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5 / 18/ 99 <br /> VL PAYMENT- IN - LLEU PROGRAMS <br /> A . Development Exactions for Recreation in Orange <br /> County <br /> Population growth over the past thirty years has forced a reassessment of <br /> the traditional means of acquiring public park and recreation areas . <br /> Increasing pressures on funds generated from the traditional property tax <br /> levy and from bond referenda have challenged fundamental ideas on paying <br /> for parks and recreation . Public officials have been encouraged to consider <br /> alternatives to the negotiated purchase of park land and sole reliance on the <br /> property tax base and bond funds . Alternatives to purchase and dedications <br /> include payment - In - lieu and impact fee programs . <br /> The Work Group has recognized that all local government jurisdictions in <br /> Orange County have recreation requirements Wtheir own Subdivision <br /> Regulations or Land Use Ordinances which mandate that land be dedicated , <br /> private recreation facilities provided , or a combination thereof. These <br /> requirements fall under the statutory regulatory/ police authority of local <br /> governments to protect the health , safety , and welfare of their communities . <br /> These recreation requirements are legally acceptable under this authority , <br /> similar to roads., utilities , and other public improvements required as <br /> conditions for subdivision approval . The North Carolina Supreme Court <br /> affirmed this authority in Messer v . Town of Chapel Hill , 297 S . E . 2d 632 <br /> ( 1982 ) , in holding that the Town ordinance , within the statutory powers given <br /> to a city , could exact recreation land or facilities and even require the <br /> particular site within the subdivision, to provide adequate recreation needs . <br /> B . Definition of Payment-in -Lieu and Zmpact Fee <br /> Programs <br /> 1 . Payment- in - Lieu <br /> A more recent tool for providing recreation facilities has been <br /> the inclusion of a payment-in4ieu program under this same <br /> general statutory power. In this program, a subdivision <br /> developer pays a fee related to the jurisdiction 's cost of <br /> acquiring commensurate recreation lands, of the type it could <br /> have required the developer to dedicate. These fees then help <br /> provide recreation facilities within the immediate area of the <br /> development. tf the developer is provided the option to meet <br /> the jurisdiction 's requirements or make some commensurate <br /> payment4n4ieu of recreation facilities, the jurisdiction is <br /> empowered to accept the payment under its existing statutory <br /> powers. Payment-in -lieu fees must be geographically <br /> designated within the " immediate area " of the development,, <br /> 30 <br />