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15 <br />Orange County and Carrboro have recreation and open space dedication <br />provisions in their respective ordinances. The County, Chapel Hill and Carrboro <br />also have an alternative to land dedication where dedication is not desired or <br />warranted. In these cases, a payment -in -lieu of dedication is allowed. To date, <br />the following money has been raised from this funding source: <br />✓ Carrboro - $ 574,000 <br />✓ Chapel Hill - $ 611,000 <br />✓ Orange County- $ 603,000 <br />In the 1999 JMRP report, a number of problems were outlined with the existing <br />payment -in -lieu programs. While the payment -in -lieu program has raised money <br />for parks projects, the amount has often been insufficient to provide for needed <br />recreation land or facilities. Principal among the limitations of payment -in -lieu <br />cited in the JMRP report were: <br />• Payment -in -lieu is not intended to fund facilities of countywide significance <br />• Fees must be geographically earmarked and spent within the area <br />• Time limitations <br />• Fees must be supplemented with matching funds for use <br />H. Potential for Im act Fees <br />Orange County has special legislation allowing impact fees to be levied on new <br />development for a variety of purposes. Specifically, the County may "provide by <br />ordinance for a system of impact fees to be paid by developers to help defray the <br />cost of the County constructing certain capital improvements ". These <br />improvements include "the acquisition of land for open space and greenways, <br />capital improvements to public streets, schools, bridges, sidewalks, bikeways, or <br />and off - street surface water drainage ditches, pipes, culverts, other drainage <br />facilities, water and sewer facilities and public recreation facilities." <br />Currently, the only impact fees enacted under this legislation are for public <br />school facilities in both school systems. However, as shown above, the legislation <br />also provides for impact fees for open space, greenways and recreation. <br />The potential for application of a recreation and open space impact fee was <br />examined in 1996. In order to implement such a fee, the County (and the <br />Towns) would need to 1) establish a current baseline of parks and open space <br />provision, 2) develop a schedule of parks needs over a specified timeframe (20 <br />years has been suggested), and 3) identify a clear expectation of the cost of <br />those recreation and open space needs. This cost might then be extrapolated to <br />a cost per new dwelling unit and collected along with the public school impact <br />fees at the time a building permit is issued for new residential units. <br />