Henrico, developers at odds over connection fees

Henrico County officials and developers say a dispute over the way utility hookups were billed will not delay construction of West Broad Village.

"On a project of this magnitude, this is minor," said Chuck Whittall, president and chief executive of Unicorp National Developments, the Orlando, Fla.-based developer of the project.

At issue is a discrepancy in how the county and Unicorp expected that billing for water and sewer work would be charged. The disagreement over the connection fees arose after Henrico utility officials contacted the company in September to alert them that some of their development could be accepted under the connection fees in effect before rates were scheduled to increase on Oct. 1, said Robert K. Pinkerton, deputy county manager for community operations in Henrico.

He said Henrico had advised the developer and its local consultant, Timmons Group, in 2007 about the county's method of calculating fees for different uses in the same building.

For example, a hotel's connection fee would be based on the number of rooms, just as an apartment building would be based on the number of units, Pinkerton said. A restaurant within the hotel or offices and stores on the lower floors of a mixed-used building would pay fees based on the number of water-using fixtures to determine the necessary volume and meter size.

Unicorp, however, said when it calculated the fee, it classified the project as "other" because there was no classification for "mix-use."

"When we did the calculations based on the classification, it came in under $600,000, But the county said it was over $3 million."

Pinkerton said the county's methods for calculating utility connection fees is well-established and common in other localities, including Fairfax County. "This is the first time that anybody has objected to it," he said.

Both the county and Unicorp played down the dispute over connection fees.

"I don't look at it as adversarial -- it's just a difference of opinion," he said.

Whittall said the "county has been very cooperative."

He said the parties are in talks to "come up with an agreeable fee."

Pinkerton said Unicorp has reached an agreement with Henrico to pay a portion of the connection fees, about $983,000, over three years, as allowed under an ordinance adopted by the Board of Supervisors in November. The ordinance rolled back the higher utility rates to their previous levels and reduced the financing cost for phased payment.

Contact Louis Llovio at (804) 649-6348 or .

Contact Michael Martz at (804) 649-6964 or .