Input Session Set on St. Cloud’s Proposed Building Permit Fees

(KNSI) – Builders, developers and business owners will get another chance to weigh in on St. Cloud’s proposed building permit fee increases later this month, ahead of a city council vote expected in August.

Greater St. Cloud and the Benton Economic Partnership are hosting an input session on Tuesday, June 23rd, on the proposed fees and related changes to the city’s development services. The session runs from 8:00 to 9:30 a.m. at Stageworks, 113 5th Avenue South in St. Cloud.

The two groups say the city has agreed to share a draft of the proposed fee schedule at the session, along with the improvements it intends to pair with the higher fees. Those include better services, faster permitting timelines, technology investments and other process changes. Organizers say that the draft will be the starting point for the discussion. Because the city is presenting an updated version, the specific fee figures debated earlier this spring could change.

The hosts say the goal is to listen first. They want to hear directly from builders and business owners about how the proposed schedule and the city’s planned improvements to land, and to gather specific real-world examples of what is slowing development in St. Cloud. Where the group sees them, organizers say they may weigh realistic alternatives. The stated aim is to help the city stabilize its budget while reducing the financial impact on developers and lowering barriers to housing and business growth.

Feedback from the session will be shared with city staff and elected officials before the August council meeting, when the item is expected to be heard. Organizers say the council has indicated it plans to move ahead with the fee increases at that meeting, and also wants to see a list of strategies to spur more residential development in the city.

The fee package has been before the council for months. In May, the council voted 5-2 to postpone a final decision until August 17th, the second delay on the issue. The proposal would adopt the International Code Council’s Building Valuation Data table in two phases, moving from the 2015 table the city currently uses to the 2020 table, then to the most current table on July 1st, 2027.

As proposed this spring, the new structure was estimated to generate about $1.58 million a year, up from roughly $1.08 million under current rates. City officials have said St. Cloud is not recovering the full cost of providing permit services, with the difference subsidized by property taxpayers and utility ratepayers.

Under the version discussed in May, residential roofing and siding permits would each rise from $60 to $100, and a combined roofing and siding permit would jump from $75 to $200. A typical $160,000 single-family, two-family or townhome project was projected to see a combined permit cost increase of $917 once the changes were fully in effect, while a $1.1 million commercial or industrial building permit would rise by about $3,536. Those figures could be revised in the draft the city presents on the 23rd.

The Central Minnesota Builders Association, which represents more than 300 builders, developers and contractors in the region, has opposed the increases, warning they could have a chilling effect on the housing the city says it needs. The CMBA, the Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation, Dale Gruber Construction and Central Minnesota Habitat for Humanity have all urged the council to take a more measured approach.

For more on the event, click here.

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