Santa Fe, New Mexico

Multi-Facility Impact Fee Study
   

For the City and County of Santa Fe, Duncan Associates prepared an impact fee study that was sensitive to the issue of housing affordability. The City already charged water and wastewater connection fees, as well as modest impact fees for arterial streets, signalization, parks and wastewater that pre-dated the New Mexico Development Fees Act. Santa Fe County had only a fire impact fee. Multi-jurisdictional fees were developed for arterial streets and regional parks, and these fees, if adopted by both City and County, would apply within the City's Five-Mile Extraterritorial Zone.

Affordable housing is a high priority for the City and the impact fees were designed to mitigate negative impacts on housing prices. The state act was amended in 2001 to permit waivers for affordable housing, and projects meeting affordability criteria can have fees waived or deferred by the City. In addition, all fees were calculated so that policymakers could impose fees for single-family units that were a flat average rate or that varied by size of housing unit. Single-family assessment options included charging by housing type, number of bedrooms, square footage categories corresponding to bedrooms, or variable square footage rates. The firm updated the City’s road, park, fire and police impact fees in 2007.