1. The Hillsborough County Mobility Fee: A Status Report

By: Charles E. White, AICP, PTP

Hillsborough County initiated its own Mobility Fee Study in October of 2009.  The County’s Mobility Fee Study is based on the following premises:

• The fees would be charged only for the impacts of new Development.
• The fees collected would pay for improvements to mobility.
• The mobility fee would hasten the implementation of Transportation Concurrency Exception Areas.
• The project review and approval time would be significantly reduced.
• The fees would promote infill development.
• The Improvements would be “mode neutral”.

County staff created a Technical Committee consisting of public and private sector members and tasked this committee with developing a study methodology.  The Technical Committee met nine times and has prepared a framework for developing a mobility fee.  This framework consists of:

• Developing mobility fee zones
• Developing average trip lengths per mobility fee zone
• Developing a cost per vehicle mile of travel

The initial trip cost assumptions have been based on full cost recovery.  The final fee may be adjusted based upon economic conditions and other considerations.

County staff also created an outreach program to solicit input from the general public.  This public policy forum, which is being facilitated by Collaborative Labs, provides additional input that will assist in developing mobility fee policies.  The Public Policy Forum has met twice.   At the first Public Policy Forum there were 75 people in attendance.  The group raised over 120 questions or comments that Collaborative Labs subsequently organized into four categories:

• Fee Collection
• Allocation and Use of Funds
• Resources, Prioritization & Timeframe for Projects
• Other

Comments from the Public Policy Forum were compiled and presented to the Technical Committee.  Staff, in conjunction with the Technical committee, prepared responses to the first category of comments “Fee Collection”.   These responses were presented at the second Public Policy Forum and are available for public inspection on the PGM Mobility Fee website. Staff is currently working with the Technical Committee to prepare responses to all of the comments received from the Public Policy Forum to date.  These responses will be presented at future Public Policy Forum meetings, the schedule for which, is posted on the Mobility Fee website.  The mobility fee study will eventually culminate in policy recommendations to Hillsborough County and its local municipalities.

2. Rumors and Reality on Proposed Mobility Fee

By: Charles E. White, AICP, PTP

It is important to recognize that the mobility fee study is an ongoing, and as yet, unfinished process.  It has attracted interest from state and local agencies as well as special interest groups.  In this environment, it is easy for rumors to form and misinformation to circulate.  The following are just a few of the rumors that staff has overheard recently. 

Rumor: The Mobility Fee will be assessed in addition to the Impact Fee.

Reality: The prevailing opinion is that if mobility fees are adopted, impact fees for transportation would be repealed. Note: By law all other non-transportation impact fees would remain unaffected.

Rumor: The Mobility Fee process will pre-empt local government approval processes.

Reality: Each Jurisdiction will continue to conduct their development approval processes as they currently do.  The mobility fee would be paid upon completion of the reviews and final approval.   There are several options under consideration as to when and how the fee would be paid.

Rumor: The Mobility Fee will dictate what municipalities spend their money on.

Reality: The prevailing opinion is that it would be the responsibility of each local government to determine the modes of mobility they wish to fund.

Rumor: Impact Fee Credits will go away.

Reality: Transportation Impact Fee Credits will not go away.  The prevailing view is that existing impact fee credits should be applied toward the mobility fee if and when a mobility fee is adopted.

Rumor: Mobility Fees will also be applied to projects with Development Agreements.

Reality: By state law, the County must honor all pre-existing developer agreements.  Hence, the mobility fee will not impact currently approved Developer Agreements unless and until the developer elects to amend his development agreement in some material way.

Rumor:  In some areas, the mobility fee for a single family house will be $39,000!

Reality: Although this was the figure produced based on the regional transportation model for a mobility zone with an average trip length of 14 miles, it was intended for demonstration purposes only. The initial trip cost assumptions have been based on full cost recovery, but  the final fee may be adjusted based upon economic conditions and other considerations.

 
For these reasons and other reasons, we invite all interested parties to visit our Mobility Fee website for the latest information on actual recommendations currently under consideration.  Interested parties are likewise encouraged to participate either by attending scheduled meetings or posting comments on our website.  We welcome all comments and will attempt to address every one.  County staff has adopted an aggressive schedule to complete the study and expects to provide recommendations to Hillsborough County and its local jurisdictions in the summer of 2010.  Thank you.