NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. — The Nassau County Board of County Commissioners issued a formal statement this week responding to a recent Florida Attorney General opinion that clarifies how “extraordinary circumstances” may be used under Florida law to justify impact fee increases beyond statutory phase-in limits.
County officials said they appreciate the Attorney General’s guidance and agree with the opinion’s central finding that population growth alone cannot justify extraordinary circumstances. However, the Board emphasized that Nassau County’s impact fee recalibration was never based on population growth as a single factor.
Instead, the County pointed to its Extraordinary Circumstances Demonstrated Needs Study, which evaluated a combination of conditions occurring simultaneously as Nassau transitions from a rural county to one with small urban-designated areas. Those factors included population growth exceeding University of Florida Bureau of Economic and Business Research (BEBR) projections, increased permitting activity, rising land values, rapidly escalating construction and infrastructure costs, and higher service-level demands for residents…