§ 62-815. Exemptions, credits, reimbursements, and deferrals.

(a)

Exemptions. The following shall be exempted from payment of the transportation impact fee:

(1)

Alteration or expansion of an existing building where no additional units are created, where the use is not changed and where no additional vehicular trips will be produced over and above those produced by the existing use.

(2)

The construction of accessory buildings or structures which will not produce additional vehicular trips over and above those produced by the principal building or use of the land.

(3)

The new replacement of a residential land use with a new unit of the same type and use, provided that no additional trips will be produced over and above those produced by the original use of the land.

(4)

The replacement of a nonresidential building or structure with a new building or structure of the same size and use, provided that no additional trips will be produced over and above those produced by the original use of the land.

(5)

The construction of publicly owned government buildings which are utilized in their entirety for public purposes.

(6)

All industrial land uses as defined herein and described in the North American Industry Classification System, 1997 edition, under Sector 21. Mining; Sector 22. Utilities; Sector 23. Construction; Sector 31-33. Manufacturing; Sector. 48-49. Transportation and Warehousing; and Subsector 562. Waste Management and Remediation Services provided, however, that when such uses are conducted in a structure also used as a private residence there shall be no exemption from any residential impact fee that otherwise may be due.

(7)

Changes in the use of an existing non-residential building or structure provided there is no expansion of the existing building or structure.

An exemption must be claimed by the feepayer at the time of the issuance of a building permit or mobile home permit. Any exemption not so claimed shall be deemed to be waived by the feepayer.

(b)

Credits.

(1)

No credit shall be given for site-related improvements.

(2)

All capital improvements to arterial and collector roads required under a county or city-approved development order for any project, except for those improvements deemed site-related, may be credited to a feepayer, developer, or community development district constructing or contributing capital improvements otherwise required of a developer as a condition of development approval against the transportation impact fee assessed against the project required to provide said capital improvement. Award of the credit shall be made by separate agreement approved by the board of county commissioners. The board of county commissioners reserves the right to determine the amount to be credited by preparing engineering and construction cost estimates or real estate appraisals for those improvements by using the methodology described in section 62-810 and by preparing traffic engineering data utilizing generally accepted traffic engineering practices. No credit given to a feepayer, developer, or community development district constructing or contributing capital improvements otherwise required of a developer as a condition of development approval shall exceed the assessed transportation impact fee for the project. For the purposes of this section the project shall be considered the largest area approved through a DRI, subdivision or site plan. The value of construction eligible for credit or reimbursement for improvements internal to and on the site of the project which also create excess capacity shall be determined by calculating the percentage of the total costs that corresponds to the ratio of excess capacity to total capacity as determined by generally accepted traffic engineering practices. To ensure that credits do not exceed the assessed transportation impact fee for the project, credits will be limited to the actual impact fee revenues collected within the project following the adoption of the separate credit agreement by the board of county commissioners.

(3)

No credit shall be granted for any costs, contribution, payment, construction or land received by the county or any municipality participating in this program through interlocal agreement if said costs, contribution, payment, construction or land dedication is received or made before a credit agreement is approved by the board of county commissioners and fully executed by all applicable parties. Any claim for credit not so made and approved shall be deemed waived.

(c)

Reimbursements.

(1)

In lieu of providing impact fee credits pursuant to subsection 62-815(b)(2), when a developer or community development district constructs or donates transportation capital improvements as defined in section 62-805 and said capital improvements qualify for credit under subsection 62-815(b) and are accepted by the county, a city or the state for maintenance or when a certificate of completion has been issued certifying the construction is complete and conforms to county, city or state standards, whichever occurs first, the board of county commissioners may, upon request, provide reimbursement, as described herein, from the appropriate transportation impact fee trust fund to the developer or community development district, as the applicable impact fees generated by the land development project for which the donation was made are collected. The amount of reimbursement shall not exceed the amount of credit that would otherwise be awarded under the terms of subsection 62-815(b). The developer shall provide such documentation as requested by the county to ascertain the amount of reimbursement to which the developer is entitled. Such reimbursement agreements between the county and developer shall be assignable by the developer. Nothing in this section shall be construed to relieve any person from the responsibility of paying any required impact fee at the time or upon the occurrence of any event specified in a development order or by applicable ordinance.

(2)

When impact fee credits have been awarded for more than one capital improvement within a land development project, collected revenues will be assigned to each credit award based on the ratio of the remaining balance for each credit award to the remaining balance of all credit awards within the project. When a capital improvement is completed in phases, each phase shall be considered as a separate capital improvement for the purposes of assigning collected revenues for reimbursement.

(d)

Deferrals. In order to partially or completely mitigate for potentially adverse effects on the production of affordable housing and first time homeownership that may be due to the imposition of the transportation impact fee, the county shall, upon approval of an application by any eligible new homebuyer, execute a contract to defer payment of a percentage of the transportation impact fee according to the provisions described herein.

(1)

For the purchase of a newly constructed principal residence, the sales price or value of which does not exceed the maximum eligible sales price, the county shall defer payment of 25 percent of the transportation impact fee imposed by this division for any homebuyer that qualifies as a moderate-income person or moderate-income household. The homebuyer shall pay the remaining 75 percent of the transportation impact fee prior to the receipt of a certificate of occupancy in accordance with the provisions of the contract for deferral and this division. Payment of the deferred portion of the transportation impact fee shall be made in accordance with the provisions of the contract for deferral and subsection (5) below.

(2)

For the purchase of a newly constructed principal residence, the sales price or value of which does not exceed the maximum eligible sales price, the county shall defer payment of 50 percent of the transportation impact fee imposed by this section for any homebuyer that qualifies as a low-income person or low-income household. The homebuyer shall pay the remaining 50 percent of the transportation impact fee prior to the receipt of a certificate of occupancy in accordance with the provisions of the contract for deferral and this section. Payment of the deferred portion of the transportation impact fee shall be due in accordance with the provisions of the contract for deferral and subsection (5) below.

(3)

For the purchase of a newly constructed principal residence, the sales price or value of which does not exceed the maximum eligible sales price, the county shall defer payment of 100 percent of the transportation impact fee imposed by this section for any homebuyer that qualifies as a very-low-income person or very-low-income household. Payment of the deferred portion of the transportation impact fee shall be due in accordance with the provisions of the contract for deferral and subsection (5) below.

(4)

A community-based organization, or developer that has received an award to develop rental housing affordable to very-low, low and moderate income persons or households may apply for deferral of transportation impact fees. For every rental unit that is limited to occupancy by a moderate-income person or moderate-income household, the county shall defer 25 percent of the transportation impact fee imposed by this section. For every rental unit that is limited to occupancy by a low-income person or low-income household, the county shall defer 50 percent of the transportation impact fee imposed by this section. For every rental unit that is limited to occupancy by a very-low-income person or very-low-income household, the county shall defer 100 percent of the transportation impact fee imposed by this section. Payment of the deferred portion of the transportation impact fee shall be due in accordance with the provisions of the contract for deferral and subsection (5) below.

(5)

A new homebuyer or community-based organization, or developer that wishes to defer payment of a percentage of the transportation impact fees assessed on a residential property shall submit an application together with the necessary supporting documentation to the county manager to initiate an eligibility review. If the county determines that the applicant is eligible for deferral of impact fees, the county will prepare a contract for deferral. The contract for deferral shall include provisions for the new homebuyer or community-based organization to execute a notice of assessment setting forth the balance of the transportation impact fee that remains unpaid and to notify the county of the date of the closing on the eligible property. The notice of assessment shall also indicate that the unpaid balance is due and payable upon the subsequent sale of the property by the homebuyer or community-based organization. The notice shall be in recordable form acceptable to the county and shall authorize the county to record the notice in the official records of the county within 90 days following notification to the county of the date of the closing by the homebuyer or when rental units are sold or transferred and no longer meet the affordable definition set forth in this document. Upon execution, the notice of assessment shall constitute a lien on the property for the balance of the transportation impact fee that is due under the terms and conditions of this subsection.

(Code 1979, § 14-213; Ord. No. 95-24, § 2, 5-22-95; Ord. No. 01-021, § 26, 4-4-01; Ord. No. 02-19, § 3, 4-30-02; Ord. No. 03-51, § 6, 12-16-03; Ord. No. 06-044, § 3, 8-8-06; Ord. No. 07-33, § 1, 5-24-07)

Editor's note

Ord. No. 06-044, § 3, adopted August 8, 2006, changed the title of section 62-815 from "Exemptions, credits, and reimbursements" to "Exemptions, credits, reimbursements, and deferrals."