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John Williams, Smugglers Cove, congratulated the Commissioners on taking this extremely important step. He hoped that somehow during the interim something can be done to slow down rezoning and the growth rate. He cited Port St. Lucie as an example to show that increased impact fees do not impose a burden to stop growth. As a result of comments made by Mr. Williams, there was a discussion on school impact fees and information that came forth at a recent meeting of the Taxpayers Association. Acting Administrator Baird pointed out that every county has different capital needs, different revenue sources, different project demands, and different levels of service. We cannot just arbitrarily impose a tax; it would not be defensible and it would get the County into a lot of litigation. County Attorney Collins noted that State Statute Chapter 163 actually authorizes and encourages impact fees, but the case law that has developed around impact fees says that you have to go through certain methodologies to determine your existing LOS and whether you are operating at that level now; whether you have deficiencies, and what other funds people have already paid into that you could credit against impact fees. He counseled that the Board has to go through the process as Director Keating outlined. It will probably take six months after a consultant is selected. The Board must make sure the number selected is defensible in terms of the impact that a new unit has on each facility for which they might want to set up an impact fee. Again, he explained the pending ordinance requirements and suggested that if the Board wants to stem development in the meantime, perhaps they could have a moratorium on rezoning. Commissioner Adams did not want to see a moratorium. Perhaps a pending ordinance could give a range of numbers, but we would not collect fees until the actual fees are determined after the study. December 23, 2003 0