While the economic benefits of future projects should an Overlay be adopted by the City are not known, the EKN Appellation Hotel application remains the primary driver for consideration of the overlay district at this time and direct economic benefits for that project specifically are more easily quantifiable. Specifically, the EKN Appellation Hotel as currently proposed would generate approximately $2,582,000 in Development Impact Fees. Because most of the City’s adopted development impact fees include automatic annual increases it is anticipated that these fees would increase before collected at building permit issuance. Estimated development impact fees for the proposed EKN Appellation Hotel project include:
- ±$220,000 in Commercial Development Housing Linkage fees to support affordable housing development throughout the City
- ±$1,100,000 in Traffic Development Impact Fees
- +$118,000 in Park Land Acquisition and Park Land Development Impact Fees
- +$6,500 in Open Space Acquisition Fees
- +$92,000 in City Facilities Fees
As presented to the PC (Planning Commission) and HCPC (Historic & Cultural Preservation Committee) in June, the EKN Appellation Hotel project would provide other revenue to the City via the transient occupancy tax (TOT) and the sales tax that is associated with the Hotel use. For the initial 25-years of occupancy, the estimated TOT revenue is projected to be ±$37,000,000 and the estimated sales tax is projected to be ±$3,800,000. Also as reported in June, the EKN Appellation Hotel project would result in short-term and long-term economic impacts. The short-term economic impacts are driven by the project’s development costs, and through the pre-construction and construction periods, the project is expected to support 328 jobs (222 annually) and provide $55,000,000 in economic activity. The long-term economic impacts associated with the Hotel project are driven by the ongoing hotel and restaurant operations, and when occupied, the project is expected to support over 150 jobs annually and generate $18,600,000 in economic activity.