The discussion was centered around a presentation and did not involve any vote, with officials clarifying a study will be needed before any fees are approved. An exact timeline on when or if a vote could happen was not given at the meeting.
What readers need to know
Impact fees are designed to offset the cost of new development and avoid the burden being put on current residents. Rather than paying for new services and city upgrades through taxes from residents, the city would cover that growth with fees from new developers building inside the city.
If Manvel were to pursue road impact fees, the city would have to update them every five years, according to the presentation at the meeting.
While Manvel does not have road impact fees, the city does have water and wastewater impact fees.
Diving in deeper
Compared to nearby cities, Manvel’s combined impact fee total for water and wastewater is around $9,548 for one single-family residential unit. Nearby cities such as Alvin and Friendswood also do not have road impact fees and rely just on water and wastewater fees, according to the presentation.
List below are some examples of total impact fees, which includes road impact fees, for one single-family residential unit in other Texas cities:
- League City with $22,658
- Round Rock with $18,784
- Denton with $14,354
- College Station with $9,822
What they said
Council members expressed some concerns about how impact fees might be assessed in municipal utility districts.
Despite this, several members voiced support for city staff looking more into impact fees. Mayor Dan Davis said he “absolutely thinks” the city should use such fees as a dedicated fund to improve roads to avoid burdening taxpayers.
“I’m very much interested in it,” Davis said. “You can drive around Manvel and you can see the impact that the new development and the growth has had on the existing roads.”
Stay tuned
No timeline was given on when this item, if at all, could appear in front of City Council for a formal vote. However, city staff said the study would take around nine months to complete.
