Impact Fees Debated

By Dusty Ricketts, Northwest Florida Daily News, Fort Walton Beach

Jul. 12–NAVARRE — Jon Payne of Navarre Beach Realty wants more variety in the restaurants he goes to. But with only a handful of eateries in Navarre, Payne has to travel to Fort Walton Beach or other areas to find that variety. Because of the large amount of impact fees charged by the Holley-Navarre Water System for new restaurants and other businesses that come to the area, Payne said only larger companies such as Wal-Mart can afford to locate in Navarre. Smaller mom-and-pop restaurants Payne would like to see open cannot afford the cost of the impact fees, he said. “The basic perception, and I’m not sure if it’s true, is there seems to be some good-ol’-boy network stagnating growth to keep Navarre from being like Destin,” Payne said. On Wednesday, Payne and others received answers to their questions about why the Holley-Navarre Water System charges the amount of impact fees it does, but they might not have been happy with the responses. Ken Walker, the water system’s manager, spoke at a luncheon at Cocodries on Navarre Beach hosted by the Navarre Area Board of Realtors and defended why impact fees are essential to the community. The water system does not bond money to pay for any of its improvements. Expansions to wastewater treatment plants and new water and sewer lines are installed before a development is built. The impact fees are used to recoup the cost of the infrastructure. The fees are determined using a standardized formula based on the amount of water the business is esti- mated to use. “We are not at all antidevelopment,” Walker said. “We’ve been told people don’t want their rates to pay for development. They want development to pay for development.” Others at the luncheon asked for any assistance from the water system, such as allowing business owners to pay impact fees in installments over a period of time rather than at once. Walker said that idea has been discussed in the past but not implemented. The Navarre Beach Area Chamber of Commerce is working with TEAM Santa Rosa, the county’s economic development council, to come up with a study comparing the cost of opening a business in Navarre to doing so in Okaloosa and Escambia counties. The chamber and the water system will meet once the study is complete to discuss impact fees. Daily News Staff Writer Dusty Ricketts can be reached at 863-1111, Ext. 1448.

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