Bill 324 Impact Fees Letter from Planning Director

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Honorable Pete Hoffnnnn Chair and Presiding Officer and Members of the County Council COUNTY COUNCIL Page 2 September 9, 2 Ha vai'i 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 Hell ert Hastert & Fee. This establishes maximum fee levels for roads, parks, fir MS, police, solid waste and wastewater (sever.) water was not included because the Department of Water Supply, whicb 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 he % of the maximum amount established in the study. The county could impose any percentage up to the maximum. Sec. -12 of Bill 324 includes a table shoving these proposed fees. For example, the fee for a single - family home would be $6,387.00 (not counting any sewer fee), and $4.97 per square foot for a retail 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 lames to an existing road with impact fees, but cannot use them to resurface an existing road. Projects funded with the fees must also he spent in the area that generated the impact fees, which are called "benefit districts," but the County bays some flexibility in defining the benefit districts. New development that is relined by its rezoning ordinance or other land use approval to build infrastructure that meets regional needs —such as a major road or park—will he entitled to offset the value of such improvements against the impact fee for that category. For example, Parker Punch would offset the value of the connector road and its park land dedications required in its rezoning ordinance, and Holuli'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 Ha vai'i 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 bowies built on lots in