Minutes 10-18-2016 - Laserfiche WebLink

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