Laserfiche WebLink
BOOK 95 PAGE i19 <br />... Aging urban housing units is a problem facing the County <br />in the near future. <br />... Infrastructure costs have tremendous impact on builders <br />of affordable housing. <br />Mr. Meehan advised that in their new affordable housing <br />development, roughly 15% of the cost is fees to Indian River County <br />for water, sewer, and transportation impact fees. Some areas in <br />Florida waive those along with impact fee credits. <br />Mr. Meehan suggested more lobbying by the smaller counties in <br />Florida to get a bigger share of the State's allocation of funds <br />for low income counties. By telling our legislators that we have <br />unique problems, such as future aging of housing units even though <br />we are not the urban core, we might be able to get a bigger portion <br />of the pie which are our tax dollars. Indian River County is <br />called a "difficult to development area", which is a nomenclature <br />provided by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The <br />State recognizes it, and it is caused by some of the things we have <br />talked about today, i.e. low incomes, development costs for water <br />and sewer, etc. More lobbying at the State level might give us <br />additional scoring points for more of the programs such as SHIP <br />programs, and the low income tax program. <br />Tim Zorc of Richard Zorc & Sons advised that with regard to <br />base facility charges, it is very difficult for builders of <br />affordable housing units to convince lenders that they can control <br />and monitor their expenses and operating costs. <br />Mr. Zorc disagreed with Mr. Pinto's statement that in water <br />and sewer costs, impact fees are the same as on-site wells and <br />septic tanks. He flat out disagreed with the numbers there. In <br />the new Vero Beach Highlands water project, they are paying over <br />$3,000 for the base water meter charge when they could replace it <br />with a well system for about $1,000. So, you are looking at an <br />increase of over $2,000 to the cost of housing. There are 600-700. <br />new units going on line in that project that have increased a <br />minimum of $2,000 each. Mr. Zorc wondered how the calculations <br />were working out for expansion in the Sebastian Highlands when that <br />utility is taken over by the County. <br />Mr. Zorc stressed that even though the lenders say that <br />financing is fine when there is a line construction charge or <br />intent to lien on a piece of property, they want it cleared up and <br />paid out of closing proceeds on the closing of the construction <br />loan. So, the lenders are not comfortable with the financing <br />ability that the County has. At present with the single-family <br />home, the builders get the pay-off fee and the title company cuts <br />10 <br />MAY 189 1995 <br />i <br />