FBCC to discuss using P&R Impact Fees to purchase land for conservation

Commissioner Chip Ross

Submitted by Commissioner Chip Ross
Fernandina Beach City Commission
August 31, 2018 – noon

[FO notes:  This issue will be discussed along with other budget-related matters at a Special Meeting of the Fernandina Beach City Commission immediately preceding the Regular Meeting on Tuesday, September 4, 2018.  Both meetings will be held at Fernandina Beach City Hall, 204 Ash Street, Fernandina Beach, FL.  The Special Meeting will begin at 5:05 p.m.; the Regular Meeting will follow at 6:00 p.m.]

As more City residents are becoming increasingly concerned about conserving Island land, vegetation and trees, it has become critical that the City find funds to preserve them. Since residents are equating preserving their environment with preserving their quality of life, I recently met with the current City Comptroller, former Comptroller, and City Manager to find funding.

What funding mechanisms are available? Many citizens are advocating the use of Parks and Recreation Impact Fees to buy properties that should not be developed with the creation of more park land in the form of passive parks. These parks can be accessed by the public, but provide no recreational facilities except for trails. Some are advocating a bond issuance, and in combination, an Open Space/Conservation Land Impact Fee. All of these funding mechanisms are available and have their advantages and disadvantages.

Since Parks and Recreation Impact Fees are readily available, it is important to know how these funds can be immediately utilized. These fees are collected when new construction gets a building permit. And they are a creation of the Florida legislature to provide infrastructure improvements for growing communities. They allow the park system to grow with the City by funding additional park land, trails, playgrounds, shelters, public restrooms, and amenities. However, the fees cannot be used to pay for maintenance. So to keep future City expenses low, an eye needs to be kept on the future maintenance costs for Parks and Recreation Impact Fee purchases. To save properties from development, passive park lands could be purchased from the fund and zoned as Recreation land. However, undisturbed lands (conservation lands) would need to be purchased from another fund to be zoned Conservation land.

To gain monies for true Conservation zoning, a bond issuance to borrow money for land conservation would require a voter referendum. The next election cycle for a voter referendum would be in the Year 2020. However a special election may be called by the City Commission (the election’s cost would need to be funded by the City). Over the years, the bond’s payments would be paid by all City residents through their property taxes. This process was used to purchase the Greenway surrounding Egan’s Creek in the late 1980’s.

In adding an Open Space/Conservation Land Impact Fee, the cost of new conservation land or Open Space would be placed upon new construction. It would encourage property owners to keep the existing vegetation on a property. If the developer kept a certain percentage of the land in Open Space, no fees would be collected. (They keep the trees.) However, if a developer chose to remove all the vegetation, the fees would be collected to purchase conservation land to replace the loss.

On September 4th the City Commission will have a special meeting to consider the final budget. How the Park and Recreation Impact Fees will be spent will be considered at this meeting. After meeting with the City’s Comptrollers and City Manager, it is estimated that there will be approximately $2.1 million in the Parks and Recreation Impact Fee Fund at the beginning of the next fiscal year. It is important to note that Parks and Recreation Impact Fees will not continue to be available in the future when the City no longer has the space for new development. So it is extremely important that we all take the time to carefully evaluate how the fee money is to be utilized to provide the best future Park and Recreation facilities to benefit the largest number of citizens in the City of Fernandina Beach.