CC - Agendas - City Council - WORKSHOP - 10/28/2008

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Prescott City Council Joint Special Meeting/ Study Session — October 21, 2008 Page 17 those based on impact fees. He would like to provide an opportunity to get all of these done through a property bond, rather than sending all of their commercial development to Prescott Valley or Chino Valley. He said that the contractor that builds new pipelines in a development has that expect, then they are told to pay again for usage on the line. He calls that double taxation. Mr. Blair said that there was no impact fee in the community until 1994. He asked how they would get all of the money from the homeowners who built before that time. Mayor Wilson said that he preferred to walk forward rather than focus on water under the bridge. Mr. McConnell said that there was a sewer line in Ruth Street which needed to be replaced and they used the pipebursting technique. He said that if the sewer line had been replaced at its existing diameter, then the sewer rate payers would be responsible. If it was oversized to have additional capacity, then that component, and only that component, could be charged to impact fees. Councilman Blair said that he finds it concerning to him that a 2" commercial meter will increase 100% with this new fee schedule. He is concerned with what it does for commercial projects at the airport. He said that the Mayor had campaigned on stopping growth and this will do it. Mayor Wilson said that he was misstating him; he never said he would stop growth, just have controlled growth. Councilman Roecker asked what Prescott Valley and Chino Valley have done in the way of impact fees. Mr. Jackson said that Flagstaff may have held off on their fees; Chino Valley has not. Mr. McConnell said that whether they are called an impact fee or capacity charge, they have had some type of fee since 1980 in the City; at that time it was called a buy -in charge. Councilman Roecker asked Brad Fain what the status of the impact fees in Prescott Valley was on commercial development. Mr. Fain said that they have waived them for commercial development. Mr. McConnell said that was the source of litigation with the Homebuilders of Central Arizona. Sandy Grifffis, Yavapai County Contractors Association, 810 E. Sheldon, said that the YCCA had prepared a handout which was then distributed to the Council. She said that building for tomorrow is not going to be easy, and they all want to make Prescott an enterprising City with the right infrastructure program. She said that they know and agree that every community requires infrastructure to make it functional. The question is how best to meet the needs of Prescott.