PATA History Pages

Builders should pay for growth, mayor says... Mike Coleman!

Proposal May Signal City Resources Can?’t Keep Up With Growth

The Politicians of Columbus now admit what many Columbus residents and city service providers have known for a long time.

Quotes from Dispatch article:

Lisa Thurber of the Far North Communities Coalition said impact fees can work for the short term but not in the long run.

"Residential developers are a huge drain of city resources and they haven’t given at all," she said. "We are so far behind that impact fees aren’t going to make up for it. We need a tax increase. (Coleman) has no choice."

Major Policy Change for Columbus , Long Overdue

Quotes from Dispatch article:

It comes down to money.

"The time has come in our city’s history where it is necessary that new neighborhood development better pay for itself and its share of necessary community services," Coleman wrote in a memo outlining his policy changes to Development Director Mark Barbash yesterday.

Coleman said neighborhoods cannot continue to develop without weighing the effect on school systems; paying for new schools must be a part of neighborhood growth policies.

"Without such adjustment our city resources will continue to be stretched thin."
Coleman said he’s concerned about what Columbus will be in 25 years.

"How’s the city going to look?" Coleman asked. "How’s the city going to feel?"