HAYDEN — The City Council paved the way for stronger development Tuesday night, agreeing to cut impact fees dramatically.

By a 4-0 vote, the council adopted an ordinance that will reduce the impact fees paid by builders and generally passed along to buyers. The city impact fee for a single family housing unit will be lowered from $5,358 to $2,869, and the fee for a multi-family/other housing unit will be lowered from $4,785 to $1,772.

Rates are also changing for retail, restaurant, office and industrial buildings.

"The idea is that we are trying to be attractive to those who are looking to come to Hayden," City Administrator Brett Boyer said. "Having a lower impact fee makes it easier to get into a home."

Added Mayor Steve Griffitts: “I like reducing things, and we’re not done yet.”

Impact fees are one-time payments for system improvements necessary in new development. They help pay for new growth and are subject to legal standards with three key elements: need, benefit and proportionality.

The city appointed two members of its planning and zoning commission to serve on the Development Impact Fee Advisory Committee to review rates and methodology of the impact fee system that was in place. The committee met six times this year.

"These were very lengthy, not one-hour, stamp-the-product type of meetings," said Connie Krueger, Hayden’s community and economic development director. "There was a lot of dialogue about the methodology, the modeling behind it and a lot of changes occurred during the course of these meetings."

The impact fees will help pay for Hayden's growth, specifically in parks and recreation as well as transportation, and will no longer be collected for public service.

"We use them to buy acreage and to build parks," Boyer said. "Same thing with roads — you're expanding intersections, lane miles."

Boyer said the city's impact fees will be reviewed once a year and change as needed to accommodate expected growth. The old fees were based on a 2006 study.

John Young, who served on the advisory committee, said he was appointed to a review committee in 2011 but the process was put on hold because "it got bogged down with consultant issues until it was revitalized this last year."

"We put a lot of time and effort into this,” he said. “We looked at what’s going on in the city of Hayden and tried not to have our crystal ball be too clear or too cloudy and make sure that we had realistic expectations of what’s going to happen over the next number of years."

He said reducing the fees is a great move for the city.

"Perhaps it will get us building some new homes and new businesses in Hayden," he said.

City Clerk Abbi Landis said the new rates should take effect in the coming week once the language is published in the legals section of The Press.