Impact fees could help cover road repairs

The Fort Mill Town Council voted Monday to approve impact fees for new construction to help defray the costs of public services and the wear and tear on roads. But the best way to spread those costs equitably would be to adopt impact fees in surrounding unincorporated areas.

Fort Mill will begin charging the fees Oct. 1 on all types of new construction. The fees will help cover the cost of services ranging from parks and recreation to fire protection.

The proposal passed on final reading on a 4-3 vote. The Town Council gave its approval despite objections from the York County Regional Chamber of Commerce, its Fort Mill area board and the Fort Mill school board.

Resolutions passed by those groups said the impact fees would discourage new businesses from locating in Fort Mill. And, the critics said, without a balance between residential and commercial construction, funding for local schools would be jeopardized.

We understand concerns that business prospects might be put off by impact fees but doubt that would be the deciding factor in whether they elect to move to Fort Mill. Fort Mill – and much of the rest of York County, for that matter – offers numerous advantages to businesses that are not available in other parts of the state or region, including easy access to interstate highways and an international airport nearby.

Those advantages should outweigh concerns about impact fees. And, as proponents of the fees point out, business prospects are more likely to be put off by crumbling roads and diminished public services than by impact fees.

But any downside of impact fees in Fort Mill could be significantly diminished if the surrounding counties were to adopt similar fees. That would help prevent business prospects from simply moving their search from Fort Mill to the unincorporated areas outside of town.

York County is, in fact, looking at a plan to enact impact fees to help pay for road work. A county zoning committee met Aug. 17 to discuss the proposal.

Lancaster County officials also recently heard a presentation on possible impact fees for the fast-growing Indian Land area.

York County Planning Director Audra Miller said the county is studying whether it is feasible to assess impact fees for developers to help cover the cost of maintaining roads. She said the planning department could hire a consultant to assess how to meet growing traffic demands, although that would have to be approved by the County Council.

York County’s Pennies For Progress program, which charges a penny sales tax to fund new roads, is the envy of counties throughout the state. But while the program is a model for building new roads, it does nothing to help pay for the upkeep of existing roads.

Impact fees could be one answer to dealing with the costs of inevitable growth, both residential and commercial. And that will require the county to enact a new set of ordinances.

As with the impact fees approved in Fort Mill, critics of countywide impact fees say they will discourage growth, especially commercial growth. But the flipside to that argument is that bad roads also could send business prospects packing.

It is fair to expect that those who profit by building new homes or new businesses share the burden of maintaining the infrastructure and services that are stressed by more people, more vehicles, more buildings and more traffic. We hope both York and Lancaster counties will consider following in the footsteps of Fort Mill.

This story was originally published August 26, 2015 at 5:51 PM with the headline "Impact fees could help cover road repairs."