The City Council will meet on Wednesday, February 1, at 1:30 p.m. in City Hall to consider, among its agenda items, the possibility of Apopka absorbing Qorvo’s impact fees after the technology conglomerate requested that such costs be reduced.
The City Council is expected to vote on the topic at the meeting.
New residential and commercial developments are standardly charged impact fees for public services to help pay for capital improvements due to growth.
Qorvo will owe the following impact fee costs for a total of $102,773.25: traffic, $41,616; water, $10,208; and sewer, $50,949.25.
Qorvo, a designer and manufacturer of technology solutions for the defense and wireless communication industries, has offices on South Orange Blossom Trail in Apopka. The company is preparing to expand its facility and create 100 new jobs.
According to city documents, Qorvo representatives informed the city they want to reduce Qorvo’s overall costs and therefore want the impact fees reduced. Though the city said it can’t do this, “it makes no difference who pays the fees,” the documents read. Therefore, the city might consider paying Qorvo’s traffic impact fee using the general fund. The water and sewer fee would come from the city’s utility fund.
Recently the City Council, in cooperation with Orange County, agreed to assist Qorvo on a tax abatement incentive whereby they would receive real estate rebates over a number of years equal to a maximum of $120,000 or $60,000 each. The state of Florida will also participate by granting another $480,000 in incentives.
The economic incentive package will encourage a 33,000 square-foot facility expansion and 100 new jobs at Qorvo, many of them engineering that would pay about $84,000 per year.
The Wednesday, February 1, City Council agenda is available on the city of Apopka’s website.
The Apopka Chief will have the full story about the results of the City Council’s vote, as well as other highlights of its meeting, in the Friday, February 3, issue.
