INC NEWS - Letter: Justified impact fees (today's N&O)

[John Schelp]

Good to see school impact fees on the INC Agenda.

Below is FYI.

~John Schelp
Durham, NC

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Letter: Justified impact fees
News & Observer, 12 February 2005

Despite the "sky-is-falling" predictions from
developers that new-home construction would suffer
after Durham county's school impact fees went into
effect last year, the number of new homes in Durham
grew at a steady clip in 2004 -- a 3.8 percent
increase over 2003. The homebuilding industry was
misleading the public back then, and it is at it
again.

The latest deception is the "Everyone benefits from
growth" letter from the Triangle Community Coalition
in the Jan. 27 People's Forum. Readers may have had a
better sense of the author's bias had he mentioned the
group's old name, the Wake County Real Estate and
Building Industry Coalition.

We all suffer the consequences of blind growth. Higher
taxes, environmental impacts and increased traffic are
all due to the growth engine. The faster and more out
of control the engine runs, the more we pay.

New residential developments force local officials to
shift limited resources to pay for schools, streets,
parks and police protection that new residents will
expect. According to the Wake County budget office,
for every dollar that new residential development
provides in tax revenue to the county, it costs $1.48
in the form of schools and other expenditures. 

The community and local government should be allowed
to manage the speed of this engine. Developers need to
stop thinking it's their defined right to do as they
please at the expense of the general community.

Despite their pleas, developers are working to benefit
developers. We shouldn't have to subsidize the
excesses of the homebuilding industry. This places an
unfair burden on working families in search of a home
and those who already have a home.

John Schelp, Larry Holt
Durham