On first reading, Tampa City Council adopted an ordinance to update the citymultimodal transportation impact fee schedule following an 11/20/2025 study by consultant Farr & Pierce. The updated analysis uses Florida Department of Transportation person-trip factors and proposes a four-year phasing to reach the maximum fee supported by the study.

Consultant Catherine Telles said staff used a person-trip factor of 1.69 from FDOT (2022 data); when asked about a lower factor used elsewhere in the county, she said substituting a 1.4 factor would reduce the average fee by roughly 0.5%.

Councilmembers debated permissible uses of multimodal fee revenues (the fee is multimodal by design and can fund bicycle lanes, intersection capacity improvements, sidewalks that add system capacity, and other multimodal capacity projects). Some members said the public expects funds to improve base roadway capacity rather than be directed heavily to bicycle or trail projects; others noted the fee cannot be used for routine maintenance or repaving and cited the statutory limit on administrative expense allocations. Council directed staff to return with clarifying information for second reading and the ordinance passed on first reading with recorded votes; second-reading adoption will require a two-thirds majority.

Next steps: Staff will publish the business-impact and supporting materials; the council scheduled second reading and adoption for Dec. 18 (the final vote will require two-thirds support). Several council members asked for clearer allocations or caps for bicycle/trail spending to be presented before final adoption.