New Castle County will have new impact fees for new construction starting on July 1.
The ordinance passed by New Castle County Council and already signed into law by County Executive Marcus Henry will allow the county to account for the impact of new construction and help fund necessary infrastructure.
This bill passed by a 12-1 vote with Councilman Jea Street being the only no vote.
The goal is that fees levied on new development also address the impact of increased demands on parks, libraries, fire departments, EMS and police coverage.
The new law will adjust the impact fee table to account for inflation, and requires future updates be adjusted based on the Consumer Price Index.
It will be evaluated every year, then studied every five years. The first study is set for January 2027.
"What this ordinance does is allows finally us to have equitable services paid in by the development community in which they're profiting off of south of the canal and north of the canal," said Councilman Kevin Caneco.
There are exemptions for workforce dwelling units, moderately priced dwelling units, low income housing, redevelopment or brownfield development and development on land in the publicly conserved lands and parks zoning district.
"These impact fees have not been updated since 1999, and every citizen that owns a property in this county right now is paying for the difference in increased service costs for all the development that's occurring south of the canal, but everywhere in the county,” said Councilwoman Dee Durham, one of the bill’s sponsors. So it's impacting new homebuyers or homebuyers of any sort that are trying to buy a home everywhere in the county right now as well as existing homeowners."
Similar legislation was passed last year, but it was vetoed by then-County Executive Matt Meyer.
