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ZoneFee Development Fee Guides

ZoneFee guides are plain-English reference articles on how U.S. development fees actually work - legal authority, calculation mechanics, jurisdictional variation, and the questions a developer, land-use attorney, or underwriting analyst should be asking before relying on a fee number for a real project. Each guide cites primary government sources and dates the last review.

Who these guides are for

These guides are written for the people who already pay development fees as part of their work - real estate developers, investors, land-use attorneys, civil engineering and entitlement consultants, and underwriting researchers. They are research starting points, not jurisdiction-specific advice. If you are working a live deal in a specific city or county, the binding source is that jurisdiction's adopted fee schedule and the relevant state code, not a ZoneFee guide.

Published guides

Impact Fees: A Developer's Reference

How impact fees work across U.S. development practice - the underlying state-level authority (Texas Local Government Code Chapter 395; Virginia's narrow road-impact-fee carve-out under Va. Code Section 15.2-2317; Virginia's proffer system under Section 15.2-2303), how the maximum assessable fee per service unit gets to a number, how the actual collected amount can be lower under an adopted collection rate, what credits and offsets look like, and what to research before treating a quoted number as binding.

Last reviewed: 2026-05-08 · zonefee.com/guides/impact-fees/

Development Due-Diligence Fee Checklist

A fee-side due diligence checklist for evaluating a U.S. development site. Walks through impact fees, zoning application fees, utility tap and connection charges, proffers in Virginia and similar jurisdictions, special-district overlays (MUDs, PIDs, CDDs, service districts), and the verification steps that distinguish a research estimate from a number you can put in a pro forma. Includes what to ask the city, what to ask the utility authority, and what to never assume.

Last reviewed: 2026-05-09 · zonefee.com/guides/development-due-diligence-checklist/

  • Glossary - plain-English definitions of impact fees, proffers, MUDs, PIDs, vested rights, and the other terms ZoneFee uses across jurisdiction pages.
  • Methodology - how ZoneFee identifies jurisdictions, sources fee data, and decides what counts as verified.
  • Data sources - the official source types ZoneFee uses (adopted ordinances, fee schedules, council packets) and what does not count as proof.
  • Coverage - which jurisdictions ZoneFee currently publishes and how to find them.
  • Corrections - how to report a fee value, source, or effective-date error in any guide or jurisdiction page.

ZoneFee guides are educational reference. They are not legal advice, financial advice, engineering advice, or a binding fee determination for any specific project. The official source for any fee figure is the adopting jurisdiction's published fee schedule, the relevant state code, and the planning, permitting, utility, finance, or legal department of that jurisdiction. Confirm with those sources before relying on a number for a financial or contractual decision. See the data use disclaimer for the full statement.

Last updated: 2026-05-09 (Guides hub published; lists the two currently-live Family 7 guides).