Pike County Times
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BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS SPECIAL CALLED MEETING - AGENDA
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 – 10:30 a.m.

1. CALL TO ORDER ................................................................................. Chairman Doug Mangham

2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ............................................................... Chairman Doug Mangham

3. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA - (O.C.G A. 50-14-1 (e) (1))

4. NEW BUSINESS
a. Discussion of the Pike County Impact Fee Ordinance and desired changes with presentation by County Manager Bill Sawyer and David Allen, Director of Planning and Development.

All five commissioners were at the meeting today as well as County Clerk Teresa Watson, County Manager (CM) Bill Sawyer, and County Attorney Tom Morton. (There was a Board of Equalization meeting scheduled at the same time as this meeting so Rob Morton attended one meeting and Tom Morton attended the other.) The meeting lasted a little over an hour. [Note from the Editor: The best part of the meeting was hearing comments from citizens about Impact Fees. Solicitation of public comment enhances our open government because commissioners care enough to hear what citizens have to say. There were some good questions and suggestions that came out of this meeting.]

Planning and Development Director David Allen discussed Impact Fees in general with commissioners and gave a recommendation that he and CM Sawyer review any proposed changes to this ordinance with state law. Each of the commissioners gave their thoughts on Impact Fees before opening the meeting up to the public for comment.

Commissioner Tamra Jarrett read the section on exemptions and said that she felt reductions in fees, etc. should come before the commissioners. Said that she realizes that the County Manager can make decisions on individual assessments according to our Code of Ordinance but asked if the CM can bring it before the commissioners after that is done. *Commissioner Carol Bass read from a section of the code and said that it almost sounded like the code referenced a document about exemption criteria that she couldn't find. CM Sawyer and Director Allen advised that there wasn't a document like this as a part of the ordinance. She suggested eliminating the verbiage referencing what sounds like a document because the criteria for exemptions is already part of the ordinance.

Attorney Tom Morton read the intent of The Georgia Development Impact Fee Act that became law in Georgia in 1990. Click here to read about Impact Fees from the DCA website which is where the following comes from:
The intent of the [Impact Fee] Act is to:
1.Ensure that adequate public facilities are available to serve new growth and development;
2.Promote orderly growth and development by establishing uniform standards by which municipalities and counties may require that new growth and development pay a proportionate share of the cost of new public facilities needed to serve new growth and development;
3.Establish minimum standards for the adoption of development impact fee ordinances by municipalities and counties; and
4.Ensure that new growth and development is required to pay no more than its proportionate share of the cost of public facilities needed to serve new growth and development and to prevent duplicate and ad hoc development exactions.

Commissioner Tommy Powers said that he thinks the fees may be a little too high and would like to see a presentation about reduction in fees. Also said that he thinks that the Planning Director and County Manager should be able to make decisions without coming before the commissioners. * Commissioner Don Collins said that a lot of time and money was spent on this ordinance and is against arbitrarily making changes to it. Said that if there needs to be changes to fees, it needs to go back before the consultants who put this together for Pike County. Commissioner Bass disagreed and said that the ordinance gives the county the right to look at Impact Fees and make adjustments if needed. Said that with the flattened economy, now may be a good time to reduce fees with her biggest concern being commercial and industrial Impact Fee amounts. Commissioner Jarrett referenced this AJC article on Cherokee County and its Impact Fees stating that Cherokee cut them to jumpstart development. She said that commissioners have to be mindful of the times and that it could be beneficial to review Impact Fees.

Planning and Development Director David Allen advised the commissioners that Impact Fees were passed in Pike County in the summer of 2006 and that changes can be made; however, he said that calculations for Impact Fees were based on levels of service according to our Comprehensive Plan and cannot be changed arbitrarily--for example, reducing all fees across the board by 20% would not be acceptable according to state law. County Attorney Tom Morton said that the Board of Commissioners paid a substantial fee to have a consultant put together this Impact Fee ordinance. Said that it might be good to have Planning and Development Director David Allen make a presentation to commissioners based on what the consultant presented in 2005 as to what the percentages were based on.

b. PUBLIC HEARING: Solicit public input on desired changes to Pike County Impact Fee Ordinance. The floor was opened to the public at 10:53 a.m.

Many people took the opportunity to speak to commissioners about Impact Fees. Gary Hammock said that something needs to be done and suggested that the ordinance on Impact Fees be suspended or that commissioners reduce Impact Fees to see if we can get something moving here in Pike County. * Matt Wood said that Impact Fees are adding an additional cost to the cost of doing business in Pike County. Said that it is bad for business to be charging such high Impact Fees on businesses. * Margie Trammell said that the county could suspend Impact Fees but wanted to make sure that any changes are allowed by state law. She said that there is a way to obtain reductions if needed now but urged commissioners to think carefully on what to do with this ordinance because it affects us all. * Joy Walker said that Pike County has a problem with commercial development but that it didn't start because of Impact Fees. She asked commissioners to consider carefully before changes are made because people who already lived here were paying for new development before this ordinance was passed. Said that she would like to see if something else is affecting new development besides Impact Fees. * John Morrison said that people need to understand that Impact Fees are taking care of impact that development causes. He went on to say that the Planning and Development Director has the ability to adjust individual cases if needed, it's a good ordinance that the county paid good money to enact, and that if individual adjustments are needed to make them though they need to be made in a public forum. * Alton Turner said that he is in favor of Impact Fees but that this is a way to raise more taxes and that all impacts are not necessarily bad impacts. Some can be positive impacts and positive impacts need to be rewarded because they are providing jobs and taxes. * Peter Potter said that we can argue whether we need Impact Fees or whether they are taxes, but that there are a lot of empty buildings in Pike County and would love to see everyone working together to solve problems in the county. * Tony Watkins said that the Impact Fee was a tax designed to protect current residents by [new developments] building infrastructure to add on to what we have already. Said that he thinks there should be a public hearing when fees are reduced. * The public hearing was closed at 11:12 a.m.

County Chairman Doug Mangham said that he would like to see what we can and cannot do with Impact Fees. Commissioner Tommy Powers said thinks that there should be more input before making a decision and that Impact Fees have probably saved some from higher taxes. Feels that Planning and Development Director David Allen and County Manager Bill Sawyer can get more information on this so commissioners can make a good, solid decision on Impact Fees. Commissioner Powers made a motion for Director Allen and CM Sawyer to bring more information to commissioners on Impact Fees. 2nd for discussion from Commissioner Bass. Commissioner Bass said that everyone is not going to be pleased with what is decided but that commissioners have to come up with best scenario that they can. Said that there was a lot of good input and that it sounds like everybody is ok with residential Impact Fees that have brought in $581,804.31 in impact fees since 2006. Said that the county needs to encourage commercial and industrial development but suggested that changes may be beyond the scope of the county to address. Suggested that Mr. Ross from Ross and Associates--who put together the original ordinance--may need to come in to address the commissioners.

Commissioner Tommy Powers then clarified his motion to include Ross and Associates as well as the Director of Planning and Development and the County Manager all coming before the Commissioners about Impact Fees. Director Allen pointed out that the county paid Bill Ross approximately $40,000 to come before it before when the ordinance was constructed. [Note from the Editor: And when I asked him about coming back to Pike County to address future issues when all this was implemented, Bill Ross said that he would not be coming back for free.] Director Allen said that any proposed changes would be checked against state law pretty thoroughly between him and CM Sawyer and that changes could be presented without paying a consultant. CM Sawyer said that the county doesn't have $40,000 to pay someone to do this and that he and Director Allen have done this a pretty long time. Asked the commissioners not to consider paying a consultant for this and to allow them to do this inhouse. Carol withdrew her 2nd on the motion and Tommy withdrew the motion.

Commissioner Bass then suggested talking to Three Rivers for additional help on this. Commissioner Don Collins wanted to know what Bill Ross would charge the county to make a presentation and said it would be wise to him come back before commissioners to discuss Impact Fees. Commissioner Powers made a motion to have Planning and Development Director David Allen and CM Bill Sawyer troubleshoot this ordinance and come back before commissioners with their recommendations. Commissioner Bass seconded the motion again. The motion was then amended to add that Ross and Associates be contacted about what they would charge to address the commissioners. Approved 5-0.

c. Approval/denial of request for changes to Pike County Impact Fee Ordinance.

Motion to leave this ordinance as is for right now by Commissioner Tommy Powers with a second for discussion by Commissioner Bass. Discussion about exemptions and reductions and who can do what. CM Sawyer said that he has no problem with Planning and Development Director Allen and CM Sawyer bringing reductions before the Commissioners. Clarification: Motion to leave this ordinance as is for now with a presentation from Planning and Development Director Allen and CM Sawyer, and if commissioner are not happy with it, they can contact outside help. Approved 5-0.

d. Approval/denial of request of Johnson Battery, for exemption of impact fees assessed for expansion. Per Section 157.05 of the Impact Fee Ordinance, the Board of Commissioners has the power to exempt “certain office, retail trade, and industrial development projects that provide extraordinary benefit in support of the economic advancement of the county’s citizens over and above the access to jobs, goods and services that such uses offer in general”.

This business is currently operating and created over 40 jobs here. Owner advised the County Manager, Planning and Development Director Allen, and the Industrial Development Authority that he feels like he is being penalized for creating jobs because of the $4,800 Impact Fee to enhance his facility by 5,000 feet. Said that in two to three years he will have paid the Impact Fee in taxes and the expansion will create five to six jobs immediately. Commissioner Bass said that she is not comfortable waiving the entire Impact Fee because others were reduced and not waived completely. She suggested waiving some of the fee such as the $247.43 per 1,000 feet required for jail facilities in the Impact Fee. Commissioner Jarrett asked upon what criteria the Board was reducing the Impact Fee. The County Manager said that Impact Fees are needed and that if this business owner were to take jobs elsewhere the Board would not be "forward thinking". Recommended cutting the fee in half. Commissioner Collins said that $2,500 was charged to Mr. Turner [in conjuction with the new store in Williamson] but that it would be an issue of new business versus old business. Commissioner Collins made a motion to reduce the Impact Fees for Johnson Battery from $4,800 to $2,500. 5-0 approved.

5. ADJOURNMENT: 11:38 a.m.

Agenda subject to revision.


Read past write ups of Board of Commission meetings by clicking on the Pike County Times "Links" page above, clicking on Pike County Government, Commissioners, and then scrolling down to find out what the date of the meeting is.

All of my links to past meetings are listed as follows: www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/BOC[insert date here like this 11.29.11].html. Today's meeting is online as www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/BOC11.29.11.html. The County Government website also has links to minutes from past meetings.

12.7.11
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