Sarasota News Leader

10/12/12

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Sarasota News Leader October 12, 2012 In his opening remarks, Davis told the com- mission that research indicated 400,000 fewer vehicles are using county roads than in 2005. Based on an impact fee study the City of Sara- sota is undertaking, Davis said, it appeared the full road impact fee today would be "roughly equivalent" to two-thirds of the level used for the 2007 fee the county adopted. Barbetta questioned whether the city's data would be applicable to the county, given that there are "many more people downtown now." Page 26 Venice on Dec. 4. The board's first meetings in January 2013 will be Jan. 8 and Jan. 9, he add- ed, and one of those could be held in Venice. Still, Patterson was worried the commission would not be able to meet the Jan. 31 dead- line. If that wasn't going to be possible, she said, she suggested an extension of the cur- rent impact fees for a short time, until the board was ready to act on the new data. We knew this deadline was approaching. Now we're backed into a corner, not able to get the data on time. Why, I don't know. Davis replied that county staff "wouldn't be using the city's numbers directly." County Commissioner Joe Barbetta Davis told her he felt the situation would be clear enough by Dec. 4 for the commission to take appropriate ac- tion. His only concern Commissioner Nora Patterson told Davis she did not want to see the county reach the point where the impact fees went up, because the commission couldn't make the deadline, then go back down again. "What you want is as much stability as possible," she added. "We've got a recovery," Patterson said, "but it's not booming." DETAILS ON THE TIMELINE Because of interlocal agreements, Davis said, the county's municipalities would have to be notified 30 days before the County Commis- sion holds a public hearing on new impact fees. Moreover, because of an agreement with the City of Venice, he said, the public hearing would have to be held in Venice. Barbetta pointed out that the commission already had scheduled a regular meeting in about meeting the 45-day deadline imposed by the motion, he said, was the necessity of internal review of the process by the County Attorney's Office and the Office of Financial Planning. Nonetheless, Davis said, "Forty-five [days] is probably about right, at this point." Davis also presented information to the Coun- ty Commission regarding multimodal impact fees, which could be used to pay for sidewalks and bike paths, for example, and mobility fees used in Alachua and Pasco counties. The commissioners agreed by consensus that they would discuss such fees at a later time. "I'm interested in stability right now," Robin- son said. "Me, too," Patterson said. "I think that's the appropriate direction that you've made," Reid said.

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