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HomeMy WebLinkAboutORD-2008-114 - Educational Facilities Impact Fee OrdinanceORANGE COUNTY EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES IMPACT FEE ORDINANCE a' SECTION 1 -LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS The Orange County Board of Commissioners makes the following legislative findings: 1. Orange County public school facilities are vital to the health, safety, welfare, and economic prosperity of Orange County; 2. That public school facilities in Orange County must be expanded in order to maintain current levels of service if new development is to be accommodated without decreasing current levels of service; 3. To finance the expansion of the public school facilities in Orange County necessary to maintain current levels of service while accommodating new residential. growth, several methods of finance will be employed, one of which will require new residential development to pay an appropriate share of the reasonably anticipated new educational facilities in the form of school impact fees; and 4. These school impact fees will provide, in a reasonable manner, for the public health, safety, and welfare of persons residing within Orange County by providing a portion of the costs of new school facilities which bears a relationship to the benefits of the new school facilities to the new residential growth in Orange County. SECTION 2 -DEFINITIONS For the purposes of this ordinance, the following terms shall have the following definitions: Certificate of Occupancy. A certificate issued by Orange County or a municipality located therein allowing the occupancy or use of a dwelling unit and certifying that the building or structure has been constructed and will be used in compliance with all applicable codes and ordinances. Dwelling Unit. A room or group of rooms forming a single independent habitable unit with facilities used or intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking, and eating by one family. Feepayer. The person constructing or responsible for having constructed a new dwelling unit or new dwelling units. In the case of a mobile home, the person installing or responsible for having installed a new mobile home or new mobile homes. Impact Fee Ordinance 1 SECTION 3 -SCHOOL IMPACT FEES IMPOSED ON NEW RESIDENTIAL DWELLING UNITS In addition to all other charges prescribed by ordinance or resolution now or hereafter in effect, there shall be public school impact fees charged to new residential dwelling units located within Orange County, and within the municipalities and their extraterritorial planning jurisdictions .located within Orange County. No person may occupy any new residential dwelling unit until all applicable public school impact fees contained in the following schedule have been paid in full. No certificate of occupancy or other type of occupancy permit shall be issued for any new residential dwelling unit until the public school impact fees hereby required have been paid in full. Payment of such fees shall not relieve the feepayer from the obligation to comply with applicable land development regulations of Orange County or the municipalities located within Orange County. Schedule of Public School Impact Fees The amount of public school impact fee shall be as shown in the following tables: Chapel Hill - Carrboro City Schools District Effective January 1, 2009 Effective January 1, 2010 Effective January 1, 2011 Effective January 1, 2012 Sin le-Famil Detached $6,092 $7,616 $9,520 $11,423 Sin le-Famil Attached $3,525 $4,406 $5,508 $6,610 Multifamil $686 $858 $1,072 $1,286 Manufactured Homes $2,634 $3,293 $4,116 $4,939 Orange County Schools District Effective Effective Effective Effective January 1, January 1, January 1, January 1, 2009 2010 2011 2012 Sin le-Famil Detached $3,000 $3,749 $4,686 $5,623 Single-Family Attached / $g30 $1 162 $1 453 $1 743 Multifamil , , , Manufactured Homes $1,428 $1,785 $2,232 $2,678 ' Amended December 11, 2008; effective dates as specified in Tables. Impact Fee Ordinance 2 SECTION 4 -PUBLIC SCHOOL IMPACT FEE EXCEPTIONS Public school impact fees as provided in Section 3 shall not be imposed in the following circumstances: Buildings or structures, including alterations, repairs, renovations or additions thereto, which are to be occupied and used solely .for non- residential purposes. 2. Residential dwelling units for which a building permit was obtained prior to the effective date of this ordinance. 3. ~ Alterations, repairs, renovations or additions to a residential dwelling unit. 4.2 Replacement of a building, structure or mobile home used for residential purposes, including the following: a. Installation of a replacement mobile home on a separate lot or mobile home park space when an educational facilities impact fee for such lot or space has been previously paid pursuant to this ordinance or where a residential mobile home legally existed on such lot or space on or before the effective date of this ordinance. For the purposes of this ordinance, "legally existed" shall mean that a mobile home was located on the lot or space during the five-year period prior to the date of adoption of this ordinance. b. Replacement of a building, structure or mobile home damaged, destroyed or partially destroyed by: the exercise of eminent domain; human acts, such as riot, fire, accident, explosion; or flood,. lightning, wind or other. natural calamity, with a new building, structure or mobile home. A residential building, structure or mobile home may be replaced. with a new building, structure or mobile home of the same or dissimilar dwelling type.. For example, a mobile home may be replaced with a mobile home. Likewise, a mobile home may be replaced with astick-built structure. In either case, however, the number of dwelling units may not be increased. 5. Accessory buildings and structures, including, but not limited to, garages, decks, storage buildings, and similar structures, provided they are not used for residential purposes. 6.3 Temporary buildings and structures, provided they are not used for residential purposes. However, public school impact fees shall not be levied in the following cases: z Amended April 3, 1995. Impact Fee Ordinance 3 a. A mobile home being used to provide custodial care under the provisions of an approved Special Use Permit. b. A mobile home being used as a temporary residential dwelling during the installation of a replacement mobile home or the construction of a stick-built dwelling unit. s Amended April 3, 1995. Impact Fee Ordinance 4 SECTION 5 -COLLECTION OF FEES A. CREATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOL BENEFIT AREA TRUST FUNDS Public school impact fees collected by Orange County pursuant to this ordinance shall be kept separate from other revenue of the County. There shall be one trust fund established for each of the benefit areas. The benefit areas correspond to the school district boundaries as determined by the School Districts and as illustrated on the attached map labeled Public School Benefit Areas. B. RESPONSIBILITY FOR FEE COLLECTION All public school impact fees are due to Orange County and shall be paid to Orange County prior to a certificate of occupancy being issued for a dwelling unit. The fees will be collected by Orange County and/or by interlocal agreement between Orange County and a municipality located therein. All public school impact fees shall be properly identified by the appropriate benefit area and transferred for deposit in the appropriate trust account. Where there is an interlocal agreement in effect for collection of the public school impact fees by a municipality, the municipality shall remit the fees to Orange County as provided in the agreement, including a report of the amount of funds collected and the benefit area from which the fees were collected. Upon receipt, the County shall deposit the fees in the appropriate trust fund. C. LIMITATION ON EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS Funds withdrawn from public school impact fee trust accounts shall be used solely in accordance with the following provisions: 1.4 Funds shall be used for capital costs associated with the construction of new public school space, including new buildings or additions to existing buildings or otherwise converting existing buildings into new public school space where the expansion is related to new residential growth. Such capital costs include actual building construction; design, engineering, and/or legal fees; land acquisition and site development; equipment and furnishings; infrastructure improvements; and/or debt service payments and payments under leases through which to finance such costs. 2. Funds shall be used exclusively for capital improvements within the benefit area from which the funds were collected. 3. Funds may be used for providing reimbursements as permitted in Section 5.E. a Amended April 3, 1995; February 26, 1996. Impact Fee. Ordinance 5 4. No funds shall be used for public school operating expenses, periodic or routine maintenance, or the administration of this public school impact fee program. 5. Following their collection, funds shall be expended within ten (10) years, the time frame coinciding with the public school facilities capital improvements program (CIP) school impact fee period. The disbursal of public school impact fee funds shall require the approval of the Board of County Commissioners upon recommendation of the County Manager. D. INTEREST ON FEES Any public school impact fee funds on deposit and not immediately necessary for expenditure shall be invested as allowed in N.C. General Statute 159-30 for other public moneys. All income derived shall be deposited in the applicable trust fund. E.s REIMBURSEMENT OF FEES Any funds not expended within the time frame established in Section 5.C.5. shall be returned to the feepayer, or the land owner if the address of the feepayer provided to Orange County is not current, with interest at a rate not to exceed that being paid on public school impact fees deposited in accordance with Section 5.D. If the Schedule of Public School Impact Fees as contained in Section 3 is reduced, the difference between the old and new fees shall be returned to the feepayer, or the land owner if the address of the feepayer provided to Orange County is not current, with interest at a rate not to exceed that being paid on public school impacf fees deposited in accordance with Section S.D. If the Schedule of Public School Impact Fees as contained in Section 3 is increased, no additional fees shall be collected from new construction for which certificates of occupancy have been issued. Where an impact fee has been collected erroneously, or where an impact fee has been paid, and the feepayer subsequently files for and is granted an exception as permitted in Section 4, the fee shall. be returned to the feepayer. s Amended April 3, 1995. Impact Fee Ordinance 6 F. ANNUAL REPORT A report shall be made to the Board of County Commissioners each year showing where public school impact fees have been collected, what projects have been constructed with such fees, and what reimbursements have been made. The report shall also include an evaluation of this ordinance, including its effectiveness and enforcement, and the methods and data used to calculate the Schedule of Public School impact Fees contained in Section 3. The Board of County Commissioners shall review the report to determine if, within each benefit area, all areas of new construction are being benefited by the fees. If the Board of County Commissioners determines that areas of new construction are not being benefited, then it shall readjust the capital improvements program to correct this condition. If, after review of the methods and data used to calculate the Schedule of Public School Impact Fees, the Board of County Commissioners determines that adjustments are required in the Schedule, then it shall direct the County Manager and staff to prepare a report which outlines recommended changes for its consideration. SECTION 6 - CREDITSs Any conveyance of land for a public school site or construction of new school facilities received and accepted by Orange County, a municipality located in Orange County, and/or the Orange County or Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board from a landowner may, at the election of the landowner, be credited against the public school impact fee due if the conveyance or construction meets the same needs as the public school impact fee in providing new public school facilities. If the landowner elects to receive credit against the amount of the public school impact fee due for such conveyance or construction, the landowner shall, prior to the agreement to convey land for or construct new public school facilities, or the conveyance of land for or construction of new school facilities, enter into a fee agreement with the County. The fee agreement shall provide for the establishment of credits and payment of the fee in a specified manner and time, and shall, upon its execution by the landowner and the County, be binding upon the heirs and assigns of the landowner. The value of land conveyed or facilities constructed by a landowner and accepted by the County, municipality or school board for purposes of this section shall be determined by an appraisal based on the fair.market value of the land or facilities as established by the County. Construction shall be in accordance with applicable County, municipal, school board, and State standards. Any land conveyed for credit under this section shall be conveyed no later than the time at which public school impact fees are required to be paid. The portion of the public school impact fee represented by a credit for construction shall be deemed paid when the construction is completed and accepted for maintenance or when adequate security for the completion of the construction has been provided. s Revised February 26, 1996. Impact Fee Ordinance 7 SECTION 7 -PENALTIES In addition to any other remedy allowed by N.C. General Statute 153A-123, the failure to pay a public school impact fee is hereby declared to subject the person responsible for payment of the public school impact fee to a civil penalty. The amount of the penalty shall be equal to the amount of the unpaid school impact fee, plus an interest charge of one-half percent (1/2%) per month compounded monthly and a service charge of one hundred dollars ($100.00). The County may assess this penalty against the landowner whereon new construction has occurred without payment of the public school impact fee. However, no service charge will be assessed when the County staff has made an error in the fee determination. Furthermore, no penalty shall be assessed until the person or persons alleged to be in violation are served by registered mail, certified mail -return receipt requested, or personal service with notice to pay. The County Attorney is hereby authorized to institute a civil action in the name of Orange County in the appropriate division of the General Court of Justice in Orange County for recovery of the penalty. All moneys recovered shall be deposited in the appropriate trust fund. SECTION 8 -LEGAL STATUS PROVISIONS All ordinances and clauses in conflict herewith are hereby repealed to the extent of said conflict. If any clause or section of this ordinance or application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or application of this ordinance which can. be given separate effect, and, to this end, the provisions of this ordinance are declared to be severable. This ordinance shall not diminish any prior contractual or special or conditional use district zoning obligation to pay for or install road, park or other improvements required by Orange County or a municipality located therein, nor shall the fulfillment of those obligations diminish any applicable public school impact fee owed to the County. This ordinance shall not diminish any prior obligation of the County or a municipality located therein to reimburse persons for road, parks or other improvements, nor shall the fulfillment of those obligations by the County or a municipality diminish any applicable credit owed to the feepayer. SECTION 9 -APPEAL TO THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT [Reserved] SECTION 10 -EFFECTIVE DATE Impact Fee Ordinance 8 This ordinance shall be effective from and after the 1st day of July, 1993. This ordinance shall only apply to residential dwelling units for which building permits are issued on and after the effective date of the ordinance or any amendment thereto. Adopted this 7th day of June 1993. Amended: April 3, 1995 June 5, 1995 February 26, 1996 June 3, 1996 June 25, 2001 December 11, 2008 Impact Fee Ordinance 9 6 c~1?~J -~c~c~-~- 1 1 1~` G~-~ 8 c>f Commissioner Jacobs said that the reason it increased might be because it was delayed for one year. If it is continually delayed, the costs will continue to rise. He would like some choices, if there are any. Laura Blackmon said that the increase was related to construction cost increase. Commissioner Nelson asked if the Board was comfortable with the Manager's recommendation that she bring back a renovation timeline, project scope and costs for the Link Center. The Board agreed. Major points for staff direction: 1. Designate the land acquisition items as Lands Legacy items by putting the words "Lands Legacy" and then ps/ash" before the other wording. 2. Look at minutes from October 28"', November 13"', and November 18"' and respond to questions about CIP raised by the Commissioners and also follow up with Commissioner Gordon about issues she raised tonight 3. Work on utilizing the bond monies for Twin Creeks Park and investigate using them to create a linear park 4. Investigate using the remaining Soccer Super Fund for an Astroturf field at Cedar Falls Park and make a presentation to the Town of Chapel Hill 5. Bring back a revised ClP to include an amount that accurately reflects implementation of the Library Task Force report. 6. Evaluate projects that are not urgent as well as projects where funding has increased over the last year, and see whether the funds can be reallocated 7. Have Manager look for other ways to fund stabilization of building at New Hope Park other than the Link Center renovations. 8. Bring back a renovation timeline and project scope and costs for the Link Center 9. In the unfunded section of the CIP, list the unfunded land opportunities 10. Bond monies for Twin Creeks Park should only be used for Twin Creeks ~"' d. Educational Facilities Impact Fee Ordinance The Board considered making a decision regarding an amendment to the Educational Facilities Impact Fee Ordinance to adopt updated impact fee levels effective January 1, 2009 and .providing for incremental increases until 2013; accepting the student generation rate calculated in the TischlerBise, Inc. reports; and directing staff to begin the process outlined in the Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (SAPFO) to update the student generation rates used in SAPFO. Perdita Holtz from Planning introduced this item. She made reference to the updated agenda packet (hot pink). She reviewed the actions for the Board and the attachments. 1. Authorize the addition of Attachment 7 as Appendix C to the 2007 TischlerBise School Impact Fee reports; 2. Accept the student generation rates calculated in the 2007 TischlerBise School Impact Fee reports; 3. Adopt the impact fee levels and effective dates as detailed and contained in the attached Ordinance; and 4. Direct staff to begin the process of updating and incorporating student generation rates into the Schools APFO. She summarized the information in the abstract. The recommendation is for the impact fee levels to increase to 40% of the maximum effective July 1, 2009 and then 50% of the maximum effective January 1, 2011. An additional increase to 60% of the maximum would be effective January 1, 2013. In fiscal year 2013-14, the County should expect to update the technical study using current data at that time. Commissioner Jacobs asked why the two school systems had to move in tandem if the construction costs were so different. Geof Gledhill said that the impact fees are in the nature of regulatory exactions and are measured by the courts on a different standard than legislative matters. Commissioner Hemminger asked about the breakeven point. Donna Coffey said that she has not done a breakeven analysis. Laura Blackmon said that staff did an analysis on what it would take to pay the debt , service. Commissioner Yuhasz asked if a schedule of increases could be set and before implementing increases there would be a report on the effect of the last increase and a determination on whether another increase is necessary or could be delayed. Geof Gledhill said that, if the Board did this, he would recommend only implementing the current year's impact and have staff review the data for the upcoming year as opposed to implementing the impact fee and adjusting it. Commissioner Yuhasz asked clarifying questions about .the student generation rates, which were answered by staff. He asked for reports on how the data are collected. PUBLIC COMMENT: James Carnahan was from The Village Project. He made reference to an email letter sent to the County Commissioners last week about the fees. The Village Project would like the County to provide some kind of relief for housing called accessory dwellings, which are size- limited dwellings. The original request that there be some relief was based on a case of a friend of his who built a 750-square foot dwelling for a parent. The structure costs $80,000 and the builder was subject to the $4,400 impact fee, which was 5.5% of the cost of the structure. The accessory dwellings fulfill an important need for affordable housing for senior citizens. It is unlikely that there would be a school impact from these dwellings. He suggested adding "accessory dwellings 600 square feet or less" to the multi-family designation. Omar Zinn is a builder and a local developer. He said that the drastic increase directly affects him. He said that it is a buyer's market and house sales are down. He asked the County Commissioners to delay any increase in impact fees. He understands that it has been seven years since the last increase, but now is not the time.. He would like to see everyone giving towards affordable housing. Letter from Robert Dowling: To members of the County Commission, I'm sorry I won't be attending your meeting this evening, but I wanted to ask a couple of questions about the proposed increases in impact fees. As most of you know, I manage Orange Community Housing and Land Trust. We provide homeownership opportunities to low-income households -primarily in Chapel Hill and Carrboro where the elected boards ask us to implement their inclusionary housing policies. In addition to our inclusionary housing work, we develop our own housing. For example we are planning to build two affordable homes in Carrboro early in the new year. They will sell for about $125,000. 8 We are currently required to pay an impact fee of approximately $4,400 on each home. We include this cost in our development budget, but we typically are reimbursed for the fee after the home is sold. I have two questions about the proposed fee increase: 1. If the fee is increased, will the County be increasing the amount of funds available for reimbursement to nonprofit organizations? 2. Does the County have a policy on reimbursing these fees? It has never been clear to me if we are guaranteed reimbursement of impact fees or if reimbursement is based on availability of funds. I am under the impression. that the policy is the latter. If reimbursement is based on availability of funds, then it makes it difficult for nonprofit housing developers to budget for these fees. If reimbursement is uncertain, then we have to include the fees in our costs and increase our subsidy requirements to offset the fees (should they not be reimbursed). This is not an insignificant concern with the fee at $4,400. Obviously it becomes a bigger concern as the fee increases. Any clarity that the Board can offer is much appreciated. hope my concerns are clear and again, I'm song that I will not be at this evening's meeting. Thank you for your consideration of this perspective. Robert Dowling Executive Director Orange Community Housing and Land Trust 104 Jones Ferry Road Suite C Carrboro, NC 27510 919-967-1545 ext. 307 Commissioner Nelson asked about the answer to the first question, if the fee is increased, then would the reimbursement to nonprofits also increase. Laura Blackmon said yes, unless the Board says otherwise. Commissioner Nelson asked about the second question and it was answered that reimbursement is based on availability of funds. Laura Blackmon said that there could be a budget adjustment. if more funds came in. Commissioner Jacobs asked staff to provide the Board with the reimbursement policy and also to provide it to the nonprofit entities that provide affordable housing and to the Towns. Regarding setting the fee annually, he does not think that this is feasible because of the nature of the data. He would agree with the staff working on a threshold structure size. Commissioner Jacobs said that the County should do revaluations every two years rather than every four years. Also, there have been cases of deconstruction and rebuilding of houses, and he thinks that these houses should be exempt from impact fees. Commissioner Gordon said that she is concerned about the affect of this on the building industry and she would like to think about this and come back to it a little later. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Hemminger to approve items 2 and 4: Accept the student generation rates calculated in the 2007 TischlerBise School Impact Fee reports; and 9 Direct staff to begin the process of updating and incorporating student generation rates into the Schools APFO. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Commissioner Hemminger spoke in support of exempting the accessory dwellings. Craig Benedict made reference to page 21, attachment 7, and the additions to the multi- family category. There is a reduced rate for these dwellings, but there is not a minimum threshold in there yet. Commissioner Hemminger said that two jumps in the impact fee in one year would be impossible and all agreed. A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Yuhasz to authorize the addition of Attachment 7 as Appendix C; approve the increases to take effect on January 1~ of subsequent years (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013); and direct staff to do further investigation on the minimum threshold for accessory units. VOTE: .UNANIMOUS e. Site Selection Approval - Oranae County Transfer Station The Board considered a technical report, including options, and recommendations to enable the BOCC to approve a site for a Solid Waste Transfer Station in Orange County. Gwen Harvey said that there has been a long period of time with work sessions, public meetings, and reports. The Board has received two documents - a technical report by Olver, Inc. addressing concerns raised and a staff memorandum from the Solid Waste Director, Gayle Wilson, with recommendations regarding a particular site to be selected. Bob Sallach from Olver, Inc. made a PowerPoint presentation. Olver, Inc. recommends that the Board proceed with the site selection process and the implementation of a transfer station. This is predicated on the fact and the issue that the landfill capacity will expire in May 2011, so there is a need to move forward with a disposal plan. Olver, Inc. recommends that the County pursue the acquisition of site #056, which is the Howell property. As part of this process, an environmental assessment will be prepared for the site, and a neighborhood representative would be on the Solid Waste Advisory Board that would represent the neighborhood. The Howell property is 142 acres with minimal flood plain. The site is wooded and undeveloped. It is 11 miles from the waste generation centroid and has direct access to NC 54 through the acquisition of an easement. The site has no water or sewer utilities available. The owner is willing to negotiate the sale of the property. The zoning is currently Agricultural- Residential. Public Comment: Commissioner Nelson asked people to keep comments down to two minutes because the Board needs the opportunity to discuss this further. Susan Walser said that on Monday and Tuesday the Board of County Commissioners was hand-delivered a report compiled by three community groups -Orange County Voice, The Rogers-Eubanks Neighborhood Association, and Orange County Community Awareness. She handed the report to Deputy Clerk to the Board David Hunt as part of the record. She said that the community groups are in agreement that all ten sites selected by Olver, Inc. are bad sites,