The sun shines over the Pennsy Trail, one of many parks amenities that can benefit from park impact fees. Greenfield’s city council voted Wednesday to increase park impact fees to keep up with the city’s growth.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
GREENFIELD — As new housing additions continue to pop up throughout Greenfield, the city’s population is set to increase exponentially.
The city council passed two resolutions at its June 28 board meeting that will help prepare for that growth in terms of parks and roads.
One resolution approved the city’s first-ever road impact fees while the other updated the city’s park impact fee.
Both types of fees will be charged to builders and developers on a per-lot basis, with the cost likely being passed down to home buyers. Both are designed to help the city keep up with the increased demands of a growing population.
City officials first started exploring road impact fees in 2021 when city engineer Jason Koch said the fees would be assessed by projecting how many car trips to and from any given property can be expected on a day-to-day basis.
The calculation takes into account “the stress and strain it puts on our existing roads,” Koch had said, “so that we can make those future improvements to accommodate the residential, the commercial, the industrial that’s coming into town.”
Back in 2021, neighboring communities like Fishers and Westfield were imposing fees of about $200 to $300 per trip.
On Wednesday, Greenfield’s city council approved road impact fees for well into the future, increasing gradually each year — from $204 in 2024 to $317 in 2033. The fees go into effect Jan. 1, 2024.
Roads aren’t the only city amenity taking on increased use.
Greenfield Parks director Ellen Kuker said the newly adjusted park impact fees should help the city grow and maintain its park offerings as the population grows in the years ahead.
The city is required to update its park and recreation impact fee plan every five years. The last update was done in 2018.
The most recent update increases the fees charged for every new single-family dwelling building permit from $1,522 to $1,680.
Kuker said the fee is recalculated every five years by a complex formula which takes into account the current and projected population, the current and projected housing inventory, as well as the current and projected park amenities in order to predict the need for park services and amenities.
With the rate of inflation and the rate at which the city’s population is growing, the increased fees are meant to keep up with the demand for local parks services, which includes 10 city parks and over 16 miles of trails, among a number of other amenities like the Kathy Dowling Aquatics Center and splash pad, Riley Home & Museum, bike share program, preschool, summer camp and Greenfield Senior Center.
The parks department also hosts summer concerts at Depot Street Park and a number of other programs throughout the year.
But there are limits to how the park impact fees can be spent based on needs identified through the parks impact fee update process, said Kuker.
The parks department hired Layman & Layman consulting firm to review the current parks inventory, services and needs to determine what areas would best benefit from park impact fees.
The study identified that the areas of greatest need are park land, trails, playgrounds, park shelters, skate parks and bike parks, “so impact fees collected can only be spent on these items,” Kuker said.
An example of how park impact fees have been used recently is the creation of the connector trail between Brandywine Park and the Pennsy Trail.
“We get so many positive comments and compliments on the Brandywine connector, but it took a lot to build,” Kuker said. “We did receive a land and water conservation fund grant from (the Indiana Department of Natural Resources) and we were able to leverage park impact fees in order to secure that grant, which made our money go even further.”
While Kuker is thrilled to see how well the city’s parks and amenities are being utilized, she said they often come with a hefty price tag.
“Land is expensive and trails can cost a million dollars a mile to build — assuming you already own the land and aren’t going over water — so it’s not cheap,” she said.
The parks department plans ahead for future growth in order to be ready whenever the money comes in, in the form of grants, donations or city funding.
The department hired Weihe Engineering in early 2021 to assess the best way to repurpose Riley Park.
The firm recently re-released the schematic of the proposed teen area in Riley Park on social media, which got the community talking about the popular park’s future potential.
The firm came up with a design which would turn the former baseball fields on the north end of the park into a teen zone featuring a skate park, bike pump track, covered basketball courts, shelter and artificial turf athletic field, while converting the area west of the Chapel in the Park into a children’s zone with new playground equipment, pavilions and additional parking.
“While no money appears to be available currently, we continue to take small steps towards a comprehensive Riley Park design in order to position ourselves so that when the money does come we are ready to break ground,” said Kuker.
Doing so eliminates the need for nine to 12 months of prep work whenever funding is secured, she said.
“In terms of the teen zone at Riley Park, I have the construction plans, I have the drainage plans, I have the engineering plans, so we can send the next project out for bid and break ground (when funding becomes available) because all the front end work will already be done,” she said.
“We’re trying to get all these ducks in a row so we’re ready to strike when the opportunity allows.”
