Industry News form California, Colorado, Georgia, Florida and Arizona
California

The efforts by builders to reform the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) are increasingly receiving bi-partisan support.  Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has made reforming CEQA a major legislative priority and called the ability to own a home “part of the American Dream and promised to eliminate regulatory and legal hurdles that delay construction and increase the costs.”  In part because of its regulatory environment, California has the second lowest homeownership rate in the nation, behind New York.  Builders argue that CEQA is misused by neighborhood activists and slow-growth groups to require numerous environmental studies and impact reports, delaying the time before new houses can come onto the market.

Colorado

The Colorado Association of Home Builders is trying to get Governor Bill Owens to veto legislation that would be onerous to small builders.  The legislation, HB 05-1318, would require that, except for specified exceptions, independent contractors must have workers’ compensation insurance beginning this September 1.  With skyrocketing costs of workers comp premiums, this legislation could significantly increase the costs for small builders.  Steve Durham of the Colorado Association of Home Builders claims “We believe it’s an anti-competitive piece of legislation and will have the effect of raising home prices.  It’s anti-small business.  A lot of small business people are independent contractors.”

Georgia

The Fayette County Commission is considering an ordinance that may require builders to take additional steps to address storm water control.  Under the proposed ordinance, builders would be required to create homeowners associations with the responsibility of maintaining storm water controls.  According to Commissioner Linda Wells, it if preferable to have the builder accept this responsibility because “We’d rather not create a utility or authority if we don’t have to.”  Commissioner Herb Frady, however, was concerned about the cost of this approach.  “I doubt that individual subdivisions can afford this.  It could be very expensive…”  Christopher Burke, director of government affairs for the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association said that this would rather see this approach than “be loaded with fees upfront.”

Florida

The Volusia County Builders Association has decided to challenge the Volusia County School Board’s support of builder fees that would add as much as $5,284 to the cost of each new home.  Currently, school impact fees are $1,139 per home.  The Volusia County Builders Association doesn’t object to the concept of school impact fees but wants the School Board “to prove their numbers.  Actually, the goal is to arrive at what the school impact fee should be.”

In Brevard County, builders may have to contend with a tripling of impact fees to pay for new road construction.  If allowed, the total amount for impact fees could be well over $9,000 per house. County Commissioner Sue Carlson said, “We don’t have a lot of money for transportation and a lot of pressing needs.  We need to maximize all the revenue sources available to us before we go to the taxpayer, to property taxes.”  Dave Armstrong of the Florida Home Builders Association cautioned the commissioners that this could slow new construction and predicts that “It will kill the economic development of the county.”

Arizona

Governor Janet Napolitano signed into law House Bill 2066 on April 25.  This legislation, introduced by Representative John Nelson at the request of the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona, will provide citizens with significantly more information about impact fees charged to builders.  According to this bill, cities and towns in Arizona will now be required to file a yearly report with their respective city clerk’s office detaining the amount charged by each impact fee, the location of each development project and the finances related to the imposed fee.  If a municipality fails to report the required information within 90 days of the end of the fiscal year then the municipality won’t be allowed to levy the fee until the report is filed.
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