COM 1329.014 2006-2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Honorable Pete Hoffinann Chair and Presiding Officer and Members of the County Council COUNTY COUNCIL Page 2 September 9, 2008 Hawaii County has completed the necessary study, the "Infrastructure and Public Facilities Needs Assessment: Impact Fee Study" September 2006, prepared for the Planning Department by Duncan Associates with Helbert Hastert & Fee. This establishes maximum fee levels for roads, pazks, fire/EMS, police, solid waste and wastewater (sewer.) Water was not included because the Department of Water Supply, which is the only body authorized to impose impact fees for water, has a fee schedule for water commitments. In the draft bill, the impact fee is proposed to be 50% of the maximum amount established in the study. The county could impose any percentage up to the maximum. Sec. 36-12 of Bill 324 includes a table showing these proposed fees. For example, the fee for asingle-family home would be $6,387.00 (not counting any sower fee), and $4.97 per square foot for aretail/commercial project. The fees are broken down into different categories of public facilities. Roads and parks make up about 90% of the total impact fee for houses. The fees for police, fire, and solid waste facilities are relatively small. Impact fees can be used only for facilities that are needed to accommodate new development-that is, they need to be capacity-enhancing projects. For example, the county can build a new gym with impact fees, but it cannot repair the roof on an old gym. It can add lanes to an existing road with impact fees, but cannot use them to resurface an existing road. Projects funded with the fees must also be spent in the azea that generated the impact fees, which are called "benefit districts," but the County has some flexibility in defining the benefit districts. New development that is required by its rezoning ordinance or other land use approval to build infrastructure that meets regional needs-such as a major road or park-will be entitled to offset the value of such improvements against the impact fee for that category. For example, Parker Ranch would offset the value of the connector road and its park land dedications required in its rezoning ordinance, and Hokuli'a would offset the value of the Mamalahoa Bypass and some park contributions. The impact fee would replace the "fair share" condition that has been placed on most residential and resort rezoning in Hawaii County since the early 1990's. The impact fee is much broader than fair share because it would apply to all new development, not just projects that were rezoned. So, for example, it would apply to new homes built on lots in