It could cost Ketchum-area developer Jeff Pfaeffle as much as $16,000 to $20,000 per residential lot if the Bellevue City Council agrees to annex his 100-acre Slaughterhouse Canyon property into the city limits.
Considering his development plan for the property includes 150 homes, this means the annexation fee the city may ask Pfaeffle to pay could range as high as $2.4 million to $3 million.
And this figure doesn't even include the cost of off-site improvements the developer may be required to complete as part of an acceptance of his annexation application.
At a special meeting Tuesday, March 13, Bellevue consultant Rich Kaplan went over the preliminary findings of an annexation fee study he has conducted.
Because Tammy Eaton and Steve Fairbrother were the only council members present during the meeting, Kaplan simply laid out his study findings for them and Bellevue city staff. The lack of a quorum meant no decisions could be made during the roughly two-hour meeting.
While the figures may change somewhat, Kaplan told the council they should remain close to his current estimates.
"I think that's the number you're going to see," he said.
Kaplan said the annexation fee for Pfaeffle's proposed development has three main components. These include a buy-in to the city, funds to help the city overcome its service deficiencies, and a portion of the cost of the city's 20-year capital improvements plan.
The preliminary numbers have been released in part to help Pfaeffle in his planning process, Kaplan noted.
The annexation fees would likely be paid in several stages.
"We anticipate a portion of the fee would be paid up front," Kaplan said.
Offsite improvements the city may require Pfaeffle to complete as an additional requirement to being annexed include infrastructure work to the city's water and sewer system, streets, parks and pathways, Bellevue City Administrator Tom Blanchard said.
As part of their deliberation of Pfaeffle's annexation application, the council may elect to phase both the payment of the fees and the offsite improvements, Blanchard said.
This is in part because of the difficulty a developer may have in coming up with those kinds of funds right away, he said. Another reason to phase the payments is to allow the city to best utilize the funds at the most opportune time.
Because the city's capital improvements plan is a 20-year plan, certain aspects of the plan don't need to be completed immediately, Blanchard said.
"We're not prepared to use all that money (immediately)," he said.
Asked for his thoughts on the preliminary annexation fee numbers, Pfaeffle complimented the work done so far.
"I think there's a good foundation to work from," he said.
Pfaeffle did voice one complaint during the meeting.
"I guess I am a little disappointed more of the council isn't here to hear this."
Kaplan also has begun work on figures related to the other two annexation applications Bellevue is considering. The applications—submitted by local landowners Harry Rinker and John Scherer—are for 560 acres of land located south of Bellevue and east of the Gannett-Picabo Road.
While the numbers released on Tuesday were only specific to Pfaeffle's application, the fact that the combined Rinker-Scherer proposals include more than 900 residential lots would seem to indicate a significant annexation fee for the two properties may be in the works.
Kaplan also is preparing additional annexation fees geared toward the commercial portion of the two properties.
