Home builders appeal, ask judge to reconsider the Fort Mill school impact fee case.
The court case against impact fees in the Fort Mill School District was dismissed last month, but the issue may not yet be settled.
Attorneys for the Home Builders Association of South Carolina, Home Builders Association of York County, Soni Homes and two companies affiliated with Shea Homes have filed a motion to reconsider the case.
On Jan. 30, Judge William McKinnon ruled against those plaintiffs in claims that higher impact fees in the district were arbitrarily set, harmed building companies and were based on state law that should be unconstitutional.
The case filed in the fall of 2018 came after York County increased impact fees on residential construction within the district from its, since 1996, rate of $2,500 per unit to more than $18,000 per home and $12,000 per apartment.
The judge ruled in favor of the defendants -- York County and the State of South Carolina -- who asserted during a December bench trial the impact fee setup meets all state requirements.
“There are many ways to fund public schools,” McKinnon wrote in his order last month. “The South Carolina General Assembly offered an impact fee as one option, and the York County Council accepted the offer and implemented the highest impact fee their report justified. The only question for this court is whether these actions are unconstitutional. The court finds they are not.”
Plaintiff attorneys argue in the Feb. 10 appeal that the order didn’t address two key issues presented at trial.
The plaintiffs argue they weren’t given answers to their assertions that the state law allowing impact fees is vague, including the issue of affordable housing. The plaintiffs point to testimony at trial from a fee study expert and York County witness stating only South Carolina has an affordable housing impact requirement with its fees and the law doesn’t show how to measure it.
The plaintiffs rely on testimony that the expert came up with his own way of addressing the issue for the York County impact fee study because there wasn’t one outlined.
The other main point of contention involves a school bond referendum. In the spring of 2018 voters in the district approved a $190 million package to fund new schools and improvements. Impact fees, charges on new construction to pay for growth costs created by it, rely on math comparing the cost to serve an area with an amount needed for each new construction to maintain that level of service.
For the school impact fee, the math comes down to how much each new home or apartment should pay to provide the same services given more schools and facilities will be needed for them.
The impact fee increase passed in July 2018. Plaintiffs argue those few months between the bond vote and increased fees meant the same schools were used in both calculations.
“The same schools that were included in the bond referendum (including one that was already under construction by the time the impact fee was passed) were also used in the impact fee analysis — giving rise to potential double dipping,” reads the motion to reconsider.
The plaintiffs note Catawba Ridge High School was operational by the time the trial started, with no more construction costs needed despite it appearing in the fee study.
The plaintiffs argue someone could pay an impact fee and still be subject to a portion of the bond debt and that “the burden of the schools is being shifted to the home builders and developers rather than the entire community.”
The plaintiff attorneys ask for an altered or amended decision and again request the judge to strike down the state law allowing impact fees and the local ordinance that increased them in the district.
As of Wednesday afternoon a response from the court hadn’t come. There is no date or time listed for any possible reconsideration.
