Ada County (Boise), Idaho

Regional Road Impact Fee Study
   

For the Ada County Highway District, Duncan Associates created a county-wide road impact fee that was distance-based. The ACHD, a special purpose transportation agency created by the Idaho legislature, owns and maintains all public streets in the Boise metro area. The state legislature enacted the Idaho Development Impact Fee Act, in 1992, which authorized local governments of over 200,000 population (Ada County only) to adopt fees. The ACHD turned to impact fees after local voters rejected two referenda to adopt vehicle registration fees. Initially,

there was opposition to such fees from local builders and businesses. However, opposition waned after the ACHD agreed to consider the adoption of reduced fees, if opponents would actively support a third attempt to pass a vehicle registration fee. They did and it passed. A unique aspect of the Ada County road fee system is its use of multiple fee assessment districts and variable fee levels. In order to recognize actual travel patterns and to encourage development in or near existing urban centers, fees in Ada County were designed to vary by district. In other words, the farther you travel, the more you pay. Duncan Associates was retained to update the road impact fee study in 1996, and to provide peer review on the 2001-2002 update.