Clark County’s fee waiver program was put under a spotlight Tuesday as the county council began to take public comment in advance of a possible recall of the controversial policy.
The fee waiver program, championed by Republican Councilor David Madore, grants free application and traffic impact fees to all builders constructing nonresidential projects in the unincorporated area. Though branded as a job-building exercise, studies have called into question the effectiveness of the program and whether it’s truly driving economic development in unincorporated Clark County.
The county council took public comment on the program at its regular meeting Tuesday, and council Chair Marc Boldt said the council will likely consider a resolution declaring an end date to the program at next week’s meeting.
It’s an unusual approach for the council, which typically does not spread public comment over multiple meetings.
“It’s just the challenge is to give people enough notice so they’re not in the middle of the permit process,” Boldt said.
In the meantime, Boldt said, Community Development Director Marty Snell and Public Works Director Heath Henderson will be meeting with the councilors one-on-one to discuss the program. The council also held a workshop on the program late last month.
The most recent version of the fee waiver resolution, adopted in December, has a built-in provision requesting the council to give a 250-day notice prior to removing the program. The resolution notes that provision is not binding on future boards.
Boldt said it’s his intention to see the program ended by the end of this year, noting he’s concerned about the county asking the Legislature for funding for traffic projects when it has no traffic impact fees from businesses to match those state dollars.
“I don’t want to go for the Legislature and still have the traffic impact fee waiver,” he said.
Of the handful of commenters Tuesday, most were opposed to the program or else called for modifications targeting family-wage employers.
Land-use attorney Jamie Howsley, government affairs director for Clark County’s Building Industry Association, called on the council to “end the experiment.” The BIA was cautiously optimistic about the program, but data provided by Clark County Community Development proves there isn’t enough revenue coming into the county general fund to backfill the fees waived, he said.
“Objectively, I can say it looks like there have been some very, very limited successes of this program, but there have been spectacular failures,” Howsley said.
Chuck Green, a local Democrat who ran for county council last year, provided a 15-page report on the program to the council. He suggested the county made a “substantial modification” to attract middle-class jobs in unincorporated Clark County.
“There is no evidence the fee waiver program has resulted in the unincorporated area faring any better than the incorporated cities which do not have fee waivers,” his report concluded.
Others, meanwhile, supported the program. Clark County resident Steven Wallace said with the prevalence of online shopping, the county should be doing all it can to support retail businesses.
“It’s going to get bad, it’s going to get worse, and anything you can do to help retail in this county will help jobs come here,” he said.
If the council does vote to repeal the program, it will likely be the next 3-2 vote the divided council takes. Boldt and Republicans Jeanne Stewart and Julie Olson have both requested modifications or a repeal of the program, while Madore and Republican Tom Mielke have defended its merits.
