Developers may see a 64 percent hikein the amount of money they dole out to Prince William County to mitigate the negative effects the homes they plan have on the community.
The Prince William Board County of Supervisors is considering raising the proffers on single-family homes from nearly $23,000 to more than $37,700. Proffers are legally considered voluntary fees developers pay toward capital construction of community necessities, such as roads and schools. But the county would not approve many projects on which proffers were not paid.
The board also is discussing raising the fees on a town house by 47 percent to $31,927 and on multifamily units by 74 percent to $19,526.
The price of property alone went up 50 percent in two years, said Sean Connaughton, Board of Supervisors chair.
“When you look at the cost of other construction materials, these [new rates] are very reflective of the incredibly rising costs of rights of way, school sites, construction and the materials that go into these projects,” he said
Connaughton said he would like to explore letting developers offer up land for school sites instead of contributing money to a larger fund due to increasingly scarce land for possible construction.
“I believe that the increases are excessive and not in line with what the true impacts are of new homes,” said Joe Jacobs, president of the Prince William chapter of the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association.
The current price of a new single-family home in the county is over $500,000, but it will rise as the costs of materials, engineering and proffers go up, Jacobs said.
“That is a huge hit for homeowners. The cost of the house makes it difficult to get your foot in the door.”
Increased proffers puts home ownership “out of reach” for more people, said Mary Beth Cova, a spokeswoman for the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors.
The board willvote on the rates in May.
