A consultant is proposing that Peachtree City should significantly increase its impact fees and eliminate a requirement that part of the funds be spent in a particular service area, generally, one of the city’s villages.

Ross and Associates also is recommending the creation of a new impact fee structure that would assess impact fees on industries and businesses.

Several local developers are challenging some of the other proposed impact fee changes, arguing that the service area system should be retained to keep a focus on making improvements in the areas for which the impact fees are charged.

Developer Scott Bradshaw told The Citizen that he worries about the city eliminating the use of service areas for impact fees because it detracts from the city’s village system.

“As a developer I have no problem with a 100-150 percent increase in fees but the neighborhood concept of villages which is so important to the city should not be damaged in the process,” Bradshaw said.

Dan Petry of the Midwest Georgia Home Builders Association agreed, saying that the service area system helps developers show new homeowners that their impact fees paid for nearby facilities such as fire stations.

If the service areas are eliminated, impact fees assessed in one area could pay for a project in another area of the city, Petry said.

Petry also questions whether the city will ultimately meet the development projections as outlined in the Ross report.

“There’s no real light at the end of the tunnel as far as construction is concerned,” Petry said. “... I think they’re banking on something that’s not going to materialize.

The home builders association generally does not prefer impact fees as they tend to be a “hidden tax” on new homebuyers, Petry said.

Ross is projecting the city could get $6.8 million in impact fees to pay for a projected $11 million in capital improvements for the city’s fire, police, library and parks and recreation departments. Without the impact fees, almost $10 million of that cost would be borne by current property owners, with $1.1 million coming from new properties, the report states.

Impact fees are one-time fees assessed only on new developments. Under the city’s current system, impact fees are assessed only on residential development.

Since industries and businesses also use city services, they should be considered fair game for impact fees, the consultant’s report states.

One-time impact fees are allowed by Georgia law to fund capital expenses or equipment purchases, but they are limited to funding only the portion of those expenses created by the new development. The fees are assessed on the developer of the property, who then theoretically passes that cost on to the eventual purchaser of the property.

Under the proposal, impact fees would still be collected for the following service categories: library, parks and recreation, fire protection and police. However, industries and businesses would not be assessed impact fees under library and parks and recreation categories since it is assumed they do not have an impact on those services.

The city could charge as much as $3,466.42 for each residential dwelling, according to the Ross report. The city currently charges its impact fees based on which village the development is located in; most of the current impact fees run from $1,083 to $1,707. The exception is the Crabapple West service area which pays $3,708 per unit, a cost that includes $2,425 for the paving of Crabapple West road.

Impact fees would be calculated differently for each business based on the type of land use, the report said.

For example:

• Industrial uses would pay between 7.7 cents and 97.2 cents per square foot;

• Lodging uses would pay as low as $42.13 per room for a “business hotel” up to $299.52 per room for a regular motel;

• Recreational uses would pay between 15.4 cents per square foot for a racquet club up to $3,830 an acre for an amusement park;

• Institutional uses would pay between 21.7 cents per square foot for a church or synagogue up to $3.40 per square foot for a private school and $421.17 for a lodge/fraternal organization.

• Retail uses, charged mostly by the square foot, would range from 17.5 cents per square foot for a furniture store all the way up to $3.14 per square foot for a quality restaurant or a sit-down restaurant and $4.59 per square foot for a fast-food restaurant.

• Office uses would pay between $1.23 and $1.70 per square feet.