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On June 10, 2019, Parks and Recreation director presented an increase for a Park Fee for builders of residential units at the City Council Preliminary meeting. When a fee is collected, a park must be built in the area. The fee can only be used to buy land and build a park.It can’t be used for the up keep of the new park. The balance of the park fee fund is currently $5,381,101. Right now the park fee is $467.47 per single family unit and $323.96 per multifamily unit. Park and Recreation staff want to raise the single family fee to $2,065 per unit and the multifamily fee to $1,443 per unit. That is about a 441.75% increase for single family and about a 445.43% increase for multifamily. My first reaction when I saw these numbers was, have they lost their minds! Amazingly, the city council members did not have any reaction to these exorbitant increases that would have made loan sharks blush. Some of you may be asking, what if these future residents don’t want a park? Everyone doesn’t use parks. Some people, like my spouse, have terrible allergies and going to a park would cause an allergy attack. The developers can’t opt out of the fee, even if their buyers don’t want a park. If these steep increases are passed when they come up for a vote, be ready for new single family housing prices and new apartment rents to go up. Why? Even my young puppy knows when it costs a developer more to build a house or apartment, they will pass that cost right along to the consumers. With housing prices and rents already at an all time high in Plano, we need this fee increase like we need a hole in the head. This leads me to wonder if anyone in the Parks and Recreation Department, or on council, understands basic economics. I understand that the cost of land and construction has gone up. It is understandable that the bureaucrats in the Parks and Recreation Department would suggest an increase. However, a 400% one is outrageous. Try a 50% increase in one year. That way the price of building new homes won’t be affected that much. There are currently 63 parks in Plano. According to Plano’s website they are…..
This does not included one park that has not broken ground yet, athletic fields, or trails. With 64 parks do we need anymore? I think the answer is obviously no. Most towns around the nation have one city park and maybe a baseball field. I don’t know of any town or small city that has 64 parks, different athletic fields, and trails. The vote on the increase will be at the June 24th city council meeting, and I have a suggestion for our council members. Lets keep housing costs from going up by retiring the park fee all together, and residents in new developments can use one of the 64 parks we already have. This is Plano’s Political Pit Bull Signing Off
8 Comments
Candace Fountoulakis
6/16/2019 10:50:10 am
It's always about the new never about ops and maintenance which is the never ending obligation... what a former city council member called "unfunded mandates". The bloated parks budget is another tax on the current residents for the benefit of future ones. When is more just more, not better? Now, I reckon.
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Karen Denham
6/16/2019 02:24:26 pm
We were considering buying a beautiful home in Parker, with a large serene lot that is bordered by Cottonwood Creek. We found the creek is the border dividing Plano & Parker and Plano has planned a large, lit athletic field complex just on the other side. It will be available every day, all year round. It's apparently been planned for years (1985?), but (in spite of multiple approved bonds for parks) Plano doesn't have the funding to develop it yet. Needless to say when & if it is finally built, our peaceful yard would have light pollution every single night. So the home quickly became a "No!" What?!?! Plano sure has funding to fight the citizens regarding the Plano Tomorrow Plan. Even the Texas Supreme Court ruling wasn't enough for the City to stop their efforts to squash our rights!
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Beth carruth
6/16/2019 01:33:12 pm
The park fees only apply to NEW construction. They have not increased in 25 years which is criminal. And it is a ONE TIME CHARGE. Meanwhile, WE are paying the costs for M &O and acquisition costs for new parkland for new residents. Shouldn't they be paying? We all did. The new park at Legacy West will total about $20 million dollars. WE are paying for that. Not the developer, us. Additionally, those apartments and townhomes did not have to pay the park fee. They were exempted. Thank you. Harry. So let’s not exempt any new residential building and yes, let’s raise the one time fee the developer pays. Not raising it in 25 years is shoddy management.
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Michelle Ferrer
6/16/2019 02:01:00 pm
If I understand you correctly, the fee is only to purchase the land and build the park on that land. in that regard, the builder is paying to build the park, and of course, passing the expense on to the home buyer. In short, it's a pass-through expense to the builder. The home purchasers are actually paying for the park, whether they use it or not.
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Vinny Minchillo
6/16/2019 02:05:30 pm
Agree that the increase in the fee is ridiculous. But we shouldn't build more parks because people have allergies? Plano is about families. Families love parks. Your logic is, at best, creaky.
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Plano's Political Pit Bull
6/24/2019 12:39:52 pm
Vinny, I did not say we should not have parks because people have allergies. The point I was making is that not everyone uses the parks. Not all families love parks. That is a generalization on your part.
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Kerry S
6/24/2019 01:15:37 pm
1) People who don't use parks still benefit. All things being equal, a home in a community with ample parks will be worth more than the same home with no parks (or equivalent amenities) 2) How much have land prices increased over the same time period? 3) If you're concerned about density, how else do you plan to minimize or offset "high density" if not by way of some provisions to acquire more park land as new construction takes place? True, you can encourage builders of large business campuses to incorporate green space. But with single family homes, this seems like the most direct and efficient way to "tax" new construction so as to allow for a commensurate addition of park space.
Jennifer Groysman
6/24/2019 04:30:20 pm
One way to stop density would be to stop rezoning our agricultural land two anything else. Keep the agricultural. Save the farms.
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