Agenda - 03-08-1995 - VIII-F - Laserfiche WebLink

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4a DRAFT NEWS RELEASE CONTACT: Marvin Collins FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 732-8181, ext. 2575 March 8, 1995 PUBLIC HEARING SCHEDULED FOR SCHOOL IMPACT FEES On March 21, 1995, the Orange County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing to receive citizen comments on the proposed amendments to the Educational Facilities Impact Fee Ordinance. The hearing will be held at 7:30pm in the Community Meeting Room at the OWASA Operations Center,Jones Ferry Road, in Carrboro, N.C. Effective July 1, 1993, the Board of County Commissioners established a system of impact fees to help fund the capital needs of the school systems. Impact fees are a method to address the need for new school space which is created by increased population growth in the county. Since that date, an impact fee of $750 has been collected for each new housing unit constructed or installed in the county, including single-family homes,townhouses,two to four-family dwellings,apartments,and mobile homes. These fees help to off-set the construction costs associated with the additional student enrollment. Fees collected in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School District are deposited in a special account and used for the construction of new school spaces in that district only. A similar provision applies in the Orange County School District. The following amendments will be presented for consideration at the public hearing: • Amend Section 3, School Impact Fees Imposed on New Residential Dwelling Units, by increasing the amount of the public school impact fee from$750 to$1,000 per residential dwelling unit. (This increase has been requested as a result of higher public school construction costs.) • Amend Section 4, Public School Impact Fee Exceptions, subsection 4, to include exception provisions for replacement units: where the original dwelling unit was destroyed by natural catastrophe;and where a dwelling unit was located on a lot or space during the five(5)year period prior to the effective date of the ordinance. (The provision regarding replacement units is proposed to clarify that replacement units are not affected by the impact fees. These units include those destroyed by natural catastrophe;e.g.,fire, flood, tornado, etc. In addition, a"grandfather"provision is proposed to establish a time limit for vacant lots and spaces. A five-year period is suggested,based in part on the general amortization period for nonconforming signs and uses in North Carolina communities. It is also a period for which reliable and accessible information is available from the tax office.) • Amend Section 4, Public School Impact Fee Exceptions, subsection 6, to include text format changes which permit the ordinance user to easily identify situations where impact fees are not required. • Amend Section 5,Collection of Fees,subsection C,Limitation on Expenditure of Funds,to:reflect changes to the enabling legislation which permit impact fees to be used for debt service payments and payments under leases; and extend the time frame within which impact fees must be expended from five (5) years to 10 years from date of collection. The expenditure time frame is proposed for expansion to reflect the fact that both School Districts have prepared 10-year capital improvement programs for school construction.