The front of the College of Santa Fe is under construction: A bank is being built on land that was sold off to help the college survive. Yeah, um, that didn't work out too well.
Although two city agencies have all ready rejected a proposal to eliminate
residential development fees in Santa Fe, the measure is still moving through city
government.
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Since November 3, the Planning Commission and the Public Works
Committee have both rejected the proposed plan; however, the ordinance will move
on to the Finance Committee Dec. 5 and then to City Council for a public hearing on
Jan. 11, 2012.
"Even if all committees reject an ordinance, it is still possible that it can pass
through City Council," Yolanda Green, Department of Finance Office Manager with
the City of Santa Fe, tells SFR.
Since the beginning of the recession, new construction projects have declined
steadily. The proposed plan of eliminating building fees hopes to spark projects that
have been on hold because of lack of funding.
In 2008, the City of Santa Fe attempted to tackle this issue by raising impact fees for
homes smaller than 2,500 square feet, but lowering them for larger homes. This resulted in a 53 percent decrease in impact fees, which are used to repair roads, build parks and fund fire and police services. Even with the decreased fees, building projects on homes larger than 2,500 square feet continued to fall— evidence that development fees aren’t the only thing keeping our construction projects from thriving . Based on City Hall figures from 2010-11, eliminating these fees for the next two years will reduce approximately $400,000 annually from our city’s budget.
