Intersection capacity related improvement projects to the 10 year
recoverable Roadway Impact CIP.
Land Use Assumptions and Population Projections
• The land use assumptions (LUA) are based on the adopted Southlake 2030 Future Land Use Plan and have
not changed from the previous study. We concur that these assumptions appear to be reasonable.
Water and Wastewater CIP
The 10 -year recoverable Water and Wastewater Impact Fee CIP has not changed from the previous study.
Roadway Capital Improvements Plan
The 10 -year recoverable Roadway Impact CTP was presented to the Capital Improvements Advisory Committee.
The previous 10 -year recoverable Impact Fee CIP was $14,195,521 for Service Area North and $9,523,630 for
Service Area South. With the addition of the new roadway projects listed above the new 10 -year recoverable
Impact Fee CIP is $19,409,751 for Service Area North and $11,061,188 for Service Area South.
Equivalency Tables
• The Equivalency tables are based on the relationship of the capital requirements of a Service Unit, a common
measure placing all land use categories on an equal or equivalent basis. A Water and. Wastewater Service Unit
has been established to be a Single Family Living Unit Equivalent (SFLUE) or a one -inch water meter. A
Roadway Service Unit is defined as a Vehicle -Mile (VM of travel during the peak afternoon and evening
(PM) hours generated by various land use categories.
The Water and Wastewater equivalency tables are based on the water meter size. These tables are rooted in
engineering standards for the measured capacity of each meter size in relationship to a Single Family Living
Unit Equivalent (SFLUE).
• The Roadway equivalency tables are based on a professional standard produced by the Institute of Traffic
Engineers (ITE). The Study Team and the CIRC acknowledged the resulting product was fair and equitable
and better represented the land use categories for Southlake. We concur with the Roadway equivalency table
as presented in the final report that has been provided to the Council.
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Financing / Study Costs
• The Water, Wastewater and Roadway CIP included eligible costs for the financing and study components of
the CIP. The addition of financing costs is based on a model used in previous studies that matches a
theoretical stream of impact fee revenues over a ten-year period with expenditures for debt service over a 20 -
year period. The net result is influenced by interest rates as well as the amount of the total CIP that is being
financed, ranging between 15% and 36% of the cost of the capital.
There is a small component of the eligible costs that include the impact fee study updates. These costs, as well
as the financing cost assumptions, have been included in accordance to previous studies and appear to be
reasonable.
Maximum, Equilibrium and Collected Impact Fees
• Our orientation by the Study Team included an explanation of two levels of impact fees: Maximum, and
Collected Impact Fees. Our comments will address these two.
Maximum Impact Fees are those developed in accordance with the statutory requirements imposed on
governments developing and charging impact fees. The Maximum Impact Fee that can be charged is the result
of dividing the cost of the capacity projected to be absorbed over a ten-year period (the numerator) by the
Service Units projected to be added during that same ten-year period (the denominator). The Service Units
have to be based on the LUA report. The task of the CIAC is to review the methodology used to arrive at the
numerator and denominator, which we have done. The calculation then becomes legal arithmetic. The result is
not ours to change unless we have found a reason to advise a change in the methodology and assumptions
used to derive the numerator and denominator. We concur with the calculated Maximum Impact Fee. It is
required that these fees be published in advance of a public hearing for water, wastewater and each of the two
roadway service areas.
• The Collected Impact Fee is that amount, when said and done, is the check that has to be written by the
builder when paid to the City. The City's current collection fees are as follows:
o Water Collected Impact Fee - $2815.28 per SFLUE (1" Meter)
o Wastewater Collected Impact Fee - $1,674.63 per SFLUE.
o Roadway Collected Impact Fee - $2,292.00 per SF Residential Unit (North) and $1,640.00 per SF
Residential Unit (South)
We were also informed that every municipal wholesale water customer served by the City of Fort Worth has
to pay a fee for treatment plant and transmission facilities (aka a "wholesale system access fee") for each new
retail water customer that connects to the City water system. That means that irrespective of the Collected
Impact Fee level the Council sets, there is currently a Fort Worth pass-through fee of $2,428 (for a I" meter)
and there is potential for continued increases in the future. This fee will add to the financial burden of the new
growth yet will only be a pass-thru and of no benefit to the City of Southlake. Our purpose for mentioning it
is to serve as a reminder and as information made part of our orientation
Lastly, it is clear to the CIRC that there is no legal obligation to recommend a Collected Impact Fee level
We therefore concluded that the CIAC should not offer a specific recommendation, leaving that policy
decision up to the City Council. It is apparent to us that we would want a considerable amount of information
in order to provide a recommendation, if requested to do so by the City Council. If the decision is market
based, then area surveys and a working knowledge of the tolerable limits of the local developer community
are factors that the Council needs little or no assistance other than what the staff might provide. It does strike
us that there is a fee level that, when approached or surpassed, has a bearing on real estate and development
costs, even in a reasonably affluent community such as Southlake. We believe that if a decision by us is to be
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q.
made regarding the Collected Fee level, that we would require a considerable amount of time and study to
understand the elasticity of the economic influence of impact fees in Southlake as well as other cost factors
that might shape a policy decision such as this.
Conclusion
• We believe as the Capital Advisory Committee that there are no perceived inequities with respect to
developing and implementing the Capital Improvement Plan.
• We believe we have fulfilled our charge by thoroughly exploring the underlying assumptions and factors that
went into the development of the Land Use Assumptions, Capital Improvement Plans and other technical and
financial issues.
• We believe that the LUA, CIP and resulting calculated Maximum Impact Fees were developed fairly and
equitably with a balance for what is defensible to both the developer community and our residences and
businesses in Southlake.
• We therefore, file these written comments as a part of the final stage of this public process as the Council
hears from us as their Advisory Committee, from the Study Team as the authors of the reports and as any
member of the public comes forward to voice an opinion. It is our understanding that these technical reports
will be available to the public at least 30 days in advance of the public hearing. We conclude that this has
been an open process, since all of our meetings have been posted and available to any member of the public.
And for the record, the minutes of all our meetings have been supplied to you as part of the documentation for
this process.
Submitted By:
Chair, Capital Improvements Advisory Committee
AR ED BY a� majority vote of the Capital Improvements Advisory Committee taken on the I �kf
—�
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