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2. All reimbursements are made subject to budgetary constraints, and are limited solely to the County's <br />annual appropriations for reimbursement. Thus there is no entitlement to these reimbursements even <br />for projects that qualify. <br />Eligibility Criteria: <br />1. Reimbursements will only be made to 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations which (1) develop affordable <br />housing to be owner-occupied by first-time homebuyers with incomes at or below 80°x6 of the HUD <br />published area median income for the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina MSA, or (2) <br />develop affordable rental housing for persons with incomes at or below 60% of the HUD published <br />area median income for the Raleigh/Durham - Chapel Hill, North Carolina MSA. <br />2. Affordable Housing is defined as (1) owner-occupied housing which can be purchased for no more than <br />2.5 times annual family income, or (2) rental housing for which the occupant pays no more than 30% <br />of gross income for all housing costs, including utilities. <br />3. An organization requesting impact fee reimbursement must certify in writing that, for owner-occupied <br />housing, it will remain affordable to the anticipated beneficiary or beneficiaries for a period of a <br />minimum of twenty (20) years or longer if required by applicable HUD policy. For rental housing, the <br />certification period is ninety-nine (99) years. The rental housing certification must be secured by a <br />"deed covenant," requiring repayment to Orange County of the impact fee if the rental housing does <br />not remain affordable during the period of affordability, which covenant will be further secured by a <br />note and deed of trust. Evidence must be provided that agency and/or program guidelines are in <br />place to assure affordability compliance. <br />Procedure <br />An organization requesting impact fee reimbursement must anticipate reimbursement needs for a given fiscal <br />year and submit a request for fee reimbursement at the time for submission of the County's annual budget, <br />non-departmental funding requests. Further, at no time should an organization presume impact fee <br />reimbursement, and in particular, presume a lump sum reimbursement payment or total reimbursement <br />payments in one fiscal year. Therefore, the cost of impact fees should be budgeted when developing <br />housing development projects and should be included in all grant and loan applications. <br />Written request for impact fee reimbursement should be submitted to the Orange County Housing and <br />Community Development Department prior to the anticipated date the building permit will be obtained. The <br />request should include all information necessary for a determination of eligibility, including so much of the <br />following that is pertinent: a description of the anticipated beneficiary (homeowner or tenant), a detailed <br />construction budget including amounts for individual houses or rental units, an estimated completion date, the <br />house selling price or the proposed rent schedule, including utility costs. <br />If funding is unavailable in the current fiscal year budget, the Housing and Community Development Director <br />will notify the non-profit organization. If funding is unavailable, the application for reimbursement will be <br />considered in the next fiscal year. Applications will be considered on a first in, first out basis with unfunded <br />applications carrying over from fiscal year to fiscal year unless withdrawn. <br />Requests will be reviewed within 15 working days and the Housing and Community Development Director will <br />make a recommendation to the County Manager. The recommendation of the Housing and Community <br />Development Director will be based on whether or not the application satisfies the eligibility criteria, includes <br />all of the information required by this Procedure and whether or not the project budget is adequate for the <br />proposed housing project. <br />The Manager's recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners, for or against reimbursement, will <br />be conveyed to the applicant in writing by the Manager within 15 working days after the Manager receives the <br />recommendation of the Housing and Community Development Director. The recommendation of the Manager <br />will be based on the recommendation of the Housing and Community Development Director AND whether or