Orange County NC Website
16 <br /> Craig Benedict said impact fees are not an affordability tool, but rather a way for new <br /> construction to pay for the impact of new development on schools. He said the fees are not as <br /> high as they could be, and this is a balanced approach, paying only 50% of the MSIF. <br /> Commissioner Jacobs asked if there is a definition of age restricted. <br /> Craig Benedict said one person in the house has to be over 55 years of age, and the <br /> property is deed restricted for at least 20 years. He said there is a small number of over 55 <br /> year olds with children still in school. <br /> Commissioner Jacobs said if there was a home where grandma was part of the family, <br /> the property could be age restricted and four school children could live there, and lower impact <br /> fees would be paid. <br /> Craig Benedict said the family member over age 55 has to be the head of household. <br /> He said there may be cases where a grandmother invites her extended family to live with her, <br /> but he would hope the age restricted community would have covenants to address these other <br /> issues. <br /> Commissioner Jacobs said there are more and more cases of grandparents raising <br /> grandchildren, which will lead to the existence of more exceptions to the rule. <br /> Commissioner Dorosin asked if a covenant could be defined. <br /> Craig Benedict said in order to be assessed for an impact fee, in the age restricted <br /> category, the development must have a recorded document that could not be broken. He said <br /> should the development ever wish to move away from being age restricted, it would then have <br /> to pay the impact fee at the going rate at that time. <br /> Commissioner Dorosin asked if the covenant would say that someone over the age of <br /> 55 would always reside in the property. <br /> Craig Benedict said yes. <br /> John Roberts said it would be something to that effect, and there is not a draft <br /> covenant yet. He said it would be recorded in the Register of Deeds office, likely tied to a <br /> Home Owners Association, and these homes are not single family detached, but usually part <br /> of a particular community. <br /> Commissioner Dorosin said the proposal suggests increasing the chosen fee by 10% <br /> after the first year, and 10% again after the second year. He said these increases seem to be <br /> at a faster rate than the last time impact fees were changed. <br /> Craig Benedict said there were new impact fees that went into effect in 2008, and they <br /> went up 10% each year, for four years. He said the 2008 analysis showed that the new fees <br /> were higher than the old fees because of the increasing cost of schools. <br /> Commissioner Dorosin asked if a new analysis would be done in 2019/2020, due to this <br /> current analysis only going out two years. <br /> Craig Benedict said the demographics do change, and staff would probably suggest <br /> another analysis be completed around 2020. He said the data is improving with each analysis. <br /> Commissioner Dorosin said all of these numbers are based on the actual study where <br /> current children now live. He asked if the extent, to which these fees will drive the <br /> development of houses over the next three years, is known. <br /> Craig Benedict said it is not so much the fees that are the drivers, but rather the land <br /> constraints and the housing market. <br /> Commissioner Rich said the Chapel Hill Town Council asked why Orange County did <br /> not do an analysis sooner than 10 years, and she will make a motion to do an analysis more <br /> often to keep current. <br /> Commissioner Rich said the Town Council also wondered why total square footage of a <br /> house was not considered, instead of the number of bedrooms, but staff did explain to them in <br /> detail about this. <br />