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She summarized the information in the abstract. The recommendation is for the impact <br /> fee levels to increase to 40% of the maximum effective July 1, 2009 and then 50% of the <br /> maximum effective January 1, 2011. An additional increase to 60% of the maximum would be <br /> effective January 1, 2013. In fiscal year 2013-14, the County should expect to update the <br /> technical study using current data at that time. <br /> Commissioner Jacobs asked why the two school systems had to move in tandem if the <br /> construction costs were so different. Geof Gledhill said that the impact fees are in the nature <br /> of regulatory exactions and are measured by the courts on a different standard than legislative <br /> matters. <br /> Commissioner Hemminger asked about the breakeven point. Donna Coffey said that <br /> she has not done a breakeven analysis. <br /> Laura Blackmon said that staff did an analysis on what it would take to pay the debt <br /> service. <br /> Commissioner Yuhasz asked if a schedule of increases could be set and before <br /> implementing increases there would be a report on the effect of the last increase and a <br /> determination on whether another increase is necessary or could be delayed. <br /> Geof Gledhill said that, if the Board did this, he would recommend only implementing <br /> the current year's impact and have staff review the data for the upcoming year as opposed to <br /> implementing the impact fee and adjusting it. <br /> Commissioner Yuhasz asked clarifying questions about the student generation rates, <br /> which were answered by staff. He asked for reports on how the data are collected. <br /> PUBLIC COMMENT: <br /> James Carnahan was from The Village Project. He made reference to an email letter <br /> sent to the County Commissioners last week about the fees. The Village Project would like the <br /> County to provide some kind of relief for housing called accessory dwellings, which are size- <br /> limited dwellings. The original request that there be some relief was based on a case of a <br /> friend of his who built a 750-square foot dwelling for a parent. The structure costs $80,000 <br /> and the builder was subject to the $4,400 impact fee, which was 5.5% of the cost of the <br /> structure. The accessory dwellings fulfill an important need for affordable housing for senior <br /> citizens. It is unlikely that there would be a school impact from these dwellings. He suggested <br /> adding "accessory dwellings 600 square feet or less" to the multi-family designation. <br /> Omar Zinn is a builder and a local developer. He said that the drastic increase directly <br /> affects him. He said that it is a buyer's market and house sales are down. He asked the <br /> County Commissioners to delay any increase in impact fees. He understands that it has been <br /> seven years since the last increase, but now is not the time. He would like to see everyone <br /> giving towards affordable housing. <br /> Letter from Robert Dowling: <br /> To members of the County Commission, <br /> I'm sorry I won't be attending your meeting this evening, but I wanted to ask a couple of <br /> questions about the proposed increases in impact fees. <br /> As most of you know, I manage Orange Community Housing and Land Trust. We provide <br /> homeownership opportunities to low-income households — primarily in Chapel Hill and <br /> Carrboro where the elected boards ask us to implement their inclusionary housing policies. In <br />