City should be consistent on impact fees
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Editor,
On June 26, 2006, the subdivision in which the new Walmart will be constructed was granted preliminary approval. On May 16, 2007, Ordinance 624 became effective.
Reading the ordinance would lead to the conclusion that the city had established a clear black line. Those new developments prior to May. 16, 2007, did not pay impact fees, and every new development after that date would. However, now it has been determined that the impact fees in Ordinance 624 are not universally enforceable, but are determined on a case by case definition of the gray area surrounding that date.
The criteria for enforceability, based on the city manager’s interpretation of the intent of the motion — not the literal wording — made during the second reading of the ordinance on May. 19, 2007, is to exempt some, but apparently not all, new developments from impact fees if they had preliminary approval on May 16, 2007.
According to one council member and one city employee, it has been decided that Walmart will still have to pay the fees imposed under the ordinance, even though they had preliminary approval prior to its passage. They had agreed to pay applicable impact fees defined in legally enforceable ordinances.
Walmart’s problem is that they did not contemplate that a future ordinance, applying to some but not all new developments, would contain an exemption available to them.
It does not matter how you feel about Walmart. What does matter is the city should apply rules consistently to everyone meeting the criteria for enforceability in a transparent fashion. On March 19, 2012, the city had determined that four homebuilders in Ridgewater and The Preserve will receive refunds for fees paid, since their lots had preliminary approval on the specified date.
It appears that Walmart should receive a refund. Just consider that in the first year of operation, approximately 10 full-time employees could be funded with the $276,739 Walmart paid in impact fees on June 21, 2011. But as one city employee said at the city council meeting March 19, the city needs the money. Try explaining that to some unemployed person at the local soup kitchen.
Bob Fulton
Polson
