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Should the Town of Farmville lower its tap fees, as a way to help developers? That’s something the council plans to look at in the coming months. The issue was raised during the group’s meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 8, after discussion with Ben Lapp. The developer of the proposed Zion subdivision on Layne Street, Lapp raised concerns that the council wants companies to make additions beyond what’s required for a project without giving anything in return. 

As a result, Lapp said, developers either have to raise prices on homes or find some other way to balance expenses and still make a profit. He was referring to discussion over Zion, which has limited sidewalks within the subdivision, rather than extending out and making it more walkable and connected with other parts of town. Currently, it’s planned for 37 lots covering 5.484 acres, with 5 foot sidewalks on one side of the street. 

“It’s a lot of money up front to get something like this going and it’s almost not worth it if we have to do many different things to get it to the point where we can sell a house,” Lapp told the council. “My main concern is just affordability.” 

Lapp pointed out that his group used town regulations, which only requires one sidewalk in a subdivision. And any changes means more time and money put into the project. 

“We based our finances off of that,” Lapp said of the town requirement for just one sidewalk. “To put another sidewalk there, you have to get recalculations on all stormwater management, which is time and money with the engineer. Then you have to do the concrete and the prep work for all that. I was hoping the houses could stay in the $250,000 to $300,000 range but the more we tack on, the more infrastructure comes into this, the more expensive and the less affordable it is for people.” 

What about tap fees? 

Council member Thomas Pairet raised the question of reducing tap fees as a way of helping not just Lapp but other developers in the area. A tap fee is what’s paid to allow a property to “tap” into the water and sewer system. In Farmville, it’s $4,000 for water and $4,000 for sewer per house in a subdivision. 

Pairet pointed out the previous town manager, Gerald Spates, had urged the council to cut tap fees for a two-year period, in order to promote growth and investment. Also, the town did it as a way to help with growth twice in the last seven years.  

The problem, current Farmville Town Manager Dr. Scott Davis pointed out, is that this only happens once. The town gets a one-time tap fee and then is on the hook to maintain that water and sewer connection indefinitely. That means the tap fee is the only time Farmville has a chance to get the developer to help pay for the maintenance. 

“We get one bite at the apple, to get x amount of money up front to cover it for its lifetime,” Davis said. He also pointed out this would have to be for all developers, not just one. In other words, the council would have to vote on “relaxing” their current ordinance regarding tap fees for a certain amount of time. 

In the past, Davis said, when the tap fees were reduced, that was for developers who had already gotten their permit and completed the project by a certain date. And typically, he added, most developers don’t go through the tap process until they’re ready to sell the house, because once they get hooked up on the tap to water and sewer, they have to start paying the bill for that connection. 

Would that help? 

“Would that help you at all?” council member Sallie Amos asked Lapp, in terms of lowering the tap fees. 

“Anything less is helpful, any financial deductions,” Lapp said. “There’s a lot involved with getting something going and you all know that interest rates are high, housing is high, labor is extremely high. It’s not like it used to be and it just doesn’t make it worth it for many reasons to do something like this if there’s all these stipulations.” 

Lowering the tap fees, Lapp said, would help him keep prices on houses low. 

“Lowering that is going to allow people to buy something in their budget, because I can’t sell a house for $300,000 if it cost me $300,000 and with all the infrastructure, we’re selling 15 houses before we even start making a dime,” Lapp said. “I’m just asking for help to do something like this so people in California or wherever they’re moving here (from), they can find something that they like in their budget range.” 

Mayor Brian Vincent asked Davis to pull data to figure out where Farmville fits in the scope of what other towns offer concerning tap fees. He also asked for town staff to look at the impact of those previous times the tap fees got reduced. Was there any growth? Did the town see something productive happen? That data will be brought to a future work session.