Lauren Rushing, transportation planner with New Urban Concepts, presented the City of Lake City’s draft mobility plan and a proposed mobility fee at a Dec. 1 council workshop, saying the fee would be charged only to new development to mitigate added trips and fund multimodal infrastructure, programs and services.

Rushing told the council the mobility plan contains about 184 projects with an attributable cost of roughly $136,000,000 and that the consultant team used an 18-step methodology to calculate fees, including project costs, person‑miles of added capacity and trip generation rates from the Institute of Transportation Engineers manual. "A mobility fee is a fee that's only assessed on new growth," she said, adding the technical report will be used to demonstrate the required statutory nexus under Florida statute.

The consultant recommended a single citywide assessment area and a single citywide benefit district for Lake City to simplify administration and maximize flexibility for where revenue can be spent. Rushing said the consultant’s scope covers initial steps of the process; if the council moves forward, the city would need an implementing ordinance and a comprehensive plan amendment within one year of adoption, per Florida statute.

Rushing outlined recommended land‑use categories and rates. For residential development, the proposal splits housing into two categories: an "affordable residential" category set at 50% of the general residential rate (communities may adopt the statutory definition of affordable housing or set local criteria) and a streamlined general residential category. She recommended assessing residential development on a per‑1,000‑square‑foot basis rather than per dwelling unit, saying building size correlates with trip generation.

For nonresidential uses, the draft schedule groups retail into four aggregated categories, keeps a single streamlined industrial rate (stated as $550 per thousand square feet), and separates office into general and medical/dental categories because medical offices tend to generate roughly three times more trips. The draft also includes additive fees for elements that create extra trips—drive‑through lanes, fueling positions, car‑wash bays and similar features—which would be charged in addition to the building’s base retail fee.

Rushing gave numerical examples to illustrate the schedule. She said under the draft, a 2,000‑square‑foot single‑family house assessed on a per‑thousand‑square‑foot basis (2 times an indicated rate of $17.76) would result in a stated fee of $3,552; an 1,100‑square‑foot house would be charged about 1.1 times that rate, or roughly $1,900. She also provided a commercial example: a 4,000‑square‑foot convenience retail building plus one drive‑through was described as resulting in a total mobility fee "around $74,000," with the consultant citing an indicated base convenience retail rate shown in the presentation as $13,003.11 and an additional drive‑through fee of about $21,000.

Rushing recommended that staff develop administration and assessment procedures and align the city’s land development code to avoid barriers to implementing projects. She said the consultant will prepare the mobility fee technical report and update the plan and fee after council feedback; the city is expected to pursue first and second readings and a comprehensive plan amendment early next year.

The workshop concluded with the mayor asking for questions; none were raised. No motions or votes were recorded during the workshop.