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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 01-12-1995 - 1b PROPOSED REVISIONS TO ORANGE COUNTY EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES IMPACT FEE ORDINANCE NOTE: Proposed revisions are highlighted in boldface type. The rational for the proposed change(s) is provided immediately thereafter in italics type.Sections and/or provisions recommended for deletion or change are hightlighted in stAketloeug13 type. 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 Occuuancv. 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. Dwellingâ–ş 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. Feenaver. 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. SECTION 3-SCHOOL 124PACT 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 Impact Fee Ordinance 1 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 the public school impact fee will be $750 per residential dwelling unit. The same fee will be applicable in both the Orange County and Chapel Hill-Carrboro school districts. Comment: There has been discussion concerning an increase in the fee as well as providing a sliding scale of fees, based on dwelling type, number of bedrooms, and/or square footage in the dwelling unit. If a change to the fee schedule is desired, it should be done within the context of amending the Technical Report. SECTION 4 - PUBLIC SCHOOL MIPACT FEE EXCEPTIONS' Public school impact fees as provided in Section 3 shall not be imposed in the following circumstances: 1. 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: v r t a of i . a:.o w2 st.. ,+, o .Wt w.. hi tding, ".. ,t, _e 4. 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. 'Inquiries have been received from persons who started the process of obtaining a building permit prior to the adoption of the ordinance.Due to the process; e.g.,historic district review, etc.,the applicants were unable to complete the process in time and had to pay the impact fee. No one was at fault on either side in these situations. However, if relief is to be granted in such circumstan ces, additional information must be collected regarding the number and merit of such occurrences. Impact Fee Ordinance 2 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 a stick-built structure. In either case, however, the number of dwelling units may not be increased. Comment The provision regarding replacement units has been expanded to clarify that replacement units include those destroyed by natural catastrophe. In addition, a "grandfather" provision has been added to establish a time limit for vacant lots and spaces. The fiueyear period is based in part on the general amortization period for nonconforming signs and uses in North Carolina communities. It is also a period for which reliable and accessible information is available. 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. 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: 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. Comment: Only format changes are proposed which permit the ordinance user to easily identify situations where impact fees are not required. 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. Impact Fee Ordinance 3 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. Comment: The ordinance allows the impact fee to be collected at any time prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy. Both Chapel Hill and Carrboro, through the interlocal agreements with the County, have chosen to collect the fees at the time of permit issuance. The advantage to this approach is that it assures that the fee has been collected and assures that a person or family may occupy a completed unit without delay.It also provides for immediate calculation of impact fee revenues without having to project outstanding funds. If the Board wished to require fee payment at the time of permit issuance, it could do so through a separate policy rather than amending the ordinance. C. LMTATION ON EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS Funds withdrawn from public school impact fee trust accounts shall be used solely in accordance with the following provisions: 1. Funds shall be used for capital costs associated with the construction of new public school space, including new buildings or additions to existing buildings 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. Comment: The above provision has been revised to reflect changes to the enabling legislation made through Senate Bill 1679, Chapter 642. 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. 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 five (5) years, the time frame coinciding with the public school facilities capital improvements program (CIP) school impact fee period. Comment The resolution adopted by the Board of Commissioners on May 27, 1993 expressed the Board's intent to establish a system ofimpact fees,including expenditure of such fees within a 10year period.In the absence of a 10-year Capital Improvements Plan (CIP), the expenditure period was revised to five years to coincide with the current CIP. If both school boards will prepare and adopt 10-year capital improvement programs, it will be possible to amend the above provision to provide for a 10year expenditure 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. Impact Fee Ordinance 4 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 monies. All income derived shall be deposited in the applicable trust fund. E. 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 impact fees deposited in accordance with Section 5.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. Comment: No provision is made in the current ordinance for reimbursement of fees collected erroneously, or following payment of fees and approval of an exception. No amendment has been proposed through which to address the concerns of organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and the Orange Community Housing Corporation. Those agencies requested that impact fees be reimbursed for homes purchased by families earning less than sixty percent (60%) of mediian income. While such a provision would not apply to rental units, a request has be made to allow paymentof impact fees on an "installment"basis. Rather than adopt an ordinance amendment, a separate independent policy may be adopted by the Board of Commissioners to establish procedures for Habitat and similar agencies to request appropriations through the annual budget process to cover impact fees for affordable housing.The same policy could permit the Department of Social Services to seek funding through which to establish a "discretionary fund" to assist persons or families with special needs. Considerable attention should be given to the mechanics of how an "installment plan" would operate before incorporating any provisions into a policy. 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 benefitted by the fees.If the Board of County Commissioners determines that areas of new construction are not being benefitted, then it shall readjust the capital Impact Fee Ordinance 5 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 - CREDITS 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 developer shall 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 developer wishes to receive credit against the amount of the public school impact fee due for such conveyance or construction, the developer 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. The value of land conveyed or facilities constructed by a developer 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/or 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. 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 land owner 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 monies recovered shall be deposited in the appropriate trust fund. SECTION S - 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 duninish any prior contractual or special or conditional use district zoning Impact Fee Ordinance 6 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] 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. Adopted this 7th day of June, 1993. Impact Fee Ordinance 7