Louisville hires consultant to review impact fees and land-dedication rules
A study capped at $74,650 will examine fee calculations, capital needs and dedication standards; the contract runs through April 1, 2027.
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Louisville hired TischlerBise Inc. under a contract capped at $74,650 to review the city’s development impact fees and public-use dedication rules. The agreement runs through April 1, 2027, and calls for recommendations and proposed fee schedules; it does not change current fees or dedication requirements, the contract and scope say.
The study will project development over the next 10 to 20 years and assess needed capital facilities, which costs can be assigned to development, and how service levels and fees should be calculated. It will also examine fee credits, other funding sources, cash flow and housing affordability, and compare Louisville’s approach with at least seven other communities.
Current impact fees cover parks and trails, transportation and library collections for residential development, and transportation for commercial development. The current fee schedule followed a 2016 study and City Council’s adoption of Ordinance 1737 in 2017, while the public land dedication ordinance was last updated in 1993, staff materials for the Planning Commission’s Nov. 12 agenda say. The study will consider whether growth anticipated in the Comprehensive Plan warrants additional fee categories.
For public-use dedications, the consultant will review standards for land dedication or cash in lieu, improvement guarantees and fair-market-value assumptions. Louisville’s rules generally require land or a cash contribution when a subdivision is approved. The review will assess whether the standards meet legal tests, including whether a required dedication is connected to a development and roughly proportional to it.
The contract calls for draft and final reports, including proposed fee schedules, and presentations to a city-appointed liaison committee, the Finance Committee and City Council. Planning Commission materials anticipate at least three liaison committee meetings, likely in the first quarter of 2027.
The study is separate from the city’s 2027 annual fee schedule, which City Council adopted in Resolution 107, Series 2026, with fees effective Jan. 1, 2027. That schedule includes routine adjustments, not a citywide policy review, and an inflation adjustment to impact fees under existing rules took effect Nov. 1, 2026, the city’s annual schedule and adjustment memo show.