Agenda - 02-26-1996 - 5a - Laserfiche WebLink

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10 0 30 Whereas the "service area" payment-in-lieu is not calculated on the basis of a long-term population projection, it is still subject to the same growth rate in "new" lots as the "county- wide" payment. As shown on Table 11, "service area" payments would generate approximately $1,710,520 in revenues, representing 9.5% of the total parks program cost. Even though more revenue would be received using this approach, a substantial portion of the program cost ($16.3 million) must come from other sources. Land Dedication Although the preceding discussion focused entirely on the calculation of payments-in-lieu, an integral part of any proposal is the amount of land to be dedicated for parkland purposes. As noted at the beginning of this report, the current land dedication requirement is 1/35`h of an acre for each lot or dwelling unit in a proposed subdivision. This is equivalent to a ratio of 0.01050 or 10.50 acres of developed open space per 1,000 population. If a ratio equivalent of 0.00750 or 7.50 acres of developed open space per 1,000 population is used, then the dedication requirement becomes 1/57h of an acre per lot or dwelling unit. The latter ratio is based on the combined land area requirements for community and district parks as recommended in the Master Recreation & Parks Plan: • Community parks, based on a standard of 2.5 acres per 1,000 population; and • District parks, based on a standard of 5.0 acres per 1,000 population. Shown on Table 12 is a comparison of the amount of dedicated land which would result from application of the two standards to subdivisions of varying size. The table indicates that for any given subdivision, the new standard (1/57 ') results in a 38% decrease in the amount of land to be dedicated. It also illustrates (through gray shading) the amount of land dedication from minor subdivisions or those containing from 1-5 lots. As noted previously in this report, approximately 54% of all lots created between 1986 and 1995 were located in minor subdivisions. Combined with the very small dedication requirements associated with such subdivisions (0.02 - 0.09 acres), the new standard assures that contributions toward recreation and parks improvements from these subdivisions will be in the form of payments-in-lieu. As applied to major subdivisions, the same conclusion can be reached. For example, the average number of lots in a major subdivision created between 1986 and 1995 was 13, and the amount of land to be dedicated for a subdivision of that size would be slightly less than one-fourth of an acre. Another illustration involves the size of a major subdivision large enough to result in dedication of a 25-acre community park site. Under the current 1/35'h standard, the threshold would be reached at 880 lots. Under the proposed standard of 1/57`h of an acre, the threshold is pushed up to 1,440 lots. These examples suggest that unless the County decides on a specific site and accepts partial dedications from several subdivisions, or agrees to accept dedication of a larger site (25+ acres) in a location removed from that shown in the Master Recreation & Parks Plan, contributions from major subdivisions will likewise be in the form of payments-in-lieu. These considerations, partial dedication and plan consistency, are discussed in greater detail below.