The Town of Avon has decided to look into a “recreation impact fee”, and has conducted studies to determine what the fee should be and how it will be used.
Yours truly was asked to help serve on the committee and I enjoyed meeting with the Town manager, local builders, the Head of the Avon Parks Department, and other community leaders to discuss the idea. It is always great to be able to be a part of the community.
What is an Impact fee? An Impact fee is often charged to builders as a way to help pay for the “impact” that a new neighborhood will have on a community. For every new neighborhood that gets built in Avon, there is an influx of new residents as well. New people who will be using our roads, our utilities and our parks. Impact fees are common and can be used for any number of things to help the community. Most of the towns surrounding Avon have already adopted these fees.
In Avon, the impact fee will be used towards recreation. We do have wonderful parks, and when you add in the facilities provided by Washington Township, there is a lot to offer in our community. We are proud of our parks, and want to be sure that we are able to keep up with future demand. The Town will focus on using the fees collected to purchase more land, install more walking trails and a destination playground. In the future we will be able to take another look and decide what else we would like to use the fees for.
I think this is a great step towards helping our community keep up with the growth we are experiencing. I know that it will cause an additional burden on builders, and that they might decide to pass the additional cost to the buyers. On the other hand, I feel that keeping our community moving in the right direction will help Avon be even more desirable to new buyers.
I would love to hear your thoughts on impact fees. What would you like to see the fees used for? What improvements do you think Avon needs most?
Here is a video made by the Town of Avon in 2010
