Finally, a sensible development fee

[thelakelander]

A nice editorial about the Mobility Plan and Fee.

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/opinion/editorials/2011-06-16/story/finally-sensible-development-fee#ixzz1PUkNXf9l

The old system

Under the previous "fair share" system of paying for road improvements on failing roads, here is what could happen:


Not fair

- Developer A gets approval and fills up all available road capacity. No charge. Now the road is failing.

- Developer B next door, faced with a failing road, is charged a fair share fee.

- Widening of the road is approved.

- Developer C, also next door, thanks to approval of road widening, now has capacity to deal with. No charge.


Not shared

- Under the "fair share" system, improvements often sit, unused, in an account.

- Or they were not used in a way that helped the affected developments.


The new system

- All developers are charged something. Since charges are more numerous, they are lower for everyone.

- Funds are targeted within sectors of the city according to transportation plans.

- The city is split into 10 logical sectors, with transportation plans that relate to the needs of each one.

- Downtown is treated with the respect it deserves, receiving credit for density and mass transit availability, for instance. Downtown receives a level playing field in development.

[jcjohnpaint]

"It took years to unravel the confusing entanglements of the fair share system, figure out what was going wrong and devise a more equitable and logical system"

The best way to hide something to to make the policy so hard to understand that nobody questions anything. 

[Tacachale]

"It took years to unravel the confusing entanglements of the fair share system, figure out what was going wrong and devise a more equitable and logical system"

The best way to hide something to to make the policy so hard to understand that nobody questions anything. 

Florida politics writ large.