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

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5/26/99 2. Imaact Fees and Imaact Taxes An impact fee requires the developer to pay a fee representing the prorated cost of providing community-wide and area-wide recreational facilities required. by this new development. The use of the fee requires authority from the legislature through enabling legislation, and Orange County currently has the authority to levy such impact fees. Orange County also has a Public School Facilities Impact Fee, but no other impact fee is currently in use in the county for any other services. In using these fees, there must be exhibited a correlation showing the (1) actual need created by the impact of the development and (2) benefits provided to the particular subdivision. By contrast, an impact tax allows for recognition that all impacts are not equal. Impact taxes may be assessed in graduated levels and do not require the "one size fits all" regressive nature fee scale that exists for impact .fees. Orange County has, in previous years, sought impact tax legislation from the State to provide for possible reassessment of the Public School Impact Fee program. C. Current Status of Payment-in-Lieu Throughout the County Methods of assessing a development's recreation impact vary across the different jurisdictions within Orange County. Appendix G indicates the method by which Orange County and Carrboro calculate their payment required for the payment-in-lieu program. Orange County also has special legislation which allows payments to be collected and spent on a "district" basis. Instead of using a set schedule of payments, Chapel Hill negotiates based on individual development proposals while Hillsborough seeks dedication of land instead of payments. The appendix also shows the efforts of other selected jurisdictions throughout the country in acquiring land for recreation and open space needs. In terms of the reality of the programs, in Carrboro, many developments choose to provide private recreation facilities rather than payment-in-lieu. Carrboro has collected $453,000 to date. Both Chapel Hill and Hillsborough do not have detailed central records of the results of payments or individually negotiated fees and land donations. Orange County has required payments since 1988, and has accumulated these payments in a fund totaling $488,000. It is clear in a broad overview, however, that the current system of land acquisition has been insufficient to meet citizens' needs. Several problems arise in assessing the current adequacy of our parklands and