The City Council unanimously approved a home rule petition that would set linkage fees to mitigate the impact of development in the city at Monday night’s meeting.
The petition will now move forward to the local legislative delegation, who will introduce the petition for passage at the State House. If the home rule petition passes at the state level, the council will then be able to finalize a linkage fees ordinance.
The linkage fees for commercial, industrial, and residential development would then go into a separate fund, with the City Council determining how they could best be used.
Currently, the City Manager is responsible for making any type of mitigation deals regarding development.
City Manager Thomas Ambrosino said he supports the move to linkage fees.
“I think linkage fees are a legitimate way for cities and towns to require large developers of commercial and residential properties to contribute to the communities, and there are several communities around us that have the legislative authority to require linkage fees as part of development,” said Ambrosino. “I think it’s time the city of Chelsea had that same authority. All this will do is grant the city the authority to implement a linkage fee.”
With linkage fees, the city charges a set rate based on the size of the project, and then the City Council decides how to use that money to help mitigate the impact of the project. City Council President Roy Avellaneda said that money can be put toward a wide array of initiatives, such as social programs, capital improvement projects, workforce development and job training, traffic improvements, youth sports programs, and scholarship opportunities.
The original language for the home rule petition stated that any residential developments of 24 or more units would have to pay a linkage fee. But Councillor-At-Large Leo Robinson introduced a successful amendment that struck language regarding the size of the residential developments from the petition.
Robinson said that would give the city more leeway to determine what size developments should pay the fees once it comes back to the city to craft the proper ordinance.
Councillors Todd Taylor and Calvin Brown both said that removing the language about the number of residential units means the city won’t be locked into a number if the petition becomes law.
“We can decide at a later time how the ordinance will be read, and this way we are not locked in,” said Taylor.