Impact fees — Sebastian, Florida

A new house in Sebastian pays the city recreational impact fee of $975 plus four Indian River County impact fees that reach into the cities: transportation, public education, public buildings and fire and emergency services.

The dollar figures come from the unincorporated schedule in Appendix A of the Indian River County Code, which carries the note Effective Date July 1, 2020, adjusted to be consistent with Florida SB 1066, and lists amendments through Ordinance 2023-002 of January 17, 2023. The schedule adds a 2.0 percent administrative fee; its totals for an unincorporated home run from $8,842 for under 1,500 square feet to $10,993 for 2,500 square feet and up. Which rows reach Sebastian is set chapter by chapter in the County Code, and the Sebastian Building Department confirms the exact amount due when it prices the permit. Last verified: October 10, 2026, on the City of Sebastian website and the Indian River County Code.

Adding only the four countywide rows of the county table gives $7,828 for a Sebastian home under 1,500 square feet, $8,635 for 1,501 to 2,499 square feet and $9,640 for 2,500 square feet and up, before the administrative fee and before the city's own recreation fee. Correctional, solid waste and library impact fees show $0 on the schedule because the county stopped collecting them.

Sebastian charges $975 for every newly built dwelling unit, or $650 on lots platted in Sebastian Highlands Units 1 to 17, and the money funds city parks.

Section 74-50 of the Sebastian Code of Ordinances requires a fee of $975 to be used for the acquisition, expansion, construction and provision of city recreational facilities as a condition of the building permit for any newly constructed dwelling unit of any kind. That covers a house on a vacant lot, a building converted to a dwelling for the first time, and a second unit added to a lot. The fee was adopted by Ordinance O-01-15 on July 11, 2001, and is paid when the building permit is issued for each unit.

The Sebastian Highlands discount has a court history. Section 74-51 sets the fee for lots developed under the plats of Sebastian Highlands Units 1 to 17 at $650, a credit of $325 for the land acquisition share of the fee, under a 1992 Settlement Agreement and Order in U.S. Bankruptcy Court case 90-12231-BKC-AJC. The credit follows the lot, not the owner, so it applies whenever a home is first built on one of those platted Sebastian Highlands lots.

A developer that dedicates two or more contiguous acres of usable park land to the City of Sebastian can earn a credit against the fee, valued by an MAI appraisal and accepted by the Sebastian City Council, and excess credits may be assigned for up to ten years.

Sebastian recreation impact fees go into a city recreation trust fund, must be committed to a project within seven years, and neighborhood park money stays inside one of four recreation zones.

Section 74-54 divides the city into four recreational zones, A to D, that serve as service areas for neighborhood parks. Their boundaries follow Fleming Street, County Road 512, Main Street, the Sebastian Municipal Airport tracts, Powerline Road, Barber Street and the Elkcam and Collier waterways. Fees collected in one zone may not pay for a neighborhood park in another, while community park facilities may be funded citywide.

Section 74-55 says the fees shall be segregated and held in trust by the city in its recreation trust fund, used only to acquire, construct or provide recreational improvements, and that funds must be encumbered for a qualifying project within seven years of being collected. The City of Sebastian must keep records showing how much each development paid into the fund and what every dollar was spent on.

Indian River County impact fees are assessed when a Sebastian builder applies for a building permit, and no permit is issued until the fees are paid to the county or to the participating city.

The Indian River County Impact Fee Ordinance says any person who seeks to develop land by applying for a building permit shall be assessed impact fees, and payment goes to the county community development department or to the participating municipality before the permit is issued. Each participating municipality may keep two percent of the money it collects to cover administration. Fees not spent within six years are refunded to the current property owner, and fees a city collects under an interlocal agreement count as collected by the county that same day.

The countywide reach is written into each chapter. The public education chapter states that it applies to the entire county, including the municipalities, and that its money goes only to capital projects of the School Board of Indian River County, never to operations; its level of service assumes $20,709 of capital investment per student (Chapter 1009). The traffic chapter covers both the unincorporated area and the incorporated areas of Indian River County (Chapter 1010), and the emergency services chapter applies everywhere except the Town of Indian River Shores (Chapter 1002). By contrast, the law enforcement chapter applies only to the unincorporated areas (Chapter 1005), which fits a city that runs its own Sebastian Police Department, and the county parks chapter applies only to unincorporated Indian River County (Chapter 1008).

The program dates back four decades. According to Indian River County, the county has levied traffic impact fees since 1986, added eight new categories in June 2005, and adopted updates in 2009 and 2014; on September 11, 2014 the School Board voted unanimously to ask the county to keep collecting school impact fees.

Sebastian owners who add a shed, rebuild the same house or enlarge a home within its size tier owe no Indian River County impact fee, but the exemption must be claimed when the permit is issued.

Section 1000.07 of the county ordinance exempts the construction of accessory buildings or structures where no additional units are created, the replacement of an existing residential unit with a new unit of the same type, same square footage and same use, and an addition to a single-family home that does not push it into a higher fee tier. Any exemption not claimed at the time of the building permit is deemed waived. For a Sebastian Highlands owner rebuilding after a hurricane, the replacement rule is the one that matters.

State law sets the outer limits. The Florida Impact Fee Act provides that collection of the impact fee may not be required to occur earlier than the date of issuance of the building permit, requires notice at least 90 days before a new or increased fee takes effect, states that an impact fee increase may not exceed 50 percent of the current rate, and limits increases to once every four years. It bars a fee on the replacement of a previously existing structure of the same land use that does not add impact, lets local governments waive fees for affordable housing, and does not apply to water and sewer connection fees, a separate charge for a Sebastian home connecting to water or sewer lines.

Impact fees are also separate from the City of Sebastian building permit fee. That fee is valuation based: for a project valued between $100,000 and $500,000 the city charges $1,055 for the first $100,000 plus $5.50 for each additional thousand (City of Sebastian), so a project valued at $300,000 carries a $2,155 permit fee before plan review. Applications and payments run through the MGO Connect portal or the counter at 1225 Main St. (City of Sebastian).