|
In the coming weeks the Alachua County Commission will begin considering substantial increases to impact fees. I know I don't have to explain to any of you how ineffective impact-fee increases will be, as county officials try to figure out a way to climb out of a massive infrastructure deficit they created themselves by ignoring the road needs of this community for decades. Now, the county will ask builders and developers to carry the burden to try to solve the problem. But as we all know there are at least two fallacies with that philosophy. The first is that somehow the building community will swallow this increase, and not pass it on to their customers. Unfortunately, the margin for builders is already too low to do that. The other fallacy is that this revenue will somehow increase the county coffers. Most economic experts say it will do just the opposite. In a market that is working hard to right itself, adding higher fees will only slow construction, and as a result, decrease revenue. Finally, it will take a rapidly diminishing affordable-housing market, and make it totally disappear.
As some of you know the BANCF has joined with GACAR and the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce to try to educate the community about the dangers of these increases. For that effort, the Chamber is being threatened with the loss of the funding it receives from the county for economic development.
A recent Gainesville Sun editorial supported the Chamber, and criticized Commission Chair Paula DeLaney for her threat. If you missed that editorial, you can see it here.
Also, the three organizations have created a website as part of the effort to educate the community about impact fees. To see that, click here. |
|
|
|
www.BuildingEdgeMagazine.com
Our June 2007 is now available online and was delivered more than a week ago. The Cover Feature is Jim & Pal Bennett with Bennett Construction Services in Ocala. Our Edge Spotlight this month is on Via Bertolini. Our National feature is on Doors: Interior, Exterior, Patio and Overhead/Garage Doors. This is also our Parade of Homes Wrap Up issue. We have already had many compliments about the size of the issue. Many thanks go to our advertisers. If it weren't for them, it would not have been possible to increase the size of the magazine.
Our July issue features a cover story on Kara Sutton & Sutton Family Homes. Our National Feature is on Baths: Fixtures, faucets, home spas, hardware, tile and countertops. This issue is now in production and was our largest July issue ever. Again, the support shown from our advertisers and Kara Sutton's professional partners was amazing. Thank you to everyone involved for allowing us to keep expanding the size of the publication.
Sales are now open on our August issue. The cover story is on Ocala's Adams Homes. The National feature is Curb Appeal: Entry doors, brick and siding, roofing, lighting, landscaping, paving. This issue closes on Tuesday, June 25th. For more information, please contact us at (352) 372-3958 in Gainesville, or (352) 368-1707 in Ocala.
Coming up, in the September issue is a feature on The Palms, an exciting new downtown Gainesville condominium development being brought to you by Mitch Glaeser and Greg Trunnell. Coming up in October is Tommy Waters Custom Homes.
Sales have closed on the Summer 2007 issue of Commercial Building Edge. The cover feature is on Gray Construction Services. The National Feature is on Green Building. Sales will open next week on the Fall 2007 issue, which will include a cover feature on Ocala's Ausley Construction www.ausleyconstruction.com . The Winter isssue will feature Trunnell Construction on the cover.
Sales for the new Home Magazine are open. Home: Living in the Heart of Florida, a new magazine from Advantage Publishing is open for sales. Taking the experience we have gained from Building Edge and Commercial Building Edge, we are very excited about this new endeavor which will showcase the best of living in our community. Home: Living in the Heart of Florida will be a general circulation publication available to everyone in the community. The early feedback is beyond anything we could have expected. The website is currently under development. With a distribution of over 30,000 copies, this will be the largest magazine in North Central Florida. For more information, please contact us at (352) 372-5854. The new website should be up and running by July 15th. While there is nothing to view now, I encourage you to bookmark the link, as we aim to make this the number one website for the North Central Florida Community. It is www.LivingInTheHeartOfFlorida.com
|
|
|
|
New Alachua City Hall Preparing for Business
After years of planning and months of setbacks, Alachua's new city hall is ready to open its doors. City employees are slated to move into the 24,000-square-foot, two-story brick building by June 20, with a grand-opening ceremony in mid-July. The building should be open to the public by the end of the month. The Alachua Police Department has already moved into its new 7,300-square-foot building next door, and City Manager Clovis Watson Jr. said other city employees are eager to follow.
Click Here >>
Dunnellon Septic Tank Ban Advances
The Dunnellon City Council voted unanimously last week to move forward with a change to the city code that would ban installation of septic tanks for new homes along the Rainbow River, and require all new development to tie into city water lines. During the meeting, a letter protesting the proposal was read into the record from attorney Clark Stillwell, who represents Gerald Dodd, developer of Rainbow River Ranch LLC.
Click Here >>
Marion County Building Permits Up Over Last Month
Marion County's permits for new single-family home construction increased by approximately 12 percent in May, one month after they hit the lowest total since 2003.
Still, the 191 new single-family permits the Marion County Building Department issued in May were below numbers for the first three months of 2007, and well off the scorching pace in the first half of last year. May's numbers were 68 percent below the same month last year.
Click Here >>
Gainesville Officials Question Urban Village
Development in east Gainesville and in the city's downtown could be hindered by the development of a massive Urban Village planned for the area near SW 34th Street, city commissioners and planning officials worried last week. Concerns voiced during a city commission workshop on the issue were some of the strongest criticisms yet raised about the plan, which is being developed jointly by officials with Gainesville, Alachua County, the University of Florida and state transportation planners.
Click Here >>
Ocala Officials Consider Utility Rate Increases
The Ocala City Council is considering rate increases for electric utility customers over three years, including a 2.8 percent increase in December, and steeper rate increases for commercial and industrial users, according to a city news release. After a rate study by C.H. Guernsey & Co. of Oklahoma City, Okla., the staff recommended increasing the average residential bill by $2.48 this December and by $2.81 and $2.57 a month in subsequent years.
Click Here >>
MCBA Calendar of Events
Click Here>>
BANCF Calendar of Events
Click Here>>
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lawmakers Cut Property Taxes; More May Come
The Florida Legislature passed the biggest property-tax cut in state history last week amid partisan quarrels about relieving over-taxed citizens and gutting schools and emergency services. The first stage of the complicated two-part plan should save the average taxpayer about seven percent this year by rolling back, cutting and capping local-government tax collections. The second stage will ask voters on Jan. 29 to amend the state Constitution and super-size tax exemptions by as much as $195,000 for a home with a market-based assessed value of $500,000 or more.
Click Here >>
Future Builders Attend Summer Camp
With more than 80 students in attendance, the Future Builders of America just completed its biggest and best Summer Leadership Camp. Twenty-four Florida Home Builders Association members and staff participated as camp counselors and to help run the operation. At the camp, students completed their first permanent construction project by building a 100-foot long concrete block retaining wall. The three-day camp was held at the Future Farmers of America Leadership Camp in Bartow.
Click Here >>
Holly Hill Steps Up Plan to Offer Affordable Housing
In goal-setting sessions last summer, Holly Hill commissioners said affordable housing was one of their objectives. Progress toward that goal has been slow but last week commissioners took a major step toward turning the idea into reality. The first piece of legislation, approved in April, was a resolution permitting commissioners to sell surplus city property without competitive bidding when commissioners determined it was in the city's best interest.
Click Here >>
Bradenton City Council OKs Impact Fees for New Roads
To mirror the types of impact fees developers pay in the county and other cities, the Bradenton City Council last week approved imposing road impact fees on new construction. The costs equal about half what the county charges, where $4,147 in road fees are tacked onto a three-bedroom single-family home, while the same house in the city would have $2,073 added to fees already charged for parks, public safety, water and sewer, and schools. Commercial space fees are based on square feet.
Click Here >>
Builders Will Get Sneak Peek at Innovative Home
A showcase demonstration home in Orlando will be unveiled to builders during the Southeast Building Conference next month. The 2007 New Southern Home is 10,200 square feet of innovation, creative architecture and interior design incorporating the latest in energy efficiency and "green" technology. The cottage-style house is on Anderson Road in southeast Orlando, near Lake Conway, but the public can view the home via live Web cameras at newsouthernhome.com during the final weeks of construction.
Click Here >>
Winter Haven City Commissioners Raise Impact Fees
City commissioners have approved a 2.2 percent increase in impact fees for new homes. For a single-family home in Winter Haven, fees would increase from $5,090 to $5,202, city officials said. The measure passed 4-1 last week. Commissioner Charlie Cone, the lone dissenter, said longtime county residents who have already once paid impact fees should not be forced to pay additional impact fees when they move into the city.
Click Here >>
Lake County Delays Impact Fee Decision
Facing an overflow crowd that burst into applause when one commissioner announced her strong opposition to giving Lake County the highest impact fees in the state, the Lake County Commission decided to postpone for at least a month any final vote on hiking the fee builders pay on construction projects. During the half-hour meeting last week at the county administration building in Tavares, most of the commissioners didn't touch on the merits of the proposal, which would significantly raise the impact fees to be used for new road and transportation projects in Lake County.
Click Here >> |
|
|
|
NAHB Files Lawsuit Against Corps
The National Association of Home Builders has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over the latest version of the agency's Nationwide Permit program. With the new rules, the Corps has overstepped its authority to regulate development under the Clean Water Act, according to NAHB. The case is an attempt to restore common sense to the Act's huge breadth and scope. The Clean Water Act gives regulators the authority to issue permits to land owners when they discharge pollutants. NAHB said that these are common drainage ditches, not navigable waters and therefore not under the Corps' regulation.
Click Here >>
NAHB Plans to Launch National Green Building Program
The National Association of Home Builders' board of directors has approved the creation of a national green building program to provide a template for voluntary, market-driven green building all over the country. The new program will be based on the National Green Building Standard, a model for residential construction and renovation. With a national program, home buyers can be assured that their home is truly green despite where they live.
Click Here >>
Insurers Place More Responsibility on Homeowners
As natural disasters threaten to drive up property losses in many parts of the country, insurers increasingly are requiring homeowners to better protect their houses as a condition of staying insured. This reflects efforts by the insurance industry to place more responsibility on homeowners to reduce the risk of loss when disasters occur. Some companies are enforcing these new rules with stepped up inspections.
Click Here >>
"Father of Suburbia" Named to National Housing Hall of Fame
William J. Levitt, a real-estate developer widely credited as the father of modern American suburbia, was inducted into the National Housing Hall of Fame on June 9. The Hall of Fame recognizes individuals whose spirit, ingenuity and determination have changed the face of housing history for the better. Levitt's career as a builder began in 1929. Prior to World War II, Levitt saw a need for affordable housing for the returning veterans. His answer was to apply innovative new assembly-line techniques to housing construction, allowing for homes to be built both quickly and cheaply. He was largely responsible for transforming what had been a local, low-production trade into today's modern shelter technology.
Click Here >>
Home-Remodeling Expenditures to Soar
Americans this year will spend nearly $233 billion on home remodeling, according to the National Association of Home Builders' 2007 industry forecast. That represents a 1.9 percent increase from the record $228 billion spent last year, as estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau. NAHB officials announced the forecast at a teleconference celebrating May as National Home Remodeling Month.
Click Here >> |
|
|
New Big-box Retailer May Call Plaza Verde Home
The leasing agent for Plaza Verde is negotiating with a big-box retailer that would be new to Gainesville to fill the vacant Pic n' Save at NW 13th Street and 23rd Avenue. Betsy Whitaker, president of Asset Management, said she will not reveal the retailer until she gets an agreement. She said she has been negotiating with the retailer for four to five months, and a decision is now before the store's board. Merchants in the plaza who were contacted had not heard the retailer's name.
Click Here >>
Marriott to Create Chain of Boutique Hotels
Marriott International Inc. will work with Ian Schrager, who revived the concept of the boutique hotel 23 years ago, to create a chain with as many as 100 locations. Schrager will design and market the chain, while Marriott will oversee the development and operate and manage the hotels. Boutiques typically have fewer rooms, better services and more style than larger chains. Marriott is the biggest U.S. hotel operator. Each location will have an average of 150 to 200 rooms.
Click Here >>
AGC Disappointed in Senate's Immigration Vote
The Associated General Contractors of America have released a statement expressing their disappointment in the Senate's failure to continue to move the immigration debate forward. AGC believes that any legislation on the topic should include a workable, reliable employment verification process, penalties for employees that are proportionate to the violation, a path to legal status for illegal immigrants who are working and contributing to society and no employer liability for the hiring violations of subcontractors or vendors.
Click Here >>
Sky-high Building Proposed for West Palm Beach
A proposal for one of the most prominent pieces of undeveloped land in downtown West Palm Beach is a 1,500-foot tower with an observation deck -- unmistakably resembling Seattle's Space Needle -- that would be the second-highest building in the world and the tallest in the United States. Among towers, the project would be fourth-tallest in the world. It's being proposed by Fort Lauderdale-based High Point Group teamed with architect Rodriguez Design Group.
Click Here >>
AGC of Greater Florida Calendar of Events
Click Here >>
| |
|
|
|
| Current Issues |
 |
Residential June 2007
Commercial Spring 2007
HOME: Living in the Heart of Florida
Coming Soon
Fall 2007
For more information,
Please contact
Scott Costello |
If you are interested in joining the BANCF and taking advantage of these great opportunities,
Please visit
www.bancf.com |
|
|
