Development Impact Fees

On August 24, 2015, Fort Mill Town Council adopted Ordinance No. 2015-12, implementing development impact fees on new construction permits within the Town of Fort Mill. Beginning October 1, 2015, the town began collecting impact fees for the following categories:

• Fire Protection Impact Fee
• Municipal Facilities and Equipment Impact Fee
• Parks and Recreation Impact Fee (Residential Only).

Development impact fees are one-time fees that will be collected at the time a building permit is issued. Impact fees will be determined for each project based on a formula contained within the impact fee ordinance. The basis for each fee calculation will include: the number of proposed units; persons per household (residential) or employee space ratio (commercial); the replacement cost for each fee category; and any discount rate adopted by Town Council.  As of August 25, 2022, those discount rates are 10% for Parks & Recreation, 10% for Fire Protection, and 10% for Municipal Facilities & Equipment.  

Consistent with state law, the impact fee ordinance authorizes exemptions for the following types of construction projects: rebuilding, remodeling, repairing or replacing an existing structure (provided there is no increase in the number of service units); residential additions; construction trailers and temporary offices; neighborhood amenities (playgrounds, tennis courts, clubhouses, etc.), volunteer fire stations, elementary schools, middle schools, secondary schools, and affordable housing units which meet minimum eligibility requirements.

A development impact fee estimator is provided below. To estimate the impact fees for a specific project, multiply the total per unit fee by the total number of units for the proposed land use category. (Please note: Actual calculations may be slightly higher or lower due to rounding.)

Impact fees are based upon generally accepted industry criteria, including Census Bureau and ITE data. In instances where an applicant contends that the assumptions included within the impact fee ordinance are not accurate for the intended use, the ordinance allows an applicant to perform an independent fee calculation (at the applicant’s expense). The ordinance also authorizes credit agreements for approved monetary or in-kind contributions.