Council gives initial OK to road impact fees

The Maui News
Saturday, November 18, 2006
By ILIMA LOOMIS, Staff Writer

WAILUKU - Builders would have to pay a new fee of $8,442 per West Maui home and $4,625 per South Maui home, under proposed traffic impact fees that advanced in the Maui County Council on Friday.

The council voted 9 to 0 on first reading to approve the fees, which also include rates for hotel, retail, office and industrial projects in South and West Maui. The bill is expected to come up for second and final reading on Dec. 1. Fee proposals for other districts of the island are still being reviewed by the council's Planning Committee.

"It's a beginning point," said Council Member Jo Anne Johnson.

The fees would be charged before the county would issue building permits for a project, and are intended to pay for road improvements to handle additional traffic caused by development.

Traffic fees proposed for West Maui developments include:

Residential, $8442 per unit.

Hotel, $4,303 per room.

Retail, $6,461 per 1,000 square feet.

Office, $6,462 per 1,000 square feet.

Industrial, $3,087 per 1,000 square feet.

In South Maui, proposed fees were:

Residential, $4,625 per unit.

Hotel, $4,303 per room.

Retail, $7,425 per 1,000 square feet.

Office, $7,430 per 1,000 square feet.

Industrial, $5,009 per 1,000 square feet.

The fees presented Friday represented a change from the proposed fee schedule voted on last month by the Planning Committee. Consultant Dick Kaku said the fees had been recalculated using new information, including a new roadway project added to county plans, and updated land-use forecasts showing where development is expected to be distributed through 2015.

Some of the changes were significant. Fees for West Maui office space were reduced from $15,560 to $6,462, while South Maui office fees increased from $2,250 to $7,430. Fees in other categories saw less dramatic changes.

"In some ways the numbers go up, in some ways the numbers go down," Kaku said.

Council members wanted additional information about the information used to recalculate the fees, and asked to have the data before the bill returns for a final vote.

"It's important that we know what that new data is," said Council Member Michelle Anderson.

Kaku's firm, Kaku & Associates, calculated the fees with an analysis that included the cost of road improvements, estimating the amount of traffic that would be added to county roads by different kinds of developments, and looking at forecasts of future growth in different regions of the island. The fees take into account that a development in one area might have an impact on traffic in another district of the island, such as a hotel in Kaanapali that has workers commuting from Paia or Upcountry.

The fees are intended to cover the costs of improving roads to keep traffic flowing at existing levels, not to bring roads up to a higher level of service, Kaku said.

Council Member Charmaine Tavares, who oversaw discussion of the fees as chairwoman of the Planning Committee, noted that legislation creating the fees calls for them to be reviewed on a regular basis.

"As things change in our county we'll be able to update our model," she said.