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Jefferson County, West Virginia
Impact Fee Procedures Ordinance
ADOPTED
November 6, 2003
Amended July 8, 2004
Amended January 20, 2005
Amended February 22, 2007

WHEREAS the County Commission has developed a Capital Improvements Program in order to more definitively project the specific public service demands that will be imposed upon the County by the projected growth, and maintains a list of sites within the County with development potential; and

WHEREAS, based on the population, housing units, commercial square footage, and land use projections as well as the public service needs associated with the projected level of growth, the County Commission has determined that impact fees are an appropriate and necessary technique, to be used in conjunction with other available public service financing techniques, to ensure that adequate public facilities are provided to new growth while the County maintains the level of service (LOS) standards for existing County residents; and

WHEREAS the County Commission has determined that impact fees will be necessary for construction of public schools and related facilities and may, in the future, determine that impact fees will be necessary for other public facilities; and

WHEREAS the County Commission has found and determined that impact fees for public facilities, all enacted pursuant to the authority granted by the Local Powers Act, will have certain common characteristics and that the County will, therefore, benefit from the adoption and use of a uniform procedure for the imposition, calculation, collection, expenditure and administration of all of the adopted impact fees; and

WHEREAS the use of uniform procedures, to the extent possible, will be more efficient and expedient for both the County and applicants for development permits than separate procedures for each impact fee; and

WHEREAS the use of uniform procedures will simplify the implementation and administration of impact fees; and

WHEREAS the use of uniform procedures will best ensure that impact fees are earmarked and expended for the public facilities for which they were imposed and collected; and

WHEREAS all monies collected from impact fees shall be deposited in interest-bearing accounts which clearly identify the category, account, fund and public service for which such fee was imposed; and

WHEREAS each such category, fund or account shall be accounted for separately; provided, however, that the determination as to whether the accounting requirement shall be by category, account or fund and whether by aggregate or individual development shall be within the discretion of the County; and

WHEREAS any interest or other income earned on monies deposited in said interestbearing accounts shall be credited to the applicable account; and

WHEREAS the County Commission has found and determined that impact fees are an appropriate technique for funding public facilities; and

WHEREAS the County Commission has determined that the impact fee amounts to be imposed bear a reasonable relationship and are “roughly proportional” to the impact on public services created by new development; and

WHEREAS the County Commission has found that the public services for which impact fees are collected are necessary to protect the health, safety, and general welfare of the citizens of Jefferson County; and

WHEREAS the County Commission recognizes its obligation and authority to provide the public services for which impact fees are collected;

WHEREAS the County has or will, for each impact fee, determine that the payment of the impact fee and its expenditure for needed public facilities will result in a direct beneficial use to the development on which it is imposed; and

WHEREAS the County has or will develop and adopt a schedule of impact fees for each public service; and

WHEREAS the County has provided a credit (offset) mechanism in cases where the proposed development has been subject to the required dedication of public sites and/or public improvements, or payment in lieu thereof, for which impact fees are also being imposed; and

WHEREAS the County has determined that the impact fee amounts bear a reasonable relationship to the burden imposed upon the County to provide the additional public facilities to serve the new development at the appropriate level of service (LOS) standard; and

WHEREAS the County has developed fee calculation methodologies which will be imposed in an equitable and non-discriminatory manner.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the County Commission of Jefferson County, West Virginia as follows:

Section 1. IN GENERAL

Section 2. PROCEDURES FOR IMPOSITION, CALCULATION AND COLLECTION OF IMPACT FEES

Section 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF IMPACT FEE ACCOUNTS; APPROPRIATION OF IMPACT FEE FUNDS; AND REFUNDS

Section 4. APPEALS

Section 5. EXEMPTIONS/WAIVERS

Section 6. ANNUAL REVIEW AND ADJUSTMENTS

Section 7. ENFORCEMENT

Section 8. SEPARABILITY AND CONSTRUCTION