A 150-unit complex at 9511 N.E. Hazel Dell Ave. was found eligible for a $391,695 traffic impact fee waiver, for example.
Commissioner David Madore questioned that kind of waiver, saying it did not fit with the intention of the current fee holiday.
“The intention was to take the stops out for anything getting in the way of creating local jobs,” Madore said. However, he noted, a large apartment complex will boost demand for parks, traffic, police and schools by bringing in more residents, while creating relatively few jobs. “We don’t want to simply build Clark County as a bedroom community. Places of employment are really what we’re after here.”
Madore added that he would like to do away with traffic impact fees in Clark County, but he sees that as a separate decision from altering the current fee holiday.
Mike Bomar, executive director of the Southwest Washington Contractors Association, said that the building industry lobbied for the current fee holiday, but also recognizes that it needs to be temporary.
“We promote sustainable policies that attract business and bring enterprise into the area,” Bomar said. In the long-run, he explained, the county needs fee revenue to build infrastructure and support services, but the short-term holiday has allowed businesses to create Clark County jobs during a time of economic stress.
For example, Community Home Health and Hospice has said that it is speeding up its plans for a $10 million expansion in part to qualify for the fee holiday.
After the holiday expires – currently set for the end of this calendar year – Bomar said he’d like the county to focus on putting a “predictable, sustainable policy” in place.
In 2012, Clark County granted $583,773 in combined fee holiday waivers. Because projects have several years to complete permitting and construction, total waivers associated with projects reviewed by the county in 2012 could ultimately amount to $2.15 million.
