City eases Thunder Rock impact fee
The entrance to Thunder Rock at the intersection of U.S. 281 and Texas 71 south of Marble Falls. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey
After weeks of consideration, the Marble Falls City Council on Sept. 3 voted to grant partial relief on millions of dollars in impact fees at the request of the developers of the Thunder Rock subdivision near the intersection of U.S. 281 and Texas 71.
Under the deal approved by the city, Thunder Rock will receive about $1.3 million in fee relief out of the $3.4 million initially requested during an Aug. 6 meeting of the council. In exchange, Thunder Rock developers committed to installing roughly $2 million in water infrastructure for homes in the Rocky Road area on the city’s south side at a later date.
“I think it is more than a fair deal,” Mayor Dave Rhodes told DailyTrib.com after the council’s decision. “They get what they need out of it, and we get what we need.”
Thunder Rock’s request for relief is rooted in the city’s decision to double “impact fees” after May 1, 2024. Impact fees are a one-time payment to the city to connect a property to municipal utilities, helping cover the long-term costs of adding a home to the system.
Before May 1, the impact fee for a standard single-family home was $6,054. As of May 1, that number increased to $12,108. Thunder Rock missed the deadline for final plat approval for 516 lots across three build phases to fall under the lesser fee, which amounted to about $3.39 million in unbudgeted costs.
“I get it, it’s revenue that the city is forgoing, but we’re so overbudget on that project,” said Rob Romo, vice president of development for Thunder Rock developer Centurion American, during his appeal to the council on Aug. 6. “It’s not like we’re trying to sneak anything in here. We’re in a bind. The city has been a great partner, but we just need some help.”
The city did not immediately respond to Romo’s request but tabled the matter until it was addressed during the council’s Tuesday meeting.
Instead of the full $3.39 million in relief, the city granted $1.3 million in relief on build phase 2a, which includes 216 homes on lots that have already been sold.
According to Mayor Rhodes, the work Thunder Rock will do on Rocky Road’s water infrastructure is valued at roughly $2 million, which the city would have had to pay at some point anyway.
The mayor also noted that this would be the last time Marble Falls would grant a request for impact fee relief going forward unless the city is at fault in the appeal.
“We are closing the gate,” he said.
2 thoughts on “City eases Thunder Rock impact fee”
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There issues with this supposed deal. What date is this supposed to happen? The TR developer is going to do their projects first long before they would even touch the rocky road area. Why is the city foregoing the bidding process for a capital improvement project ? Also the city has yet to acquire all of the ROW along Rocky road, turland and Jackson dr. When are they going to do that? Which party is going to be liable for any damages should they occur?
And just why is Thunder rock doing work on Rocky Road water infrastructure? That area was involuntarily annexed in 2008 and the work Falls on the city. It is not a part of TR. Something tells me there are more backroom shenanigans going on.