Beaufort County school board approves fee hike for homes built south of the Broad
Beaufort County’s school board has approved an impact fee that will raise the price to build housing South of the Broad River — but it’s a few approvals away from going into effect.
The school district stands to make approximately $89 million collecting the fee from developers over the next decade, according to projections by TischlerBise, the Maryland consulting firm hired by the district to provide fee options. The money would be used to offset the costs of school construction brought on by population growth.
On Tuesday, the school board approved the larger of two fee options TischlerBise presented. Instead of crediting developers for the full cost of the $345-million school bond referendum passed in 2019, the fee only credits them for referendum projects that increase school capacity, TischlerBise analyst Colin McAweeney said in December.
Under this option, builders would pay a $9,535 fee on single-family dwellings and $4,508 fee per unit in multi-family dwellings.
The fee will only apply to housing units South of the Broad River, where the district anticipates growth. Schools North of the Broad are “able to absorb all projected enrollment,” McAweeney said in December.
The fee was approved 10-0, with board member Rachel Wisnefski absent. David Striebinger introduced the motion to approve the more expensive fee, saying he saw “no downside” to the choice.
“I’d like us to make a decision,” Striebinger said. “I would choose option two because I sense there may be some negotiation once we get to county council.”
The fee will next will go to a county board for approval, TischlerBise president Carson Bise told school board members Tuesday.
“We are planning to present these fees and fees for Beaufort County July 21st to the planning commission,” Bise said. “That’s the first step of several to get it approved at the Beaufort County Council.”
What the fees will be used for
The district is anticipating massive growth in Bluffton, where four of the town’s six elementary schools are already over 90% capacity.
McAweeney told board members in December that the firm expects the county to gain 41,000 new residents — about 20 percent of the county’s current population — and 19,000 new housing units over the next 10 years.
In February, district chief operations officer Robert Oetting told the school board the district “should be building a new school every two to three years” to keep up with growth in Bluffton.
Without rezoning or construction, he said Bluffton will need between 108 and 152 new mobile classrooms just to house students in the next five years, depending on participation in the district’s school choice program and actual classroom uses.
That prediction included the referendum-funded expansions under construction at May River High School and River Ridge Academy, which will add capacity for 400 students between the two buildings.
Ted Barber, president of the Citizen-Led Oversight Committee for the referendum, said Wednesday that both expansions have remained under budget and on schedule through the coronavirus pandemic.
The River Ridge expansion will be finished in August, and the May River expansion will be finished by January 2021.