A massive hike with a looming development fee has recently submitted a building permit flood in Osceola County.
The county received 879 building permits this month until Monday, the last day. You have submitted your application and are eligible for current fees for mobility fees to pay the traffic impact of the new development. These prices will rise in June to become the state’s highest, jumping nearly $12,000 per new home, and increase various amounts for other developments.
The May surge includes 414 detached homes and 411 townhomes, mainly from nationwide production home builders. Over 500 permits were submitted last Thursday and Friday alone.
This phenomenon highlights the growth rate and rate and impact of growth in Osceola County. In Osceola County, traffic is relentlessly slow and the need for new, costly roads is desperate.
Deputy County Administrator Ken Brown said most applications were submitted electronically. The county’s real challenge begins by attempting to review and approve hundreds of building permits over the next four weeks.
“Technically, it must be issued by June 18th to qualify for the old fee,” Brown said. “We should be able to get it done. We went through them pretty quickly before. It all depends on the quality of the application and whether it’s sent back for revision. It’s done on a case-by-case basis.”
County commissioners adopted the new mobility fees last September, but agreed to wait nine months before implementing the higher fees. The new home fee will be more than double the current $10,000, up from $21,710. The new apartment rate will range from $7,754 per unit to $14,040, representing an 81% increase.
Millions of dollars lined up. So Dr. Houghton was in a hurry to obtain a building permit for the 315-unit townhouse community in Fishlake before the mobility fees were more than doubled in June. Breaking the deadline will save homeowners $3.1 million for the project. Last week, Dr. Houghton submitted 92 permit applications. DHI Communities, the company’s multi-family division, submitted a Phase 2 building permit for Ascend at Kindred Apartments on May 15th.
Lennar Homes filed 34 new home permits and 70 townhome permits last week in phase 2 of Bridgewalk. If they are approved in time, Homebuilder can save more than $1.1 million in mobility fees.
Pulte Homes submitted 64 building permits to townhomes and villas at Del Webb Twin Lakes last week. Other home builders who have submitted dozens of applications in March and April and have already been issued include Meritage, Taylor Morrison, Mattamy Homes, Highland Homes, LGI Homes, AMI and Reconstruction.
For production builders, approvals rarely take more than a week, as they have the same plans as previously approved by the county. However, for commercial and multi-family projects, reviews can take several months. The county is still waiting for revisions to some of the complex apartment applications submitted in 2024.
Over the past two months, the county has received permit applications for 24 additional apartment buildings and six condominium buildings. This includes live local apartments from Embrey Partners on Boggy Creek Road (300 units) and Bahama Bay (167 units). It will be added to the backlog containing pending permissions.
Other notable projects that submitted building permits for the month include the Nickelodeon Hotel at Everest Place Resort and five commercial buildings totaling 73,620 square feet to Sunray Junction west near Poinkia Anasun Rail Station.
The city of St. Cloud also raised its mobility fees on June 18th, but the city council had previously opted to accept applications under current rates.
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