Windham Impact Fees Review (and Refund?)

The Windham Planning Board on Wednesday night will review impact fees, including public safety assessments which a study for the town concluded were "not sustainable."

The public safety fees (for police and fire) were first collected in 2008. An executive summary of the review before the Planning Board notes that the original fee basis was based on expansion of the police station and development of a satellite fire station, with no progress made on the proposed expansions since. In 2014, some of the fees collected will have been on deposit with the town of Windham for six years and, lacking evidence of those related improvements, a portion of the fees will need to be refunded. The minimum estimated refund of the money collected is: 87 percent of fees under the police, and 57 percent of the fees collected related to the fire department.

READ the Public Safety Impact Fees: Review and Update 2013 Draft 

Alternatives suggested in review and update report, prepared by BCM Planning LLC for the town:

1. Cease the assessment of public safety impact fees;
2. Reduce the amount of the fee to exclude the cost of buildings;
3. Modify the standards used to assess the cost of safety buildings based on more tangible plans for facility expansion;
4. Make immediate investments in building expansion that are reasonably consistent with the fee basis for facility space.