The City of Shelbyville Common Council approved a new park impact fee of $1,346 for each new residence built in Shelbyville.
The Park and Recreation Impact Fee was established in 2019 at $1,005 per each new residential building permit. That fee raised 3% yearly and sits at $1,098 in 2022.
With approximately 1,500 homes approved for construction in Shelbyville over the next five years, a population spike is anticipated and the parks department has a new list of project amenities needed that will be funded by the impact fee.
The impact fee may only be used on designated items to improve on a community’s parks deficiencies. All of the funds raised through the initial impact have either been spent or are earmarked for expense.
The new list of amenities that the park impact fee will fund includes pickleball courts, indoor basketball courts, park restrooms, community playgrounds, neighborhood playgrounds, trails/pathways, and park/open space areas.
The final approval of the $1,346 impact fee was approved 4-0 Monday night at City Hall during the city’s Common Council meeting. Councilwoman Joanne Bowen and councilmen Scott Furgeson and Thurman Adams were unable to attend the meeting.
New councilwoman Betsy Means Davis, who was sworn into the council’s 2nd Ward seat earlier in the day, voted in favor of the impact fee.
For more on Betsy Means Davis' selection to join the council, go to https://shelbycountypost.com/local-news/646003
Davis is replacing Nathan Willis, who resigned his seat after accepting a new job opportunity that will limit his time to serve on the council.
For more on Nathan Willis' decision to leave the council, go to https://shelbycountypost.com/local-news/645004
Willis, who was in attendance at the meeting Monday, was presented with a plaque for his service to the community.
The board also was introduced to Megumi Fujita, a teacher from Shizuoka City, Shelbyville’s sister city in Japan. She will teach English at Shelbyville Middle School during the 2022-2023 school year.
Fujita (photo, right) is the seventh exchange teacher from Japan to serve in the Shelbyville school system. She presented gifts to Shelbyville Mayor Tom DeBaun (photo, left), who, in turn, gifted Fujita with an Indiana-shaped lapel pin, a handmade one-of-a-kind cherry ink pen and a copy of the book, “The Bears of Blue River.”
