By Jodi Judson

The City of Fernley has bee working for approximately 15 months on the creation of a Traffic Impact Fee. The fees would be based on the trip impacts of a particular development on the roadway system of the community. Currently, the Regional Transportation Commission of Reno, Sparks and Washoe County, the City of Sparks, Las Vegas and Mesquite have these fees within our state. In March, a draft recommendation on the proposed costs of these fees to development was presented to the Fernley Capital Improvements Committee. In the area of housing the fees were approximately the same as the RTC Fees for Reno, Sparks and Washoe County. In the commercial area the proposed fees were 3-4 times greater than Washoe County. In the Industrial Area they were greater but not to be the same magnitude. There have been a number of hearings and workshops on these proposed fees since March. Approximately 25 Fernley Landowners and Businessmen are actively fighting these fees along with the Fernley Builders Association. It is the belief of these groups that the fees are too high and would have the reverse effect of generating revenue by stopping the new growth that would pay these fees. It is also apparent that the City of Fernley has no adopted Capital Improvements Program from which individual projects can be selectively chosen and funded as well as no Transportation Master Plan forming the foundation of such a fee.

The business, real estate, development community as well as citizens wanting basic commercial services are concerned that this fee will make Fernley less economically competitive with the surrounding communities here in the middle of a regional recession.

It appears that this discussion will be taking place during the election season from now until October. With the increasing price of gasoline and the drop in housing value many Fernley residents see this proposed fee as a way to truly restrict growth without understanding the true consequences. The next CIP meeting is Wednesday, July 23 at 6:00 PM at the Fernley City Hall at 595 Silver Lace Blvd. in Fernley. If you have any interest in contacting the elected or appointed officials call the city at 784-9830. They do need to hear from the public on this most critical issue. You may also contact Greg Evangelatos with Fennell & Associates, Commercial Real Estate Solutions at 775-850-3104 or 775-412-5455 for more information.

Tags: , City Fees, City of Fernley, commercial development, land development

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 at 9:36 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.