Growth to cost more as Nassau County raises impact, mobility fees

Nassau County Commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to nearly double countywide impact fees over a four-year period and to raise mobility fees over two years, arguing that rapid population growth, rising construction costs and long-delayed updates created what county officials described as “extraordinary circumstances” requiring immediate action.

After hours of public testimony and extended debate, county commissioners approved the steep increases to both impact fees and mobility fees, adopting phased implementation schedules while invoking state law provisions that allow increases beyond the standard statutory cap.

Commissioner John Martin was absent midway through the meeting when his internet Zoom link to the session failed.

Under the ordinance amending Chapter 34 of the Nassau County Code, impact fees for parks and recreation, fire rescue, law enforcement and administrative facilities will increase by a total of 97 percent, phased in evenly over four years. For a typical 2,000-square-foot single-family home, the county impact fee will rise from $3,721 to $7,322 by the end of the phase-in period.

Commissioners also approved amendments to Chapter 36 governing mobility impact fees, which fund capacity-adding transportation projects such as new roads, lane widenings and intersection improvements. Those fees will be phased in over two years, with full rates reaching between $11,332 and $11,996 per single-family home depending on location within the county’s mobility zones.

The increases will not automatically apply within the City of Fernandina Beach. County impact and mobility fees can only be imposed inside municipal boundaries through an interlocal agreement approved by the City Commission. Fernandina Beach currently collects only a portion of the county’s mobility fee under an existing agreement and does not collect county impact fees for parks, fire rescue, law enforcement or administrative facilities. Any expansion of county fees within the city would require a new or amended interlocal agreement and separate approval by city officials.

While commissioners acknowledged affordability concerns, they said the phased implementation was designed to soften immediate impacts while still protecting existing taxpayers from future property tax increases.

Several commissioners pointed to prior boards’ decisions to eliminate impact fees altogether in 2008, followed by millage rate increases in subsequent years, as a cautionary example of shifting growth costs onto residents.

“I’m a firm believer that growth needs to pay for itself,” Commissioner Martin said during deliberations, arguing that properly calibrated fees help avoid future tax hikes.

Others emphasized flexibility, saying the board could revisit or adjust fees if economic conditions change.

“If we overshoot the mark, we can roll it back,” Chair A.M. “Hupp” Huppmann said, pledging to monitor impacts as the phase-ins begin.

The decisions followed months of workshops, two continued public hearings and a sharply divided response from builders, realtors, small business owners and residents, many of whom warned the increases would worsen housing affordability and slow economic development.

All agreed the phased in approach to levying the fees was the best approach.

“I think it’s not a bad idea to utilize a phased-in type implementation, so we don’t just hammer everybody right off the top,” said Commissioner Klynt Farmer.

Commissioner Jeff Gray added: “I do prefer some type of a phase-in effect with these fees. I think a phase-in effect will help our partners, our builders, our realtors, and also sustain our current Nassau County taxpayers.”

Because the increases exceed the standard 50 percent cap, commissioners formally declared “extraordinary circumstances” under Florida law, a move challenged repeatedly during public comment.

County staff told commissioners that Nassau County is among the fastest-growing counties in the nation and is projected to add roughly 20,000 residents over the next decade, a nearly 19 percent increase. At the same time, construction costs for infrastructure have surged, with road construction costs up roughly 66 percent since the last mobility fee study in 2021 and right-of-way costs increasing from about $15,000 per acre to as much as $100,000 per acre.

Associate County Manager Marshall Eyerman emphasized that impact fees are one-time charges on new development and are legally restricted to funding capital improvements that add capacity, not operations or maintenance.

“When new development does not pay its fair share through impact fees, the financial burden shifts directly to existing taxpayers,” county officials stated in a “Fact vs. Fiction” release issued ahead of the vote.

County staff also noted that the county has not increased impact fees since 2020 and that Florida law limits how often fees can be adjusted, meaning delays compound funding shortfalls over time.

Public speakers opposing the increases repeatedly argued that developers pass fees directly to homebuyers and tenants, raising prices at a time when housing affordability is already strained.

But Commissioner Alyson McCullough pushed back with “I’m not here to dictate affordability. I’m here to set a long-term, sustainable capital growth plan where new growth pays for itself.”

Several builders and real estate professionals challenged the county’s use of the extraordinary circumstances provision, arguing that projected growth was neither unexpected nor unusual and that recent legislation tightening standards for such declarations was about to take effect.

“If this change is also implemented, it will compound the effect of these proposed increases in impact and mobility fees. This will increase the total for all fees from about $13,000 now to almost $30,000,” said Austin Nicklas, Representing the Northeast Florida Builders Association.

Others questioned whether the fee studies overstated infrastructure needs or included projects that primarily benefit large master-planned developments, particularly east of Interstate 95, while spreading costs countywide.

Concerns were also raised about the cumulative effect of county impact fees, mobility fees and school concurrency fees, with some speakers estimating that total fees for a new home could rise from roughly $13,000 to nearly $30,000 if all proposed increases are implemented.

“Adding these fees directly to home buyers will make the affordability situation worse and continue to reduce access to housing in Nassau County for essential workers.” said Elizabeth Buchanan, a local home builder.

The impact fee increases will be implemented in four equal annual increments, while mobility fees will reach full levels after two years. Both ordinances are subject to a state review period before taking effect.

County officials said they will continue refining economic development grant programs and impact fee waivers for qualifying affordable housing projects, tools they say can mitigate some effects on local businesses and workforce housing.

For critics, however, the vote marked a turning point.

“This is one of the most aggressive fee increases the county has ever adopted,” several speakers warned, arguing it could reshape where — and whether — development occurs in Nassau County over the next decade.