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Draft <br /> 4/ 28/ 99 <br /> Town of Carrboro <br /> Total of Payment in Lieu ( through 1998 ) : $ 453 , 684 <br /> Dedication and Payment Provisions <br /> Population growth over the past thirty years has forced a <br /> reassessment of the traditional means of acquiring public park and <br /> recreation areas . Increasing pressures on funds generated from <br /> traditional property tax levy and bond referendums have challenged <br /> fundamental ideas on paying for parks and recreation , encouraging <br /> public officials to consider alternatives to the negotiated purchase of <br /> park land and solely relying on the property tax base and bond funds . <br /> The Work Group has recognized that all local government jurisdictions <br /> in Orange County have recreation requirements in their Subdivision or <br /> Land Use Ordinances which mandate that land be dedicated , private <br /> reIt <br /> creation facilities provided or combination thereof under their <br /> statutory regulatory/ police authority to protect the health , safety and <br /> welfare of their communities . These recreation requirements are <br /> legally acceptable under this authority the same as roads , utilities and <br /> other public improvements required as conditions for subdivision <br /> approval . The North Carolina Supreme Court affirmed this authority in <br /> Messer v . Town of Chapel Hill , 297 S . E . 2d 632 ( 1982 ) , in sustaining <br /> that the Town ordinance , within the statutory powers given to a city , <br /> could exact recreation land or facilities and even require the particular <br /> site within the subdivision . <br /> A more recent tool has been the inclusion of a payment in lieu of <br /> process under this same general statutory power . The payment in lieu <br /> of process has been confused with impact fees . The payment in lieu of <br /> process is just that - payment in lieu of providing private recreation <br /> -facilities or required dedication of land as discussed above . If the <br /> developer is provided the option to meet the 4particular jurisdiction 's <br /> requirements or make some commiserate payment in lieu of doing so , <br /> the jurisdiction is empowered to accept the payment under its existing <br /> statutory powers . All jurisdictions accept payment in lieu on a similar,- <br /> if not exact , basis . An impact fee is a cash payment based on the <br /> impact created by a development to a particular service , and requires <br /> special enabling Legislation . There must be exhibited a strong <br /> correlation showipg the ( 1 ) actual need created by the impact of the <br /> development and ' ( 2 ) benefits provided to the particular subdivision . <br /> Orange County presently has a School Impact Fee , but no other impact <br /> fee exists in the county for any other services . <br /> 29 <br />