In 2014, the Town implemented an Impact Fee schedule for parks, roads, and water infrastructure. These schedules include two parts, an infrastructure improvement plan (IIP) and land use assumptions (LUA), to generate the fees. This week, we highlight our use of impact fees and all the steps we take to ensure they are prepared in a thoughtful manner.
Impact fee requirements are listed in the Arizona Revised Statutes outlining how they are to be calculated and what types of projects are able to be built using these funds. Under the current impact fee rules, each department wishing to levy a fee is required to develop a plan showing exactly what those funds will be used to build. These Infrastructure Improvement Plans outline the various needs for each department based on the population growth projections in the land use assumptions.
Marana Water has listed many projects in our IIPs for water and sewer that will maintain and improve the level of service our customers have come to expect. These projects include additional storage capacity in reservoirs, larger well sites in order to maintain fire flows, and connecting our systems to ensure reliability and efficiency, just to name a few. Marana Water has divided the service area into several benefit areas, each with their own infrastructure projects and will each have their own fee. The graphic to the left lists our water and sewer benefit areas. The links at the bottom of the article will take you to maps showing the exact locations for these benefit areas. The division into these benefit areas ensures that infrastructure required in that area is funded by development exclusive to that area.
We are currently in the process of updating our 2014 fees. We have updated our IIPs and LUAs for review with a public hearing scheduled for August 1, 2017. During the Town Council meeting tonight, staff will give an overview of the impact fee update. For more information, click here.
Over the next several months, the Town will be working with stakeholder groups to develop the new set of impact fees. We have already spent several months working to identify where we believe growth will occur and what that means for our water and sewer systems. These two documents work together to allow us to prepare an appropriate fee for new development. To see the draft IIPs for water and sewer, click here. To take a look at the land use assumptions and the parks and roads draft IIPs, click here.
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