Commerce City, Colorado

Road Impact Fee Study
   

For Commerce City, a major trucking and distribution center in the Denver metropolitan area, Duncan Associates prepared a road impact fee study for an area known as the “Northern Range.” This area, portions of which have already been annexed into the City, is where most of the City’s growth is occurring and where its infrastructure needs are greatest. Road impact fees were calculated using an improvements-driven methodology, based on the build-out of the study area and its arterial network The improvements-driven approach was consistent

with the City's desire to split the cost of improvements between developers in the form of exactions and builders in the form of impact fees. The City's general policy relating to road exactions had been to require developers to construct and dedicate right-of-way for the outer four lanes and install curb, gutter and sidewalks for adjacent arterials. Road impact fees were calculated to cover the cost of the fifth and sixth lanes, landscaped medians, and ramps and overpasses. Under this approach, developers could continue to construct outer lanes and install curb, gutter and sidewalks for adjacent arterials with no credit against the impact fee. In 2003, Duncan Associates was retained by the City to update the road impact fee.