Erie draft impact fees could total nearly $24,000 for a single-family home

Erie Town Council discussed preliminary combined impact-fee estimates of about $23,952 for a new single-family home and $13,917 for a multifamily unit at its Oct. 20 meeting. Current combined totals are about $16,000 and $9,216, respectively. The figures are preliminary; the council approved no fee changes, according to the meeting discussion.

The consultant’s draft proposes raising the maximum supportable parks fee for a single-family home to $5,740 from $2,803, and the transportation fee outside Town Center and Old Town to $11,831 from $6,402. It would lower the single-family public-facilities fee to $3,165 from $4,276. These are draft amounts, not adopted rates.

The draft results prepared by TischlerBise also propose a multifamily transportation fee of $6,795 per unit, up from $3,944, and apply a 29% reduction in transportation calculations for developments in Town Center and Old Town. For the single-family police fee, the draft offers two methods: $1,572 under an incremental-expansion approach or $1,354 under a cost-recovery approach, compared with the current $686 fee. It does not select between them.

Council members questioned how water constraints could affect the growth projections behind the study and asked whether fees should reflect home size or support multifamily and smaller homes. The consultant discussed options including size-based fees or reduced fees for targeted housing, paired with another source to replace the revenue. No approach was selected. Council members also discussed credits for other funding sources, such as taxes or bonds, to avoid charging impact fees for facilities already funded elsewhere. The consultant said the police-fee options include a credit and staff was evaluating other revenues for transportation.

Council members raised concerns that higher fees could add to home costs and requested more affordability analysis. The consultant said staff would return with refined figures and affordability measures, including mortgage-impact comparisons at different interest rates.

Impact fees help pay for infrastructure needs associated with growth. The consultant’s projections assume annual household growth of 2.2% and employment growth of 1.4%, with Erie’s population rising from 43,620 in 2026 to 54,238 in 2036. The draft projects about $21.16 million in parks-fee revenue over 10 years, similar to the amount of identified parks needs; these are projections, not guaranteed collections or approved projects.

The town’s five-year review covers six funds: public facilities, police facilities, trees, transportation, parks improvement and storm drainage. The staff report says fee changes require council approval and final consideration was expected in early 2027.