Minutes 10-18-2016 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

18 John Roberts said no. He said the Supreme Court has determined there must be proportionality between who pays the fee, what the fee is, and what the fee is paying for. He said the County's authorizing legislation requires an apportionment between what the fee payers are paying, and what cost the fee is off setting. He said a side agreement would not be defensible. He said there is a fee agreement provision in the ordinance, but it involves a dedication of land, and there must be an appraisal of the land completed to establish the value, to ensure that the fee being waived is comparable to the value of the land. Commissioner Rich asked if the number of three bedroom units being built is known. Craig Benedict said the Special Use Permits for approvals do not specify bedroom counts. He said it is at the discretion of the builder, but the one flat fee does not promote the building of three bedroom units over one-bedroom units. Commissioner Rich said the assumption that three-bedroom units will be built is unrealistic. She added that those three bedroom units that are being built are not affordable. Chair McKee asked if increasing the fees will increase the number of three bedroom units being built. He does not see how it would, as these units are not being built currently. Commissioner Rich said the only way these larger units get filled is with UNC students, which does not support the local schools. Commissioner Pelissier said it seems that if the bedroom breakdown is implemented, what is being built is unknown. She asked if there is a way, after one year, to track what is happening on the ground, how the fee is working, and to adjust it as needed. Craig Benedict said the Towns have been asked to collect better data and the school boards for address matching. He said it takes about a year to get information for the past 10 years of data. He said a consultant may help in gathering data. He said the numbers may not move that much in one year. He said in the past 15 years multi family housing has changed from student housing to family housing, which leads to the numbers changing. Commissioner Pelissier said the purpose of the fees is to have the new growth to pay the partial costs of schools. Commissioner Burroughs said updating the data is good, and the data is not negotiable. She asked if paying the impact fee over time would be possible. John Roberts said if it is in the ordinance, then it may be allowable. Commissioner Burroughs said the breakeven is the breakeven, and she understands the idea of phasing in, but she has some concerns about starting at the breakeven and phasing in at a higher rate thereafter. She said she is wondering about the difficulty of doing this. Craig Benedict said the impact of saying, for multi family, that 25% is for a 3 bedroom and 75% is for a 0-2 bedroom, would make the breakeven point higher, as there are a lot of revenues coming with the high three bedroom student generation rates. He said this analysis would raise the numbers. He said the Board has asked for upcoming projects to be analyzed. He said the number of bedrooms may vary wildly. Commissioner Burroughs said the data from where the students are generated is fairly exact, but then there is a fair amount of room. She said if 100% of the MSIF was the goal, then the numbers could be more exact, but this is not the goal. She said anything less than 100% of the MSIF is a judgment call by the BOCC. She said Craig Benedict's comments about predicting the number of bedrooms to be built in the future is inexact. She said the BOCC has to make a judgment that feels fair, and the current breakeven rate is a good starting point. Commissioner Dorosin said the statute requires this rational relationship, which leads to the analysis model. He said the statutory restrictions, and the modeling, has to be based on this snapshot. He said the information that the Board desires cannot be captured in the tool they have.