CC_Minutes_2011_0919 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Regular City Council Meeting Monday, September 19, 2011 Page 10 benefited the tax base rather than costing more in services than they brought forward. Councilmember McGehee provided a copy of information provided by Police Chief Mathwig on housing and business types and their service re- quirements. Mr. Trudgeon clarified that, while it was interesting to conjecture certain uses with city services and talk about the need for positive tax and the amount of taxes greater than their benefit; however, while not being nega- tive, the heart of the matter was that the detail that could be provided through a fiscal impact study would be more specific and accurate. Related to fiscal impact studies, Mr. Trudgeon advised that there were dif- ferences in developing a community with a lot of open spaces with devel- opment impacts greater on infrastructure and services; where if a fully de- veloped community such as Roseville, those impacts were more incremen- tal since there is already some infrastructure available and in place to pro- vide some level of service. Mr. Trudgeon advised that the rule of thumb was that often residents are found to have a greater impact on City services than commercial, with few exceptions, as they have a greater demand in consuming parks, trails and schools. While recognizing that fiscal impact studies are powerful tools, Mr. Trudgeon cautioned decision-making on that alone, and questioned if such decision-making was even legal under state statute. Mr. Trudgeon sug- gested that, if something was identified as a winner from a tax base stand- point, while also being identified as a community need and supportable in the market place, the City may wish to consider incenting that develop- ment or project as much as possible, given limited resources to do so. However, Mr. Trudgeon suggested that this is where the City's energy should be focused, and while fiscal impacts were an interesting part of any land use discussion, it should not be the sole decision-making considera- tion. Mayor Roe concurred that decisions not be made exclusively on a fiscal impact basis, and opined that there were different levels of land use and other supporting documents for that land use, such as the Comprehensive Plan. Mayor Roe opined that it would seem to be a reasonable expectation that within mixed use communities, there would be some net users and some net providers within that mix.