Raleigh Citizens Take on Developer Power

Raleigh City Council will hold a public hearing at 6:30 tonight to take comments on a plan to adjust the city's development impact fees. The city assesses the fees on new residential construction to help pay for roads and other necessary infrastructure.

Mayor Charles Meeker and council members Thomas Crowder and Russ Stephenson have called the current proposal (TC-7-06) unacceptable because it fails to require new growth to pay its fair share. They point out that the proposal would continue to shift more than $27 million each year from Raleigh's established neighborhoods to subsidize construction on the city's edges.

Meanwhile, a poll of Raleigh's frequent voters found that the overwhelming majority -- a whopping 85 percent -- favor higher impact fees.

"Now is the time for all of us to step up to the plate and let our leaders know: we must not give in to special interests," Stephenson wrote in a recent e-mail to concerned citizens. "Instead we must: (1) put in place an equitable long term funding plan that recognizes the rising economic burden on taxpayers as well as homebuilders, and (2) enact updated development rules incentivizing better quality growth that costs taxpayers less."

For more details on the issue, visit Stephenson's Web site.