EDITORIAL: City should reassess impact fee system
The city of Steamboat Springs’ system for charging developers for the impacts their projects have on traffic and roads is under scrutiny once again, this time by two council members who are questioning the fairness of the current process.
The question surrounding the fee centers on whether or not a developer should be charged based on the overall cost of a future road project, including state and grant funding, or only the portion the city ends up actually having to pay.
This issue was raised after developer Michael Kortas claimed the city owes him a refund because the impact fee he was assessed was based on an estimate that the Elk River Road intersection project would cost the city $3.5 million when in fact the city’s portion of the project totaled only $877,000 after the Colorado Department of Transportation contributed $3.6 million toward the construction.

