Anyone looking to build new residential developments in Bow may have to spend a little extra to help pay for the new public safety building.
A public hearing on whether the town should adopt a Public Safety Impact Fee will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday as a way to help pay for the $4.3 million project’s bond. Community Development Director Matt Taylor said the fee would be a way for those looking to build residential developments to share the costs of infrastructure tied to projected growth.
According to Taylor, the public safety building was intentionally built to serve a larger population than the town has today. A report for how the fees will be calculated states the building was designed to be 27 percent larger than the current space the town has for its police, fire, rescue and emergency management departments, with the idea that if more people move to town, more services will be needed.
The one-time fee for a single-family dwelling unit would be $1,037, if adopted, and for duplexes, apartments or accessory dwellings, the fee would be $723 per unit. Those figures were calculated based on the building’s square footage and an estimate of who would be using the building’s services.
Commercial projects, Taylor said, will be exempt from the fee because although commercial developments do have some impact on public safety services, they have an overall positive tax impact on the town and are not contributing to other tax-based services, such as schools. Commercial locations make up 20 percent of public safety calls, according to the report.
The town has had variations of an impact fee over the years after it adopted an impact fee ordinance in 2001.
The fees would be collectable almost immediately if approved by the planning board, Taylor said.