Developers will get a break amid the deepening recession after El Paso County lowered park fees for the first time since they were enacted more than a decade ago.

The reduction isn’t likely to benefit many developers, though, because new construction has dried up because of the credit crunch and worsening economy.

“It’s been incredibly slow,” said Tim Wolken, head of the county’s public services department. “Until that picks up, they’re paying very little in fees.”

County commissioners approved the lower fees Thursday, along with higher charges for using park facilities.

At issue are fees the county charges developers to build neighborhood, community and regional parks. Although the county can request land instead of fees, Wolken said that’s happened only three or four times since the county began collecting fees.

Wolken said the fees for 2009 weren’t driven down by declining land values. Rather, the county’s Park Fee Advisory Committee chose to base fees on median land values rather than mean land values. Median value is the midpoint, meaning half the values are higher and half are lower. Mean is an average.

If the committee used the average as in past years, developers would have paid $692 per home for regional park fees, more than double the $332 fee based on median land value.

The $360 difference will save a developer $144,000 on a 400-home development.

Next year’s regional park fee of $332 is a 21 percent drop from this year’s fee of $422.

Fees are lower for neighborhood and community parks.

Wolken said advisory committee members wanted to stabilize fees, and according to a memo from Assessor Mark Lowderman, using median values will soften volatility in the fees from year to year.

That’s because an average price can be driven up sharply by a few high-end pieces of land worth millions, while the median isn’t affected as greatly by high and low end values, Wolken said.

The county has accumulated $3 million through the years. The money is spent in the quadrant of the county from which it’s collected.

Next year, the county will begin planning its largest park, the 1,000-acre tract at Shoup and Vollmer roads yet to be named. Other county regional parks range from the 400-acre Fountain Creek Regional Park to the 750-acre Paint Mines.

In a related action, commissioners approved facility rental fees for 2009. All but three fees increased. Reserving a pavilion went up $2 to $13, depending on the size, while tennis court charges stayed the same for those without lights and increased $1 per hour if courts are lit.

Nonprofit usage charges increased less than commercial rentals. For example, a church holding a big event with 500 people will pay up to $14 more per day for facilities, compared to an increase of $27 for the same event held by a business.

Developer fees                               Based on average             Based on median             2008 feeNeighborhood park         172                             82                                   105Community park             265                            127                                  161Regional park                 692                            332                                  422

Source: El Paso County

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