Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
6 <br /> 1 School impact fees are fees charged to help defray the public costs of new development. The <br /> 2 fee is charged once to all new residential development in both school districts. Fees charged <br /> 3 must be proportional to the actual impact caused which is the reason a technical study is <br /> 4 completed; the data-based study determines the proportional impact of housing types and the <br /> 5 "maximum supportable impact fee" (MSIF) that can be charged for each type of housing. <br /> 6 Proceeds from school impact fees can be used only to increase student membership capacity <br /> 7 (e.g., Capital Facilities — new or expanded school buildings) in the school district in which the <br /> 8 fee was collected. School impact fee proceeds cannot be used to fund operations. <br /> 9 <br /> 10 School impact fees were last updated in 2008 and were adopted to increase each year over <br /> 11 four years, with the last increase effective January 1, 2012. The final increase raised the fee to <br /> 12 60% of the MSIF, as calculated in 2008. <br /> 13 <br /> 14 The recently completed studies disaggregate dwelling types by the number of bedrooms a unit <br /> 15 contains and also break out smaller sized (less than 800 square feet) detached units. <br /> 16 <br /> 17 Additionally, the studies include information on Age Restricted Units. Attachment 3a shows the <br /> 18 MSIF at various percentage levels. It should be noted that the adopted percentage of MSIF <br /> 19 must be the same for all housing types (e.g., fees cannot be adopted at 40% MSIF for one <br /> 20 housing type and 60% MSIF for a different housing type). <br /> 21 <br /> 22 Since 1995, Orange County has offered an impact fee reimbursement program for school <br /> 23 impact fees paid on affordable housing units. From FY09-10 through FY15-16, $606,318 in <br /> 24 collected impact fees was reimbursed for the 77 affordable single-family housing units and one <br /> 25 apartment building containing 6 affordable multi-family units constructed in that time period. <br /> 26 <br /> 27 Orange County Planning staff will hold a public information meeting on September 26 at 6:00 <br /> 28 p.m. at the Whitted Meeting Facility in Hillsborough. A representative from the consulting firm <br /> 29 will attend the joint School Boards/BOCC meeting on September 29 to present the results of <br /> 30 the study and address technical questions/comments on the reports. <br /> 31 <br /> 32 A BOCC public hearing on potential updates to school impact fee levels has been scheduled for <br /> 33 October 4. <br /> 34 <br /> 35 Possible options for updated fee levels include: <br /> 36 1. As calculated, adopting at some percentage of the MSIF. <br /> 37 2. Collapsing the Single Family Detached category in the Orange County Schools district <br /> 38 (due to an unexpected result in this category), charging the "Average" for this housing <br /> 39 type in this district, charging fees as calculated for other housing types, and <br /> 40 adopting at some percentage of the MSIF. <br /> 41 3. Collapsing all housing type categories in both or either school districts, charging the <br /> 42 "Average" calculation by housing type, and adopting at some percentage of the MSIF. a. <br /> 43 Note for this option: Accessory dwelling units (e.g., granny flats) are included in the multi- <br /> 44 family category (0-2 bedrooms) so setting the fee for the "average" calculation may result <br /> 45 in an increase for accessory dwelling units, depending on the percentage of MSIF <br /> 46 chosen. <br /> 47 4. Options 1-3 can also be implemented by increasing the percentage of MSIF over a period <br /> 48 of time (e.g., adopt at x% effective 2017, y% effective 2018, and z% effective 2019). <br /> 49 <br /> 50 Perdita Holtz, Orange County Planning, made the following PowerPoint presentation: <br />