The Board of Commissioners has approved an update of Catoosa County's development fees.
County employees and commissioners cited fairness, an effort to bring their fees into line with nearby areas and attracting more businesses for the decision. The new rates went into effect immediately, according to Dan Wright, county manager.
"What we have proposed will bring us in line with what those surrounding areas are doing," James Davis, Catoosa County's planning and zoning director, said before the commission's unanimous vote last week to approve the fee change.
During discussion of the fee schedule, Wright said that under the old fee schedule, there was no difference between commercial development and residential development, and the higher fee schedule wasn't fair to multimillion dollar projects.
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Because they employ professional engineers, Wright said bigger projects often cause fewer problems for county overseers than smaller developments. Davis agreed.
The new fee schedule will have four tiers that charge less for bigger projects.
All projects $20 million and less will be charged .006% of the project cost, and all projects more than $50 million will be charged .003%. The new fee schedule will charge an additional 10% of the fee as a plan review fee rather than 50% of the fee for all projects as with the old rates.
An example Davis gave was for a $20 million project that would save $70,000 under the new fee schedule.
In a follow-up email, Davis said the revenue from development fees shouldn't change very much.
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"The fees were changed to a tiered system; this should help to keep things level," he said. "Staff will continue to evaluate how the change impacts things throughout the year."
Commission Chair Larry Black asked during the meeting if high development fees could make businesses choose other counties over Catoosa.
"Is it fair to say when we're trying to look at developing our business park with commercial growth that if we have a major company wanting to come here, and we're excessively high compared to the others, we could lose that to another county?" Black asked, and Davis agreed.
The last time the development fees were updated was in 2007, Davis said. The changes were proposed after reviewing charges of nearby areas like the counties of Hamilton, Whitfield, Walker and Floyd, as well as several nearby cities.
"I'm happy to see James Davis lower the fees," Derrick Burkhart said during citizen comments.
The resident of Ringgold said he just built a commercial building and would liked to have known the fees were dropping before he built.
Lower fees encourage people and businesses to locate in Catoosa County by lowering their cost burden of development, he said.
Contact Andrew Wilkins at awilkins@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659.