Cedar City Council cuts impact fees for Southern Utah University

CEDAR CITY — The City Council approved a resolution to cut $116,152 from the originally proposed impact fees of $153,527 for the Southern Utah University science center, settling a disagreement over the fees.

City Manager Ron Chandler said when the city impact fee ordinance was first created, the transportation impact fee analysis did not include a category for educational institutions and government buildings.

However, in May 2009, the state legislature made a law permitting municipalities to charge impact fees on state-funded buildings.

The council concluded that $37,375 was the appropriate charge for a university building as calculated under the Institute of Transportation Engineers manual, which has a university and college category.

But the council eliminated the water impact fee of $13,295 in exchange for used water credits SUU had accumulated for abandoned property that wasn't consuming water.

The council also nullified the storm drain fee of $27,782 because SUU would have a storm water retention pond to retain water on-site.

The council also reduced The transportation fee after officials contended that the building would not generate the estimated traffic costs of $109,119 specified in the impact fee analysis.

SUU's Associate Facilities Vice President Dave Tanner said the city originally charged SUU's impact fees under the commercial category because an educational institution category didn't exist.

"We knew it was not a fair assessment of an educational institution," he said. "(Chandler) took on the charge to revise it to a more acceptable standard."

Chandler said the council looks to implement a new category to the impact fee ordinance that would include university and government buildings.

Chandler said the new category would be broader than an educational category because it would also include government buildings.

Chandler said he thought the revised assessment for the university was just.

"It was great for the university and I think it's fair," Chandler said.