They just made it too expensive?

In Saturday’s Laconia Citizen (P.13), this little article caught my eye (emphasis mine):

LACONIA — Planning Director Shanna Saunders will recommend introducing an incentive to redevelopment at the Weirs when the Planning Board meets on Tuesday evening.

Earlier this year, when the City Council enacted an ordinance imposing development impact fees, it included a provision for a waiver of up to 80-percent of the fee for projects that redeveloped existing properties in accordance with the principles of so called “Smart Growth.” Saunders proposes to make properties in the Commercial Resort district, which encompasses The Weirs eligible for the waiver.

…Following on suggestions of the team from the United States Environmental Protection Agency that visited the city in 2007, the Master Plan adopted that same year listed the revitalization and enhancement of the waterfront at the Weirs among its priorities.

Saunders said that the waiver of impact fees would serve as an incentive to investing in the redevelopment of existing buildings…

Now, I have not followed this issue all that closely, but a couple of questions did pop up in my mind:

• Since when (and where) did the EPA have the authority to start doing urban planning to the point of zoning?  Is this yet another illustration of overreach from the basic mandate ("well, since we are tasked to keep the air & water clean, we have to tell people how to live [and where and in what building type] to do so?

• Has such zoning made it so onerous such that developers decided just to stay away and work in ‘lower cost’ environs?

• While almost all government mandates seemingly spout the same line lately in one form or another ("higher costs now, but you’ll save over the long term with our mandates choices), did the Planning Director just realize that she priced her City out of the "developer marketplace"?