Austin Richardson
Enterprise reporter

A proposal to implement impact fees for capital improvements in the Greater Eagle Fire Protection District and the Western Eagle County Ambulance District has been in the works for nearly a year now.

At Tuesday evening's Eagle Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, board members decided to support the implementation of the impact fees. Although the passage of a resolution supporting impact fees does not immediately put the plan into action, the commission voted to recommend the action to the Eagle Town Board.

"Basically what a resolution from the planning and zoning commission supporting impact fees does is tell the town board that they feel that impact fees are warranted," said Larry McKinzie, Eagle town planner.

Now the issue of impact fees goes to the town board to work out the final details, mainly how much the fees will be. The final decision by the board will make the impact fees part of the town's land-use regulations to be considered at the time of final plat of any new project.

McKinzie said Eagle town attorney Ed Sands, town manager Willy Powell and representatives from the emergency service providers would determine the actual dollar amount per dwelling unit.

Boulder-based consultant Kevin Kline said the impact fees would be between $1,092 and $1,600 for the fire district and between $257 and $159 for the ambulance district. In preliminary discussions, an estimated rate of $1,150 for the combined emergency services impact fees was developed.

The impact fees would be based on the number of dwelling units on the property and a rate of 2,000 square feet of commercial space would be counted as a single dwelling unit for purposes of calculation.

Details including how the impact fees will be administered with regard to subdividing property and mixed-use issues will have to be worked out by attorneys, but the general rule will rely on whether or not the project increases density.

Although the actual amounts have yet to be determined, the impact fees that have been forwarded will have to pass a "rational nexus" test.

The "rational nexus" test is designed to determined what amount of fees should be charged to new development. The test also shows how those increased capital expenditures benefit the new development and the district as a whole. In developing the actual dollar amounts of the impact fees, the increased funds allocated to emergency services will be scrutinized with regard to long-term capital investments.

However, fire district attorney Kevin Lindahl said the impact fees could be mitigated through negotiations with the Town of Eagle and the developers. Part of the impact fees could be "traded out" for land to install new facilities or new equipment, under the proposed impact fee structure. Lindahl said that by allowing developers some flexibility in the impact fee structure, there could be more opportunity for them to contribute to the safety of the community.

An added benefit to implementing impact fees for emergency services is that improvements to the fire district will directly result in either the maintenance of current fire insurance rates or lowering the rates.

Kline argued that the savings to homeowners in insurance would offset the initial costs of the impact fees in less than five years.