Treasure Island commissioners voted Tuesday to approve a new ordinance aimed at supporting transportation infrastructure as Pinellas County’s population continues to grow — but immediately delayed enforcing it for four years.

The ordinance focuses on multimodal impact fees, which are payments developers must make if their projects are expected to increase traffic in the area. Local governments typically use those fees to expand or improve infrastructure to match growing demand.

However, commissioners opted for a moratorium on collecting those fees until 2029, citing concerns that they could discourage development while the city continues to recover from last year’s hurricanes.

Under a new state law, Treasure Island must coordinate with Pinellas County through an interlocal agreement to ensure developers aren’t charged twice. That means any impact fees collected would be shared between the city and the county. Forward Pinellas, the county’s planning agency, advised the city on updating its ordinance and explained the need for the new agreement.

City staff noted that Pinellas County is seeing growth and development far beyond earlier projections — and that previous fee structures failed to keep up with inflation or infrastructure demands. Still, city leaders worried that charging new fees now could slow rebuilding efforts.

The city’s Planning and Zoning Board chair, Richard Harris, had previously recommended a temporary pause to give residents and businesses more time to recover.

The original plan was to consider a two-year delay, but commissioners agreed that wasn’t long enough. The board instead approved a four-year moratorium.

Commissioner Arthur Czyszczon pointed to several prominent properties still closed, for sale, or under repair, including Thunderbird, the Sands, and multiple parcels downtown. “Two years — that’s not enough time,” he said.

Harris agreed, noting, “It takes two or three years just to get the design, permitting, and construction done. So by the time projects are complete, the moratorium would be lifted.”

The commission approved the delay unanimously.

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(Image credit: City of Treasure Island)

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