Riviera Beach officials want a sit-down with the Gold Coast Builders Association before voting on whether to increase development impact fees by 300 percent or more after members suggested the fees would be illegal.
The Riviera Beach City Council deferred the vote until city staff has time to meet with the builders association, which represents developers active in Palm Beach and northern Broward County.
GL Homes vice president Kevin Ratterree, an association member, said it wasn’t clear if Riviera Beach’s proposed fees comply with state law.
“We’re simply asking you to slow down and allow representatives from the association to meet with your staff,” Ratterree told council members.
Impact fees for transportation can only be charged if municipalities have agreements with surrounding county governments stipulating how those fees are charged, per a Florida statute passed in 2024, Louis Rotundo of Altamonte Springs-based consulting firm Rotundo and Associates told council members. That way developers aren’t charged the same fee twice, he said.
The deadline to enact such an agreement was in October, Rotundo said.
Riviera Beach’s study justifying the higher impact fees “reads more like an accounting study” but fails to explain what the fees will be used for, he said.
The village’s growing pipeline of residential projects justifies charging higher impact fees for roads, public buildings, libraries, parks, police, and fire and rescue, said Randy Sherman, CFO for Riviera Beach.
Almost 4,500 residential units are projected to be built in the village by 2040, according to a report by Tampa-based public finance firm DTA.
Without a fee hike, “the city cannot meet its growth demands of its residents and visitors,” according to DTA’s report.
The firm recommended the city charge an impact fee of over $5,400 for every single-family home built in the range of 1,400 to 1,999 square feet. A fee of over $6,900 was recommended for a 3,600-square-foot build. There are also proposed impact fees for multifamily units, hotel rooms, offices and other commercial property.
The proposed fees would be higher than in other Palm Beach County cities such as Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Mangonia Park, Palm Beach Gardens and Royal Palm Beach, the city’s CFO said.
The city could opt to roll out the fees over several years, he said.
City Attorney Dawn Wynn admitted she wasn’t sure if the fees are legally defendable, and she hasn’t spoken with the county attorney about whether there is a fee agreement with Riviera Beach.
Aside from the legality, Mayor Douglas Lawson feared the fees may make it harder for “some in the development community to bring and grow doors in our community.”