'Seaplane City' Council Proposes To Waive Impact Fees For Such Businesses

Tavares, Florida identifies itself as "America's Seaplane City", and in an effort to bolster that image, the City Council is proposing to waive impact fees for new seaplane businesses that locate in the city.

The waiver was on the City Council agenda for its June 3 meeting. The proposal would give the council wide latitude to "from time to time authorize the waiver, deferral or reduction of city impact fees due under the terms ... of the Tavares Code Of Ordinances," according to the resolution on the agenda. Impact fees are generally collected from a business or developer to help offset the costs of constructing new infrastructure associated with the business. The Orlando Sentinel reports that the impact fees for a seaplane business in Tavares can be as high as $40,000.

About 2,000 seaplanes visit Tavares in an average year, and Progressive Aerodyne builds Searey amphibious airplanes in the city. But city leaders are actively recruiting other seaplane manufacturers, according to the report. While they were not named, there are three companies with which the city has been in negotiations for several years.

(Searey pictured in file photo)

FMI: www.tavares.org/319/City-Council