A bill designed to tax new development based on its negative environmental impact is headed to the Senate, where it faces a muddy future.
The House of Delegates voted 96-41 Saturday, mostly along party lines, to approve the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Green Fund, a fee charged to new residential and commercial development based on the amount of impervious surface the development creates.
Impervious surface doesn?t allow rainwater to soak into the ground, causing polluted storm water runoff that contaminates waterways.
The bill moves to the Senate today where it faces an uncertain future. Senate President Thomas Mike Miller, D-Calvert, has enforced a strict policy of not voting this year on any measure creating a new program or tax that does not go toward solvingthe state?s budget deficit.
The Green Fund would charge residential development a minimum of $100 to a maximum of $1,500 based on the number of square feet of impervious surface created. Commercial development projects would be assessed $1 per square foot of impervious surface.
Exemptions were included for economically distressed counties and for projects that counties aggressively recruit. The fund?s revenues would return to local governments to pay for storm water management projects and other upgrades.
“For the first time we?re imposing a statewide impact fee,” said Del. Christopher Shank, R-Washington County, who argued the fee would scare off developers at a time when the state needs a healthy economy to deal with a looming $1.3 billion budget deficit.
The bill?s supporters argued developers could reduce the fee by using environmentally friendly building techniques and said the benefits of cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay outweighed the potential impact on business.
