11.05.050 Impact Fee Calculations.
1. Ordinance Enacting Impact Fees. The City Council will, by this Ordinance, approve Impact Fees in accordance with the Written Impact Fee Analysis.
a. Elements. In calculating the Impact Fee, the City has included the construction costs, land acquisition costs, costs of improvements, fees for planning, surveying, and engineering services provided for and directly related to the construction of System Improvements, and outstanding or future debt service charges if the City might use Impact Fees as a revenue stream to pay principal and interest on bonds or other obligations to finance the cost of System Improvements.
b. Notice and Hearing. In conjunction with the approval of this Ordinance, the City held a public hearing on April 7, 2009, and made a copy of the Ordinance available to the public, at least fourteen (14) days before the date of the hearing, all in conformity with the requirements of Utah Code Annotated 10-9-103(2). After the public hearing, the City Council adopted this Impact Fee Ordinance as presented herein.
c. Contents of the Ordinance. The Ordinance adopting or modifying an Impact Fee contains such detail and elements as deemed appropriate by the City Council, including a designation of the Lindon City-Wide Service Area within which the Impact Fees are to be calculated and imposed. The Lindon City-Wide Service Area will be the only service area included in this analysis, with a map defining their boundaries included in Exhibit A: Map of the Lindon City-Wide Service Area. The Ordinance includes (i) a schedule of Impact Fees to be imposed for parks, recreation and trails and (ii) the formula to be used by the City in calculating the Impact Fee.
d. Adjustments. The standard Impact Fee may be adjusted at the time the fee is charged in response to unusual circumstances or to fairly allocate costs associated with impacts created by a Development Activity or project. The standard Impact Fee may also be adjusted to ensure that Impact Fees are imposed fairly for affordable housing projects, in accordance with the local government’s affordable housing policy, and other development activities with broad public purposes. The Impact Fee assessed to a particular development may also be adjusted should the developer supply sufficient written information and/or data to the City showing a discrepancy between the fee being assessed and the actual impact on the system.
e. Previously Incurred Costs. To the extent that new growth and development will be served by previously constructed improvements, the City’s Impact Fees may include public facility costs and outstanding bond costs related to the park, recreation and trail improvements previously incurred by the City. These costs may include all projects included in the Capital Facilities Plan which are under construction or completed but have not been utilized to their capacity, as evidenced by outstanding debt obligations. Any future debt obligations determined to be necessitated by growth activity will also be included to offset the costs of future capital projects.
2. Developer Credits. A developer may be allowed a credit against Impact Fees for any dedication or improvement to land or new construction of System Improvements provided by the developer provided that it is (i) identified in the City’s Capital Facilities Plan and (ii) required by the City as a condition of approving the Development Activity. Otherwise, no credit may be given.
3. Impact Fees Accounting. The City will establish a separate interest-bearing ledger account for the Impact Fees collected pursuant to this Ordinance and will conform to the accounting requirements provided in the Impact Fees Act. All interest earned on the collection of Parks, Recreation and Trails Impact Fees shall accrue to the benefit of the segregated account. Impact Fees collected prior to the effective date of this Ordinance need not meet the requirements of this section.
a. Reporting. At the end of each fiscal year, the City shall prepare a report on each fund or account generally showing the source and amount of all monies collected, earned and received by the fund or account and each expenditure from the fund or account.
b. Impact Fee Expenditures. The City may expend Impact Fees covered by the Impact Fees Policy only for System Improvements that are (i) Public Facilities identified in the City’s Capital Facilities Plans and (ii) of the specific public facility type for which the fee was collected. Impact Fees will be expended on a First-In First-Out (“FIFO”) basis.
c. Time of Expenditure. Impact Fees collected pursuant to the requirements of this Impact Fees Ordinance are to be expended, dedicated or encumbered for a permissible use within six years of the receipt of those funds by the City, unless the City Council directs otherwise. For purposes of this calculation, the first funds received shall be deemed to be the first funds expended.
d. Extension of Time. The City may hold previously dedicated or unencumbered fees for longer than six years if it identifies in writing (i) an extraordinary and compelling reason why the fees should be held longer than six years and (ii) an absolute date by which the fees will be expended.
4. Refunds. The City shall refund any Impact Fees paid by a developer plus interest actually earned when (i) the developer does not proceed with the Development Activity and files a written request for a refund; (ii) the fees have not been spent or encumbered; and (iii) no impact has resulted. An impact that would preclude a developer from a refund from the City may include any impact reasonably identified by the City, including, but not limited to, the City having sized facilities and/or paid for, installed and/or caused the installation of facilities based in whole or in part upon the Developer’s planned Development Activity even though that capacity may, at some future time, be utilized by another development.
5. Other Impact Fees. To the extent allowed by law, the City Council may negotiate or otherwise impose Impact Fees and other fees different from those currently charged. Those charges may, at the discretion of the City Council, include but not be limited to reductions or increases in Impact Fees, all or part of which may be reimbursed to the developer who installed improvements that service the land to be connected with the City’s system.
6. Additional Fees and Costs. The Impact Fees authorized hereby are separate from and in addition to user fees and other charges lawfully imposed by the City and other fees and costs that may not be included as itemized component parts of the Impact Fee Schedule. In charging any such fees as a condition of development approval, the City recognizes that the fees must be a reasonable charge for the service provided.
7. Fees Effective at Time of Payment. Unless the City is otherwise bound by a contractual requirement, the Impact Fee shall be determined from the fee schedule in effect at the time of payment in accordance with the provisions of Section 6 below.
8. Imposition of Additional Fee or Refund After Development Activity. Should any developer undertake Development Activities such that the ultimate density or other impact of the Development Activity is not revealed to the City, either through inadvertence, neglect, a change in plans, or any other cause whatsoever, and/or the Impact Fee is not initially charged against all units or the total density within the development, the City shall be entitled to charge an additional Impact Fee to the developer or other appropriate person covering the density for which an Impact Fee was not previously paid.