Agenda - 04-21-2009 - Info - Laserfiche WebLink

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Memo to: Orange County Board of Commissioners From: Craig Benedict, Planning Director ~erdita Holtz, Planning Systems Coordinate oats March 25, 2009 Re: Accessory Dwelling Units and Educational Facilities Impact Fees {addressing Follow-Up Action List for 12/11/08 BOCC meeting) At the December 11, 2008 BOCC meeting, staff was instructed to review the minimum threshold size for accessory dwelling units to determine an appropriate size to exempt from school impact fees and provide information to the BOCC. This memo addresses the issue. In response to the attached letter from Mr. Geoffrey Gledhill dated February 9, 2006, staff worked with the consultant, TischlerBise, during development of the 2007 impact fee update to categorize accessory dwelling units as "mul#ifamily" units. The definition of "multifamily" in the attached handout available in the Permits offices of the various jurisdictions clearly includes accessory dwellings as "multifamily" units for the purposes of school impact fee determinations. Until such time as the County updates the technical studies, there is insufficient analysis available to exempt units under a certain size from impact fees since all units were included in the study and therefore are part of the overall calculations. If the County desires to do so in the future, each local government and school board would have to collect data at this finer detail for a few years and thereafter, the next technical report could further disaggregate the data (by unit size) and. analyze impacts of smaller ADUs on school capital facilities. If such a method is deemed defensible by the County's legal staff and the selected consultant then a separate impact fee or de-minims exemption could be proposed. To exempt units based on size at this time would require a new technical report to substantiate the assertion that smaller ADUs have no impact on school capital facilities. To refresh the Board's memory, the number of ADUs permitted each year, as reported in the previous memo dated February 9, 2009, is included below.