Impact fees could help pay for recreation, senior facilities in Pelham

By John Basilesco
Staff Writer

May 12, 2008 01:55 am

—

PELHAM — Impact fees are in the works to help pay for an indoor recreation facility at Pelham Veterans Memorial Park and an addition to the Senior Center on Nashua Road.

The recreation impact fees, which are still being finalized, would require developers to pay a certain amount for each new home they build in town.

The money raised would help pay for the planned indoor recreation facility, which would include two basketball courts and possibly an indoor batting cage to generate revenue for the facility, Parks and Recreation Director Brian Johnson said. The facility would be the new home for the Parks and Recreation Department, which is housed at Town Hall, he said.

It would provide a year-round presence at the park that could serve as a deterrent to vandalism, Johnson said.

Money raised through impact fees would help finance a planned expansion of the Senior Center. That plan calls for a new 7,200-square-foot building that would be connected to the old senior center by a breezeway. It would include space for a new dining room, updated kitchen and a hall for exercise programs and dancing.

Town planners will vote on the impact fees at their meeting May 19, Planning Director Jeff Gowan said.

If adopted, they will represent the third set of impact fees to be instituted in town, he said. Currently, there are impact fees to help pay for Fire Department facilities, including a new station. Impact fees also are in place to help finance the cost of the bond for Pelham Elementary School, Gowan said.

Gowan said the Fire Department impact fees currently apply only to residential construction. But they may be broadened to include new commercial buildings as well, he said.

Currently, developers are assessed 46 cents per square foot for each new home they build. But that figure may change as part of a review of the Fire Department impact fees, he said.