LIVE BLOG: MOBILITY FEE MORATORIUM: Rules&Finance Committee

[thelakelander]

Ennis, I don't know what we would do without you!   We all need to take out MJ ads so you can quit your day job.

I'm just doing my small part in attempting to protect the taxpayer and Jacksonville's best long term interests. I can't camp out at city hall on the clock like the lobbyist but I can take advantage of the number of hits this site and its facebook account gets.     Nevertheless, the community has really come out on this one.  Hopefully, a resolution that works in the best interest of everyone ends up as the final result of everyone's efforts.

[Tacachale]

From how it sounded to me, it appeared the Mayor isn't in favor of an extended moratorium but he's willing to hear what the council has to say before making a firm decision either way.

Imagine that.

[dougskiles]

I was frustrated listening to Lumb talk about unemployment in the construction industry and pulling out 2007 figures.  This was at the cusp of the boom before the heavy lay-offs began and when anyone with a truck from Atlanta came to town to build something.  Of course the employment in the construction industry is down.  It was unsustainably high.  What I would like to see is a comparison from 2003 to 2013. That would be more reflective.

When CM Lumb was reading the list of job rates, didn't he give numbers for the other industries up until 2013?  And then stopped at 2010 for construction?  What stands out even more is if the construction industry is as down as he claims, why would we want so much of our local economy dependent on construction jobs?  Why not spend money training a workforce to do something that is in greater demand?

[thelakelander]

^I find the idea that our local economy must rely on construction very troubling.  Jacksonville can do a lot better than subsidizing Family Dollar, Dollar General and 7-11 to spur job growth. As cities age and fill in, growth tends to slow down.  At some point, you have to start investing in your quality of life and diversifying your economic base.  We really need to figure out what we want to be in the future, identify growing 21st century industries and invest in ourselves to attract the jobs and companies they'll breed.

[jcjohnpaint]

^Exactly

[JeffreyS]

Jacksonville council panels defer choice on mobility fee

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-03-11/story/jacksonville-council-panels-defer-choice-mobility-fee#ixzz2NI366MBN

A plan to suspend a transportation fee Jacksonville charges developers was postponed Monday by three City Council committees while backers and critics looked for room for compromise.

The council had been expected to vote Tuesday on legislation to waive the charges, called mobility fees, for three years to help the still-struggling construction industry.

But the committees agreed Monday to defer any decision on Councilman Rickard Clark’s legislation, which seemed during committee debates to lack the support needed to pass.

Separately, council President Bill Bishop said he would re-establish a task force that helped develop the current fee system and have members review what changes might be needed.

He said that review might take most of a year and might be ongoing well after some decision is reached on Clark’s legislation.

The fee was set up in 2011, then suspended for a year in the hope that lowering government fees would boost construction. That moratorium ended in October, though builders could still use some provisions of it through April.

City planning director Calvin Burney told the committees about $5 million in fees have been waived, though Clark noted that figure might have been lowered because of a system of "credits" that weren't calculated during the waiver period.

Supporters spoke of the legislation as a jobs bill that might help some commercial developers put construction crews back to work if they didn’t have to factor the additional cost of mobility fees into construction projects.

Curtis Hart, a developer and lobbyist, told members of the committees -- Rules, Finance and Transportation, Energy and Utilities â€" about a tractor-supply business that he said only became viable because the waiver wiped out $135,000 of charges.

“That $135,000 made the entire project. We would not have done the project had it not been for the waiver,” Hart told committee members.

But several members said that exempting developers from the costs won’t spare the city from the cost of the roadwork, sidewalks and other infrastructure needed to serve those new projects. Instead, they said, it will put the bill back on taxpayers.

“I totally supported the first waiver. I supported it for a year. … I have major problems with the way this one is written,” Councilwoman Lori Boyer said.

“I have a real problem with shifting the cost of this infrastructure need to everybody else … There just won’t be adequate funding available.”

steve.patterson@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4263

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-03-11/story/jacksonville-council-panels-defer-choice-mobility-fee#ixzz2NI30I5df

[xplanner]

As the tide started moving against the moratorium proponents on Monday afternoon, they quickly retreated to the jobs and economy arguments, which are their weakest and least demonstrable data. This isn't the only issue that Council has seen where jobs were at the core of the discussion. The difference this time is that the Associated General Contractors, the trades unions, the electricians and framers and plumbers, the people who most benefit from construction-related job creation, were absent from the room. The only people there on Monday to promote construction job creation were paid lobbyists, and way in the back of the room, their clients, who are not construction people at all but land speculators and entitlements merchants.

A concerted effort by the community, MJ, Doug Skiles and the people who show up meeting after meeting, has prevailed in getting Council to defy the Sprawl Lobby. Helped immensely,BTW, by the very impressive and thought provoking CM Lori Boyer, who simply refuses to be swayed by rhetoric and continues to lead from the front, as we expect our representatives to do on every issue, all the time.

[simms3]

Well said!

[sheclown]

As the tide started moving against the moratorium proponents on Monday afternoon, they quickly retreated to the jobs and economy arguments, which are their weakest and least demonstrable data. This isn't the only issue that Council has seen where jobs were at the core of the discussion. The difference this time is that the Associated General Contractors, the trades unions, the electricians and framers and plumbers, the people who most benefit from construction-related job creation, were absent from the room. The only people there on Monday to promote construction job creation were paid lobbyists, and way in the back of the room, their clients, who are not construction people at all but land speculators and entitlements merchants.

A concerted effort by the community, MJ, Doug Skiles and the people who show up meeting after meeting, has prevailed in getting Council to defy the Sprawl Lobby. Helped immensely,BTW, by the very impressive and thought provoking CM Lori Boyer, who simply refuses to be swayed by rhetoric and continues to lead from the front, as we expect our representatives to do on every issue, all the time.

indeed!

[sheclown]

I was frustrated listening to Lumb talk about unemployment in the construction industry and pulling out 2007 figures.  This was at the cusp of the boom before the heavy lay-offs began and when anyone with a truck from Atlanta came to town to build something.  Of course the employment in the construction industry is down.  It was unsustainably high.  What I would like to see is a comparison from 2003 to 2013. That would be more reflective.

When CM Lumb was reading the list of job rates, didn't he give numbers for the other industries up until 2013?  And then stopped at 2010 for construction?  What stands out even more is if the construction industry is as down as he claims, why would we want so much of our local economy dependent on construction jobs?  Why not spend money training a workforce to do something that is in greater demand?

Absolutely.  If we need a jobs bill, let's have one that profits the workers. 

[Josh]

Clark is speaking, bill sponsor:

* he's had so many people contact him. One real estate agent said, "this is exactly what we need."
* he will choose the guy who hammers nails over the guy who rides a bike.
* it's about getting government out of the way.

That comment makes me rage so hard.

[thelakelander]

The problem with Clark's quoted statement is this should not be an "either/or" situation.  "Either/or" situations tend to develop when we start placing our opinions above statistical data.  To date, there's been nothing proving the taxpayer's ROI on last year's moratorium. 7-Eleven and Family Dollar were coming anyway and the guy with hammers and nails is still building projects in and around SJTC, where new development continues to pay higher impact fees to the Skinner family.

With that said, above and beyond anything, Clark and every single should choose to protect the taxpayer's investments first. A full blown moratorium of any kind, does the exact opposite, based on all the data we have readily available.

[copperfiend]

Clark is speaking, bill sponsor:

* he's had so many people contact him. One real estate agent said, "this is exactly what we need."
* he will choose the guy who hammers nails over the guy who rides a bike.
* it's about getting government out of the way.

That comment makes me rage so hard.

That comment is beyond dumb. It's also microcosm for what is wrong in this city.

[JeffreyS]

I think the action that angered me the most last night was the lobbyists soliciting 7-Eleven for a letter against the moratorium and selling them on the idea of putting a hold on their project to try to twist the city Council's arm on this one.  I don't believe this type of behavior should be rewarded and perhaps the  council should even act punitively towards the lobbyist.

[jcjohnpaint]

So, could we start collecting a fee until a deal is reached?  It seems like analysis could go on over a year.  Is the one year moratorium over?  It would be nice to see some time collecting the fee to prove it does not make a difference.