Denton City Council Reduces Proposed Roadway Impact Fees After Dallas Builders Association Advocacy
The City of Denton on July 16 approved updates to the municipality’s roadway impact fees. Thanks to the advocacy of the Dallas Builders Association, the new fees are much less than originally proposed.
Due to current and planned growth, the City of Denton’s most recent impact fee study presented a capital improvement project list that resulted in the maximum assessable fee per home more than doubling the previous 2016 implementation. Starting in late 2022, the process to update roadway impact fees included proposed options to collect the fees per home at rates of 30%, 40%, or 50% of the maximum fee in the first year, with an escalation to 50%, 60%, or 70%, respectively. If the originally presented rate for option 2 had been approved, the new fees could have increased from the current $2,000 per home to more than $8,000 per home in year one and escalated 5% each year to more than $12,000 in year five for the citywide average.
After hearing from the Dallas Builders Association multiple times during the process, and with consideration for the need for housing affordability, the Denton City Council approved keeping the rate at 20% of the maximum assessable fee. When looking at the citywide average, this keeps the fee collected per home to less than $3,700.
During communications with the City Council and staff, the Dallas Builders Association raised our concerns about the impact higher proposed rates have on overall housing affordability. Ultimately, it is the home buyer who feels this additional cost in the final sale price of a new home.
The new roadway impact fees are scheduled to go into effect on homes that are platted on or after January 1, 2025.