SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — A 28-year-old agreement between Seminole County and Winter Springs will be updated on Tuesday during the county’s board of commissioners meeting.

The update will change the verbiage of impact fees in the city of Winter Springs as they change to mobility fees.

What You Need To Know

  • The Seminole County Board of Commissioners will have a meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 10, to update verbiage for impact fees to become mobility fees

  • The original language for impact fees was set in a 1996 interlocal agreement with Seminole County

  • The change to mobility fees will give cities like Winter Springs more flexibility to use the money for more projects

The ever-changing landscape that is transportation can make it hard to stay up to date with the times.

And starting Tuesday, Winter Springs is hoping to become current when it comes to impact fees.

“An impact fee is a onetime fee imposed by a local government on new development to pay for the costs of providing public services and infrastructure to the new development,” Seminole County stated on its website.

A mobility fee is just another name for a road impact fee.

“Basically, an impact fee can be used. We have park impact fees, transportation, now multi-model impact fees as they’re called and they all help offset the cost of new residents and the impact on fire departments, police departments and those things,” Winter Springs Mayor Kevin McCann explained.

McCann said these fees are important for growing cities, but for Winter Springs, the current verbiage is based on an agreement with Seminole County from 1996. 

The agreement restricted the use of money to just automobiles.

To address this, these fees will be called mobility fees as opposed to impact fees, which allows for more flexibility.

“Though it’s just maybe technical and verbiage, I think it’s important,” McCann said. “It’s a 28-year-old agreement between Winter Springs and Seminole County, and it was time to be updated and reflect the multiple uses of transportation.”

Seminole County officials told Spectrum News 13 that the county first made this change in 2021 and their interlocal agreements were supposed to be updated in their cities.

These update memos never made it to cities like Winter Springs, which is why the change is being made now.

It’s something McCann believes is important.

“I think it’s important just that we stay current. The world changed quickly, and we don’t want to be left behind,” McCann explained. “And I think it’s important to reflect the safety of our residents and make sure that we’re doing right by them and protecting them. That’s our job.”

And with these changes, McCann feels they can do wonders in their community.

“The impact will be seen by our residents with improved safety features that will improve sidewalks, improve cross-Seminole Trails and public transportation,” McCann expressed.

The Seminole County Board of Commissioners meeting is on Tuesday, Dec 10, at 9:30 a.m.