Development shows no signs of slowing down in Southlake, but with every new neighborhood or retail center comes increased demand for water, sewer and roads.

To serve these projects, including a new hotel and more office space and restaurants, the upscale suburb charges one-time development fees, called impact fees, to help pay for infrastructure.

Southlake is considering raising its impact fees this year as a means to pay for new pipes, wider roads and intersection improvements, but it’s a delicate balance for cities. Raising the fees too high could chase developers away. Southlake’s roadway impact fees are among the lowest in the area.

The maximum roadway impact fee that Southlake charges is $3,136 for a single family home in the northern sector of the city, anything north of Texas 114. The roadway impact fees are lower, $1,908 per home, in the southern sector of Southlake.

Kourosh Panahy, a planning and zoning commissioner and member of the Capital Improvements Advisory Committee, said he doesn’t believe an increase in fees will have a chilling effect on the city’s momentum.

“I don’t see any downside to recommending that the maximum fee be applied across the board,” said Panahy.

The roadway impact fees likely will be allocated to major intersections, which have become congested as traffic increases, and the city has a renewed focus on frontage roads for Texas 114. That includes the frontage road from Dove Road north to Kirkwood Boulevard that will serve the new T.D. Ameritrade campus and other new development.

Cities with higher roadway impact fees include Frisco, Flower Mound, McKinney and Colleyville, which has the highest in North Texas at $4,940 per home.

Water and sewer impact fees are based on the size of the customer’s water meter.

The Capital Improvements Advisory Committee, which consists entirely of planning and zoning commission members, made a few recommendations but listed no specific numbers at its Jan. 4 meeting.

The City Council will consider that recommendation at a work session in February and is expected to vote on it later this year.

Another hotel planned

The new hotel, an 80,000-square-foot Garden Inn by Hilton at the southeast corner of Texas 114 and Kirkwood Boulevard, would have a focus on amenities to help the modern business traveler, said Charles Hodges, partner and founder of Hodges Architecture.

The proposal includes a land dedication for the frontage road, Hodges said.

In addition to the hotel, the site also features three 5,000-square-foot restaurants with outdoor dining.

The proposal is set to go to City Council later this year.

More medical offices

In the southern end of town, another developer is proposing three 9,000-square-foot medical office buildings at 240 Peytonville Ave. just west of Carroll Senior High School.

The driveway into the office campus will line up with the CSHS entrance, making a new four-way intersection, said Skip Blake, a partner with Blake Architects.

Kitten to Cat Hospital plans to move its practice to the former Glen Alan Salon at 205 Miron Drive. Owner and feline specialist Carrie Ann Mark said she was drawn to the site because it’s quiet, with plenty of trees. Her current office is in the Pecan Creek project on Southlake Boulevard.

Southlake Neurology also plans to relocate to a 9,881-square-foot office building at 175 Stonebridge Lane.

And on the east side of town, there are plans for two 6,000-square-foot buildings on 2.14 acres at 305 S. Nolen Drive. It’s proposed just south of the Cook Children’s facility.