Higher fees could deter businesses eyeing county

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Developers not only could face higher fees to build housing in Anne Arundel, but business leaders fear these fees could encumber commercial growth, particularly hotels and marinas.

“It would have a severe, negative impact on future hotel development,” said Mary Jo McCulloch, president of the Maryland Hotel and Lodging Association.

“It will make people pause.”

County Executive John R. Leopold is calling for increases to impact fees that a developer pays to build houses, hotels, office parks and other buildings in the county.

The one-time fee is used to offset the cost of expanding roads and schools, and hiring more police officers and firefighters to accommodate the growth.

The increases are anywhere between three to seven times higher. The proposed legislation, for example, would raise the fee for a new three-bedroom house from $4,069 to $20,898.

The Home Builders Association of Maryland, along with other industries, say the fee could deter builders from coming to Anne Arundel.

The hotel industry, for example, is expanding around the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Fort Meade and Annapolis. But with the cost of building a new hotel room at $150,000, additional fees may make it less profitable to open shop in Anne Arundel, officials say.

“I think builders and hotel owners will look at other areas than to build here,” McCulloch said.

“It’s just one more opportunity to run the costs of the county on guests.”

The increases also reach the boating industry, as new marinas will see their fees increase from $329 per berth to $2,149.

“With fuel prices going up, we’re getting less traffic — we can’t take any more hits,” said Ken Jefferies, president of the Bay Charter Captains Association, based in the Chesapeake Bay area.

Higher costs for building marinas may hinder new facilities in the county, which considers its waterways a valuable economic asset, he said.

How the County Council will react to the proposed fees will be seen in the coming weeks. Some have already said the fees are too high.

County Councilman Daryl Jones, D-District 1, who represents part of the BWI hotel district, said though he has not decided on where he stands on the proposed fees, he believes higher fees will not stop growth.

“Right now there is too much demand in this county for higher fees to curb development,” Jones said.

Anne Arundel has a $1 billion backlog in school construction and is facing state funding cuts and reduced revenues because of the slumping housing market.

jflanagan@baltimoreexaminer.com

Advertisement