Frank Varriale planned to develop his land in a sprawling Boise suburb. He’d hoped it would have turned into a reality by now. Instead of a growing business with a hotel, shops and apartments, however, he has knee-high corn and wheat, along with an occasional chirp of a cricket.

The hold up? All the costs associated with development that include impact fees imposed by the city.

Meridian, however, is taking strides to revitalize those efforts. The city has eliminated impact fees, altogether. Charges imposed on developers by cities nationwide, impact fees are intended to pay for infrastructure for the development, like schools, roads, sewer lines and street lighting.

Meridian is following suit with a growing number of struggling cities across the nation that are reducing or suspending impact fees. The changes have been debated in several states. Florida allowed laws that make it easier for residential developers to dispute the fees. The Arizona legislature is even considering freezing them.

Suspending or reducing fees has prompted powerful debates. On the one hand, the fees can be a deterrent to builders. On the other, if they aren’t charged to the developer, the fees can crush a city with the costs, costs that are filtered down to the city’s residents in the form of taxes.

Meridian suspended police and fire impact fees for commercial builds. That would amount to about a savings of $15,500 for Varriale’s land. Although the amount is not a major windfall, Varriale, who’s already built around 1,000 homes surrounding his commercial site, is appreciative of the savings.

Varriale stated that the upfront costs are the tie-breaker. The lower those costs are, the more quickly a developer can turn a profit. It makes sense that if a developer can’t turn a profit, they won’t be building any time soon.