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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 12-20-94 - X-A 1 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: December 20, 1994 Agenda Abstract Item # X-A SUBJECT: ANNUAL REPORT - EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES IMPACT FEES DEPARTMENT: Planning PUBLIC HEARING: Yes X No ATTACHMENTS: INFORMATION CONTACT: Annual Report Planning Director X2592 PHONE NUMBERS: Hillsborough 732-8181 Mebane 227-2031 Durham 688-7331 Chapel Hill 967-9251 • PURPOSE: To receive a report concerning implementation and administration of the Educational Facilities Impact Fee Ordinance. BACKGROUND: The Educational Facilities Impact Fee Ordinance was adopted on June 7, 1993. Section 5.F. of that ordinance requires a report to 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 Board of County Commissioners is also required to review the report to determine if, within each benefit area, all areas of new construction are being benefitted by the fees.If the Board determines that areas of new construction are not being benefitted,then it must readjust the capital improvements program to correct the condition. If, after review of the methods and data used to calculate the Schedule of Public School Impact Fees, the Board 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. The Annual Report for FY 1993-94 has been prepared and is provided as an attachment. Also provided is a copy of the Educational Facilities Impact Fee Ordinance. 2 RECOMMENDATION: The Administration recommends that the Board of Commissioners receive the Annual Report as information.lithe Board wishes to conduct a public hearing on revisions to the Educational Facilities Impact Fee Ordinance, the following option is available: • January 17, 1995 Regular Meeting (OWASAJCarrboro) Board of Commissioners considers proposed amendments to Educational Facilities Impact Fee Ordinance and Notice of Public Hearing. • January 20, 1995 (Notice taken to newspapers) • January 25 and February 1, 1995 (Notice advertised) • February 6, 1995 Regular Meeting(Public hearing conducted) An alternative is to conduct a public hearing at the Board's regular quarterly public hearing, now scheduled for March 29, 1995. 3 FY 1993-94 ANNUAL REPORT ORANGE COUNTY EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES IMPACT FEE ORDINANCE December, 1994 Background The Educational Facilities Impact Fee Ordinance was adopted on June 7, 1993. The ordinance requires that a report 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 Board of County Commissioners is also required to review the report to determine if, within each benefit area, all areas of new construction are being benefitted by the fees. If the Board determines that areas of new construction are not being benefitted, then it must readjust the capital improvements program to correct the condition. If after review of the methods and data used to calculate the Schedule of Public School Impact Fees, the Board 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. Collection of Fees Public School Benefit Area Trust Funds. Public school impact fees collected by Orange County pursuant to this ordinance are kept separate from other revenue of the County. A separate trust fund has been established for each of the benefit areas corresponding to the school district boundaries illustrated on the attached map labeled Public School Benefit Areas. Revenues collected in each school district are shown in the table below. IMPACT FEE TRUST FUND REVENUES FY 1993-94 FY 1994-95 School District (7/1/93-6/30/94) (7/1/94-10/31/94) Total Orange County Impact Fees $ 111,750 $ 93,750 $ 205,500 Interest* $ 845 $ 0 $ 845 Total $ 112,595 $ 93,750 $ 206,345 Chapel Hill-Carrboro Impact Fees $ 219,750 $ 100,500 $ 320,250 Interest* $ 1,662 $ 0 $ 1,662 Total $ 221,412 $ 100,500 $ 321,912 *NOTE: Interest earned in FY 1994-95 has not yet been allocated to Trust Funds by the Finance Department. Source: Orange County Finance Department Annual Report 1 4 PUBLIC SCHOOL BENEFIT AREAS rawrior 1 giV. 4t; 1 As..• al ..: lk de.wv4i r'!"11111 ' r j ( . Nr4 • 40.,ft u: . Lai. IS, I: ' ii L-- -11461roliaani2Y 41.1430.- i 1 li off 1"0-***- , do iiii ' NI . I Ai im - 0 01,41MPAIIIIML ' ISIP- ...,:,W a 41110110 -* ' TIPP - .16, ..,46.40.444 tablinilleltavt411 f I 4 i -ar• Annual Report 2 5 Revenues collected in both school districts during FY 1993-94 have been less than estimated in the Impact Fee Technical Report; e.g.,27 percent of projected revenues for the Orange County School District and 28 percent for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School District. On a more positive note, however, revenues received to date (through October, 1994) represent a much higher proportion of funds budgeted for school construction purposes.As an example,in the first year of the FY 1994-99 Capital Improvements Plan, 109 percent of impact fee revenues budgeted for school construction in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School District have been received. For the Orange County School District,impact fee revenues are not budgeted for use until FY 1997-98. Through October, 1994,approximately 46 percent of these revenues had been received. The principal reason for the shortfall in revenues was the rush to obtain building permits before impact fees became effective on July 1, 1993. As shown on the accompanying chart for Orange County's jurisdiction, new residential permits peaked in June at a level two to three times higher than normal. Soon after the beginning of 1994, the Residential Permits Issued number of residential permits issued returned to Orange County Jurisdictions levels occurring prior to the establishment of (January, 1992 - October, 1994) impact fees. This trend is also reflected in the Number of Permits revenue received from in the Orange County 140 School District. During the period of July - 120 October, 1994, $93,750 in impact fees was 100 e0 collected or an average of$23,437 per month.The 60 monthly average is more than twice that for FY 40 1993-94 or $9,383. 20 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Q7FMA11JIASONDJFMAMJJASONDJFYAMJJA$0 Discussions with representatives of the Month Towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro indicated that — 1992 — 1995 —I- 1994 similar building trends occurred in their jurisdictions. Averagely monthly revenues from *Includes Town of Hillsborough Permits impact fees also followed a similar pattern. Fee Collection Responsibility. All public school impact fees must be paid to Orange County prior to a certificate of occupancy being issued for a dwelling unit.The fees are collected by Orange County or by interlocal agreement between Orange County and a municipality located therein. At the time of collection by Orange County,all public school impact fees are 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 must 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 deposits the fees in the appropriate trust fund. On September 7, 1993, the Board of Commissioners approved in principle a draft Impact Fee Collection Interlocal Agreement and authorized the Administration to forward the draft agreement to the municipalities for consideration. Major provisions of the draft agreement included the following: • The impact fee must be collected at a time no later than the time the municipality issues the certificate of occupancy for a dwelling unit.This provision allows the municipalities to collect impact fees when either the building permit or certificate of occupancy is issued. Annual Report 3 6 • Impact fees collected by the municipalities must be delivered quarterly to the County. • The agreement may be terminated at the end of any fiscal year by giving six months written notice. The City of Mebane declined to participate in the Interlocal Agreement, electing instead to direct residents to Hillsborough to make payment of impact fees. The Carrboro Board of Aldermen authorized the Town Manager to execute the Interlocal Agreement on December 7, 1993. Similar action was taken by the Chapel Hill Town Council on January 26, 1994.Both municipalities elected to collect impact fees at the time of building permit issuance and have been submitting quarterly reports with impact fees collected since execution of the agreements. Expenditure Limitations.Funds withdrawn from public school impact fee trust accounts must be used only for the following purposes: • 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; and/or infrastructure improvements. • For capital improvements within the benefit area from which the funds were collected. • For providing permitted reimbursements. Enabling legislation was obtained through Senate Bill 1679, Chapter 642, which allows Orange County to use impact fee revenues to "construct, equip, improve, renovate, or otherwise make available property for use by a school administrative unit within the county."The bill also the expands the definition of"costs" to include debt service payments and payments under leases. An ordinance amendment would be required to include provisions which reflect the new legislation. No funds may be used for public school operating expenses, periodic or routine maintenance, or the administration of this public school impact fee program.Though not applicable at this point,funds must be expended within five(5)years following collection.The five-year period is 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. No impact fee revenues have been expended to date. However, the FY 1994-99 Capital Improvements Plan identifies two school construction projects for which these revenues will be used.They include: • FY 1994-95 Elementary School Chapel Hill-Carrboro School District • FY 1997-98 Elementary School Orange County School District Interest on Fees. Any public school impact fee funds on deposit and not immediately necessary for expenditure must be invested as allowed in N.C. General Statute 159-30 for other public monies. All income derived must be deposited in the applicable trust fund. Interest earned on impact fee collections has been identified previously. Annual Report 4 7 Reimbursements. Any funds not expended within the five-year time frame noted above must 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. If the Schedule of Public School Impact Fees is reduced, the difference between the old and new fees must also be returned to the feepayer (or land owner).If the Schedule is increased, no additional fees are to be collected from new construction for which certificates of occupancy have been issued. No provision is made for reimbursement of impact fees collected erroneously. Likewise, no provision exists for situations where the impact fee has been paid, and the applicant subsequently files for and is granted an exception. An ordinance amendment is needed to address this situation. Habitat for Humanity and Orange Community Housing Corporation have requested that a"policy" regarding"reimbursement"of impact fees be established for homes purchased by families earning less than sixty percent of median income. The proposed "policy" would not apply to rental units. Such "reimbursements" would be accomplished through special appropriations to those (and similar) agencies, following submission of a funding request as part of the County's annual budget process. However, the request cannot be dealt with simply as a policy issue. It must be handled through an ordinance amendment. A more recent request involves payment of impact fees on an installment basis (e.g., a down payment followed by payments based on a specific construction or phasing plan). An "installment plan" provision may present problems, particulArly where impact fees are to be collected after the units have already been occupied. Additional consideration of the mechanics of how an "installment plan" would operate is warranted. Approximately one year ago,an impact fee exception was requested by a resident receiving AFDC. The request was referred to DSS to determine if any "discretionary fund" existed through which to pay the fee. Marti Pryor-Cook, the Social Services Director, responded that none existed and suggested that if such a fund were established, it could be administered as a component of DSS emergency assistance. Such situations could be addressed through an ordinance amendment which would then allow DSS to request an appropriation through the annual budget process. Administration & Enforcement Public school impact fees are charged to new residential dwelling units located within Orange County, including those within municipalities and their extraterritorial planning jurisdictions. No person may occupy any new residential dwelling unit until all applicable public school impact fees have been paid in full. No certificate of occupancy or other type of occupancy permit is issued for any new residential dwelling unit until the public school impact fees have been paid. Exceptions. Provision is made in the Educational Facilities Impact Fee Ordinance to allow exceptions from payment of impact fees 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. • Residential dwelling units for which a building permit was obtained prior to the effective date of this ordinance. • Alterations, repairs, renovations or additions to a residential dwelling unit. Annual Report 5 8 • Replacement of a building or structure or mobile home with a new building or structure or mobile home of the same dwelling type. • Accessory buildings and structures, including, but not limited to,garages, decks, storage buildings, and similar structures,provided they are not used for residential purposes. • 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: o A mobile home being used to provide custodial care under the provisions of an approved Special Use Permit. o 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. One of the difficult aspects of administering the impact fee ordinance involved when and when not to grant exceptions for "replacement" units. Soon after the ordinance became effective, questions arose such as the following: • A farm house existed on the property 20 years ago. Is an impact fee required? • A mobile home existed on the property two years ago. Is a fee required? Because of the number of such questions, the following interim policy was employed: If a dwelling unit (or mobile home) is being placed on a lot (or mobile home space) which has been vacant for one year or less, it is permissible to issue a building permit without charging impact fees.If the situation involves a lot(or mobile home space)which has been vacant for more than one year, the applicant must submit a letter which explains his/her situation and why the lot (space) has been vacant for an extended period of time. The letter, along with the completed building permit application, must be submitted to the Planning Director for review. Following consultation with the County Manager and the County Attorney, a decision will be rendered regarding the request. An acceptable reason for excepting impact fees for spaces or lots which have been vacant for more than a year includes the inability of the mobile home park owner to locate homes on spaces due to a County or State prohibition resulting from a failing septic system or contaminated well. This situation may include the time involved to extend public water and sewer service to the site or the installation of a new septic and/or well system. The above policy was initially drafted in August, 1993. It was revised again in October, 1993, to add the provision regarding failing septic systems and contaminated wells. Since the policy was instituted, 13 exception requests have been handled involving 61 dwellings. A summary of the requests and actions taken is as shown on the following page. Of all the exception requests considered to date, the most time consuming to explain and/or process have been those associated with mobile home parks. Several owners have cited other reasons for controlling the flow of units in and out of a park(other than failing septic systems). One reason cited more than any other was the desire to locate desirable tenants in the parks. The owners noted that it is time consuming as well as expensive to remove undesirable tenants, and, once removed, they have been Annual Report 6 9 deliberately selective to avoid such situations in the future. SUMMARY OF EXCEPTION REQUESTS AND ACTIONS TAKEN Justification Proiect/Units Action Failing septic systems • Mobile home park 6 MHP/55 Spaces Approved • Individual lot 1 Lot/1 Unit Approved Subdivision approval • Approval time 1 Lot/1 Unit Denied • Unit moved 1 Lot/1 Unit Approved Temporary housing • Damaged unit 1 Lot/1 Unit Approved Other • Loan delay 1 Lot/1 Unit Denied • Time/finances 1 Lot/1 Unit Denied Another reason cited by the park owners is the desire not to end up with failing septic systems. Some parks have spaces which are served by individual systems as well as community systems. Park owners have deliberately left some spaces vacant for a limited time period or been very selective in the size (number of bedrooms) of the home to avoid overtaxing individual systems. Finally, park owners have indicated that mobile home parks are somewhat like apartment complexes;e.g.,vacancy rates vary from one year to the next,and there is no real way of knowing whether the park will be near capacity or left with many vacant spaces. These situations as well as the administrative time associated with processing mobile home park requests (and replacement units in general) suggest a return to the original intent of the ordinance; e.g., essentially a"grandfather" provision. One exception is noted, though, and it is the need to establish some time limit on vacant lots or spaces. Five years prior to the effective date of the ordinance is suggested, since that period has been used as a general amortization period for nonconforming signs and uses in North Carolina communities. An ordinance amendment is necessary to establish such a time limit. The current ordinance (Section 4.4) allows the replacement of residential building or mobile home with the same dwelling type. This provision does not recognize that a family living in a mobile home may wish to replace it with a stick-built structure. An ordinance amendment is needed to provide such flexibility. Schedule of Fees. The amount of the public school impact fee is $750 per residential dwelling unit. The fee is the same in both the Orange County and Chapel Hill-Carrboro school districts. which Information is still being compiled througlkto identify a"sliding scale" of impact fees. Examples of a sliding scale include a fee based on the number oedrooms,the type of housing unit,the square footage of the housinf unit or the cost of the housing unit.Regardless of the scale used,it must relate directly back to the number of school-age children per household. Collection of information through which to establish this relationship could be presented for the Board of Commissioners at the scheduled January 12, 1995 work session. Annual Report 7 10 ATTACHMENT A PROPOSED REVISIONS TO ORANGE COUNTY EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES IMPACT FEE ORDINANCE 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. 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 Annual Report 8 11 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 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. SECTION 4 - PUBLIC SCHOOL IMPACT 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. Replacement of a building or structure or mobile home with a new building or structure or mobile home of the same dwelling type. 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 case of a mobile home being used to provide custodial care under the provisions of an approved Special Use Permit. Likewise, such fees shall not be levied in the case of 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. 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 Annual Report 9 12 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. 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; and/or infrastructure improvements. 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. 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 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 Annual Report 10 13 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. 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 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 Annual Report 11 14 - 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 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] 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. Annual Report 12 15 ATTACHMENT B A RESOLUTION REGARDING MAJOR POINTS FOR CONSIDERATION IN ESTABLISHING A SYSTEM OF IMPACT FEES TO FINANCE PUBLIC SCHOOL FACILITIES IN ORANGE COUNTY, NC WHEREAS, Orange County public school facilities are vital to the health and economic prosperity of Orange County; and WHEREAS, 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; and WHEREAS, 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 impact fees; and WHEREAS, 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; and WHEREAS,the Board of Commissioners has conducted public hearings as required by G.S. 153A-323 on May 18, 1993 and May 24, 1993 and received citizen comment on the proposed system of impact fees. NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Orange County Board of Commissioners that it intends to establish a system of impact fees to finance a portion of the cost of public school capital needs which includes the following points: 1. Impact fees will be collected at time at which the Certificate of Occupancy is issued. 2. The amount of the 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. 3. The issue of housing affordability will be addressed through special annual County budget appropriations to a fund, from which, the County would pay impact fees for low-income housing units built or sponsored by agencies and organizations such as, but not limited to, Habitat for Humanity and Orange Community Housing. 4.* Following their collection, impact fees must be spent within ten (10) years, the time frame coinciding with the public school facilities CIP impact fee period. *Amended to five (5) years on June 7, 1993. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board of Commissioners will consider for adoption an ordinance establishing a system of impact fee which incorporates the above mentioned points at its June 7, 1993 regularly scheduled meeting. Adopted this 27th day of May, 1993. Resolution 13