HomeMy WebLinkAboutBuilding Review Board - Minutes - 09/27/2018City of Fort Collins Page 1 September 27, 2018
Alan Cram, Chair City Council Chambers
Tim Johnson, Vice Chair City Hall West
Brad Massey 300 Laporte Avenue
Bernie Marzonie Fort Collins, Colorado
Katharine Penning
Rick Reider Staff Liaison:
Justin Robinson Russ Hovland
Chief Building Official
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Regular Meeting Minutes
September 27, 2018
A regular meeting of the Building Review Board was held on Thursday, September 27, 2018, at
1:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Fort Collins Municipal Building at 300 Laporte Avenue, Fort
Collins, Colorado.
• CALL TO ORDER
Chair Cram called the meeting to order at 1:01 p.m.
• ROLL CALL
PRESENT: Cram, Massey, Marzonie, Penning
ABSENT: Johnson, Reider, Robinson
STAFF: Hovland, Van Hall, Schiager
• PUBLIC COMMENT ON ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA
None.
• DISCUSSION AGENDA
1. CONSIDERATION AND APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE JUNE 28, 2018 MEETING.
Mr. Marzonie moved to approve the minutes of the June 28, 2018 meeting. Ms. Penning seconded.
The motion passed 4:0.
Building Review Board
City of Fort Collins Page 2 September 27, 2018
The Board discussed whether to proceed with agenda item #3 given the low attendance of members
for this meeting. They agreed it would be preferable to postpone the discussion of the 2018 I-Codes
Adoption until the October 25, 2018 meeting. Mr. Hovland stated he would do a brief review of the
code change highlights at that point in today’s meeting.
Mr. Massey asked about the International Swimming Pool and Spa codes. Mr. Hovland explained his
preference for adoption of all the new codes at the same time, since they cross-reference each other.
2. 2018 IMPACT FEE UPDATE
Staff Presentation
Mike Beckstead, City of Fort Collins Chief Financial Officer, gave a presentation to the Board. He
explained that the impact fees are complex, and include Capital Expansion, Transportation Capital
Expansion and Utilities Plant Investment Fees. Using Community Parks as an example, he explained
how the fees are used.
He reviewed the timeline for the impact fee project and the drivers of the fee increases. He
summarized the key findings of the Fee Group. He talked about whether residential fees should be
based on home sizes.
Mr. Beckstead also provided a comparison of the fees in neighboring communities.
Board Questions and Discussion
Mr. Massey asked for clarification about the percentage of permits in various square footage ranges,
and what the new breaks would be. Mr. Beckstead stated that 90% of the permits pulled in the past
few years have been 2200 sq. ft. or greater. He went on to explain that determining the fees by
square footage will involve marrying the breaks in the permit data with what the census data shows in
terms of the number of residents in larger homes. He said the fees are calculated by the value of
assets divided by population, and while the value of the assets and the total population won’t change,
how those fees are spread out based on number of people may change depending on what the data
shows.
Mr. Massey asked why the expansion fee for Parks is the only one that pays 100% of the cost, while
others are subsidized by other tax revenue streams. Mr. Beckstead said it was set up that way when
capital expansion fees were established back in 1996. He explained that the asset infrastructure of
Police Services or general government, for example, does not support higher fees, while the asset
infrastructure of Parks does.
Mr. Maroni asked if there is an ideal number of acres of parks per capita. Mr. Beckstead said he
would have to refer that question to Kurt Friesen in Parks, however he there is a plan to build two new
community parks, at which point the parks plan would be fully built.
Ms. Penning asked whether refurbishing existing parks would reduce the need to build new parks,
and whether that would be more cost effective. Mr. Beckstead stated that the City does have a goal
of having a neighborhood park within a mile and a community park within four miles of every
residence, as well as a target number of park acres per capita. He also pointed out that the existing
parks are not currently in a state of disrepair, and capital expansion fee cannot be used for
maintenance and upkeep.
Chair Cram noted that the last time the fees were reviewed, the main source of contention was the
emphasis of residential versus commercial fees, which is not going to change at this point.
Mr. Marzonie expressed concern that increased fees impact the cost of construction which may
eventually make Fort Collins an undesirable place because of the cost of living, particularly to buy a
home. He asked about how much territory has been built out. Mr. Beckstead talked population
estimates for the future based on available undeveloped land within the Growth Management Areas
between neighboring communities.
Mr. Beckstead invited the Board to provide a memo for Council, if desired.