Agenda - 12-05-2016 - 6-a - Minutes

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18 1 Chair McKee asked if increasing the fees will increase the number of three bedroom 2 units being built. He does not see how it would, as these units are not being built currently. 3 Commissioner Rich said the only way these larger units get filled is with UNC students, 4 which does not support the local schools. 5 Commissioner Pelissier said it seems that if the bedroom breakdown is implemented, 6 what is being built is unknown. She asked if there is a way, after one year, to track what is 7 happening on the ground, how the fee is working, and to adjust it as needed. 8 Craig Benedict said the Towns have been asked to collect better data and the school 9 boards for address matching. He said it takes about a year to get information for the past 10 10 years of data. He said a consultant may help in gathering data. He said the numbers may not 11 move that much in one year. He said in the past 15 years multi family housing has changed 12 from student housing to family housing, which leads to the numbers changing. 13 Commissioner Pelissier said the purpose of the fees is to have the new growth to pay 14 the partial costs of schools. 15 Commissioner Burroughs said updating the data is good, and the data is not negotiable. 16 She asked if paying the impact fee over time would be possible. 17 John Roberts said if it is in the ordinance, then it may be allowable. 18 Commissioner Burroughs said the breakeven is the breakeven, and she understands 19 the idea of phasing in, but she has some concerns about starting at the breakeven and phasing 20 in at a higher rate thereafter. She said she is wondering about the difficulty of doing this. 21 Craig Benedict said the impact of saying, for multi family, that 25% is for a 3 bedroom 22 and 75% is for a 0-2 bedroom, would make the breakeven point higher, as there are a lot of 23 revenues coming with the high three bedroom student generation rates. He said this analysis 24 would raise the numbers. He said the Board has asked for upcoming projects to be analyzed. 25 He said the number of bedrooms may vary wildly. 26 Commissioner Burroughs said the data from where the students are generated is fairly 27 exact, but then there is a fair amount of room. She said if 100% of the MSIF was the goal, then 28 the numbers could be more exact, but this is not the goal. She said anything less than 100% of 29 the MSIF is a judgment call by the BOCC. She said Craig Benedict's comments about 30 predicting the number of bedrooms to be built in the future is inexact. She said the BOCC has 31 to make a judgment that feels fair, and the current breakeven rate is a good starting point. 32 Commissioner Dorosin said the statute requires this rational relationship, which leads to 33 the analysis model. He said the statutory restrictions, and the modeling, has to be based on 34 this snapshot. He said the information that the Board desires cannot be captured in the tool 35 they have. 36 John Roberts said the data on which to base the estimate is necessary to make it legally 37 defensible, and the farther one gets from data the more one may be challenged in a court of 38 law. 39 Commissioner Dorosin said the current rate is based on data that is 10 years old. 40 Chair McKee asked John Roberts if using the current fee schedule, and increasing it by 41 10%, would be defensible. 42 John Roberts said it could be defensible, but there would be no data attached to this 43 formula, and he would not advise this proposal. He said any increase should be tied to some 44 data. 45 Craig Benedict said a comment was made 10 years ago about going up to 30%, then 46 40% then 50% and then waiting a few years and going up to 60%, 70%, and 80%. He said it 47 was determined that this course of action would rely on old data, and it was important to have it 48 updated. He said the existing fee structure has weakness in it, as the cost of school 49 construction has doubled over the last 10 years.