Two hot topics were discussed this week by the Lubbock City Council — cultural art grants and impact fee changes.
During its regular meeting in Citizens Tower, council members hosted several public hearings on various topics, including proposed impact fee changes. Advocates from the community also rallied together to show support for the need and impact of cultural art grants that the city helps fund.
Here’s what you need to know about what happened during the meeting
City council poised to consider changes to Lubbock’s roadway Impact Fees
As previously reported by the A-J, city staff stated that Lubbock charges anyone who pulls a building permit a fee to help cover the cost of building new roads to support that business. Five years ago, the city set the impact fee at 25% to help pay for the roads needed, with the city paying for the rest.
Due to inflation, the 25% fee has decreased to approximately 12.5%. A citizens’ review committee is suggesting adjusting it back to 25%. However, several community members support that idea but also say it needs to be higher.
As president of local advocacy group, Lubbock Compact, Joshua Shankles said roads are “not want tos” but rather “have tos” to help support the growth of the city. He argued that impact fees help offset a portion of the cost of building roads from taxpayers, and eliminating them would put that burden back on taxpayers.
Shankles and other citizens advocated for the maximum allowable impact fees that a city can charge — a 50-50 split of road costs between developers and the city. Others have previously proposed eliminating them and reverting to road bonds, allowing citizens to vote to fund road construction.
No action was taken on the issue, but it’s now up to the council to decide where to set or eliminate the impact fees.
Lubbock funds $500,000 in cultural art grants for local programs, organizations
Nine community members and representatives from local cultural art programs spoke in favor of an item to approve $515,482 in grant awards for the 2025 Cultural Arts Grant Program.
The item passed with unanimous support from the city council to the 30 local programs and organizations that applied for the grant program, including First Friday Art Trail, Ballet Lubbock, Viva Aztlan Festival and more.
Council to host public hearing for south Lubbock land annexation
Without objection, council members have agreed to set a public hearing at its next meeting to hear from the public about the annexation of a tract of land in south Lubbock County.
The request comes from Betenbough Homes, LLC and Starlight Development, LLC, for annexation of 8.82 acres of land adjacent to and west of Frankford Avenue and south of 146th Street.
Mateo Rosiles is the Government & Public Policy reporter for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Got a news tip for him? Email him: mrosiles@lubbockonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: What happened at the Lubbock City Council meeting? What to know about art grants, impact fees
Reporting by Mateo Rosiles, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
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