The City Council Tuesday unanimously adopted an ordinance that adjusted - some up, some down - the fees charged to developers of residential and commercial property in the city.
The council's new impact fee schedule charges, in some cases, far less than what is allowed by state law, said Rick Davis, the city's public information officer."The general consensus (among the seven council members) was that we had taken a prudent and conservative stance in regard to impact fees," Davis said. "We are certainly in a position of being nearly built out, (so that) we rely less on impact fees than other communities."
After an uneventful hearing in which no residents spoke, the measure passed unanimously, Davis said. The council's action was done to comply with state law approved by the Legislature last year, which asked municipalities to re-evaluate their impact fees.
Developers in Sandy will now pay $776 to improve city parks for each residential home built. In addition, the water impact fee was reduced from $1,250 to $1,186 per new home, and a new trails fee of $30 will be implemented.
The city will drop its fees pertaining to police, fire, roads and flood maintenance.
Cities charge developers of residential and commercial property a one-time tax to help pay for such things as road improvements or additional flood maintenance caused by the new development. Some cities, such as South Jordan or American Fork, have gotten into controversies in which developers claimed the fees they paid to the city were too high.