Agenda - 09-07-1999 - 10a - Laserfiche WebLink

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5/26/99 VI. PAYMENT-IN-LIEU PROGRAMS A. Development Exactions for Recreation. in Orange County Population growth over the past thirty years has forced a reassessment of the traditional means of acquiring public park and recreation areas. Increasing pressures on funds generated from the traditional property tax levy and from bond referenda have challenged fundamental ideas on paying for parks and recreation. Public officials have been encouraged to consider alternatives to the negotiated purchase of park land and sole reliance on the property tax base and bond funds. Alternatives to purchase and dedications include payment-in-lieu and impact fee programs. The Work Group has recognized that all local government jurisdictions in Orange County have recreation requirements in their own Subdivision Regulations or Land Use Ordinances which mandate that land be dedicated, private recreation facilities provided, or a combination thereof. These requirements fall under the statutory regulatory/police authority of local governments to protect the health, safety, and welfare of their communities. These recreation requirements are legally acceptable under this authority, similar to roads, utilities, and other public improvements required as conditions for subdivision approval. The North Carolina Supreme Court affirmed this authority in Messer v. Town of Chapel Hill, 297 S.E.2d 632 (1982), in holding that the Town ordinance, within the statutory powers given to a city, could exact recreation .land or facilities and even require the particular site within the subdivision to provide adequate recreation needs. B. .Definition of Payment-in-Lieu and Impact Fee Programs 1. Payment-in-Lieu A more recent tool for providing recreation facilities. has been the inclusion of a payment-in-lieu program under this same general statutory power. In this program, a subdivision developer pays a fee related to the jurisdiction's cost of acquiring commensurate recreation lands, of the type it could have required the developer to dedicate. These fees then help provide recreation facilities within the immediate area of the development. If the developer is provided the option to meet the jurisdiction's requirements or make some commensurate payment-in-lieu of recreation facilities, the jurisdiction is empowered to accept the payment under its existing statutory powers. Payment- in-lieu fees must be geographically designated within the "immediate area" of the development, spent within a reasonable amount of time, and supplemented with other funds.