Neptune Beach officials took the first step toward establishing the city's first impact fees Monday, selecting a consulting firm to conduct the study required before fees can be imposed on new development.
The City Council voted 3-1 Monday to hire Raftelis to conduct a comprehensive impact fee study that will examine the costs of future growth on police protection, water, wastewater, transportation, public facilities and administrative services. Councilor Josh Messinger was absent from the July 20 meeting.
The study is a key step toward creating a one-time fee on new residential and commercial construction that would be collected during the permitting process to help fund the infrastructure needed to support future development.
"This is an issue that has been going on for a few years," Mayor Cori Bylund said. "For this to come before us is a good thing. We are making progress."
Councilor Brent Rogers cast the sole dissenting vote, favoring the lower-cost proposal submitted by competing vendor Stantec.
"I think of it as a commodity product. The math is going to be the same and they should generally arrive at the same point," Rogers said. "I would favor Stantec knowing they are a multinational firm. I have confidence they would execute."
Raftelis originally submitted a proposal estimated at about $120,000, while Stantec's bid totaled about $79,000. After the council requested additional information from both firms, Raftelis revised its proposal and reduced its cost to about $100,000.
City Planner Heather Whitmore said the revised proposal narrowed the scope of services by shifting public engagement and data collection responsibilities to city staff, reducing the cost by about $20,000.
Whitmore said Raftelis submitted a detailed revised proposal within five days, while Stantec took 45 days to respond and provided limited additional information.
"We need to make sure we are bringing in experts that can provide legislative defense for what will be a tough environment for instituting new fees. Neptune Beach has never had impact fees before, so this is going to be uncharted territory," she said.
"I suggest we go with a firm that can provide us a tailor-made solution based on hard data analysis with a variety of approaches and not a one-size-fits-all solution. We want a firm that can teach us something we don't already know."
The City Council voted unanimously April 6 to issue a request for proposals to identify and hire a consulting firm to prepare an impact fee study and develop a fee structure.
At the May 18 meeting, staff recommended Raftelis. The council instead asked Raftelis to submit a revised scope and cost estimate, and asked Stantec to provide additional qualifications, before making a final selection.
Under Florida law, local governments must complete an impact fee study before adopting any new fees. The analysis must evaluate at least 12 months of available data and demonstrate that any proposed fees are proportionate to the demand new development places on public infrastructure.
The study also must establish that revenue generated by the fees will directly benefit the development that paid them.
Impact fees may be used only to construct new infrastructure needed to accommodate future growth, including roads, parks, water and wastewater systems, and public safety facilities. State law prohibits municipalities from using impact fee revenue to repair existing infrastructure, fund routine maintenance or pay off existing debt.
Whitmore said the city's small size makes it especially important to retain a consultant with experience defending impact fee practices.
"Neptune Beach is a very small community," she said. "A lot of big firms are accustomed to big solutions. That is not us. I think we're going to be held to a fairly high level of scrutiny, so I want to make sure we're working with the right firm to respond to that scrutiny."
Under the contract, Raftelis will work with city staff and the city attorney's office to develop the study and recommend an economically and legally sustainable impact fee structure. The firm will present at least three draft reports during public workshops and joint meetings with the city attorney before the City Council considers adopting any impact fees.
