CHAPTER 12. DEDICATIONS FOR PARK PURPOSES
10-12.100 Purpose and Intent.
(a) For more than three decades the City of Walnut Creek has required that new residential development provide for its impact on the community's needs for park and recreation facilities. This has been accomplished by requiring the dedication of land or the payment of in-lieu fees upon the subdivision of land for residential purposes. This requirement is now codified in section 10-1.602 of this Code.
(b) Walnut Creek has now subdivided much of the land within its city limits. New residents however also continue to be added. Whenever residences are added to existing land without subdivision of the property it is appropriate that the developers be required to meet the park and recreation demands of their new residents in an identical manner to residential units created on newly subdivided lands.
(c) The Walnut Creek City Council hereby reaffirms and readopts the park land standards and formulas found in section 10-1.602 and in the adopted General Plan, and finds that the same standards are appropriate for similar residential development should those residences be constructed on newly subdivided lands or existing parcels of property. The Council further finds that such standards meet the criteria established in Government Code section 66001.
10-12.101 Imposition of Dedication Requirement.
(a) There is hereby imposed on each new residential unit constructed in the city a dedication or in-lieu fee requirement for park and recreational purposes. The amount of the dedication or the in-lieu fee shall be calculated according to and be identical to the dedication requirement or fee that would be imposed had the unit been subject to the provisions of section 10-1.602. For the purposes of this section a residential development of 50 units or less shall be treated the same as a subdivision of 50 parcels or less.
(b) A credit shall be allowed against the requirements imposed under subsection (a) on a unit for unit basis for the previous payment of a fee under section 10-1.602, or this chapter. The burden of proof as to the previous payment shall be on the developer. Provided further that there shall be no requirement imposed under subsection (a) on one single-family dwelling built on one lot, or for accessory dwelling units authorized by Article 5 of Part III of Chapter 2 of Title 10 (commencing with section 10-2.3.501) of this Code, or for affordable units that comply with the requirements included in Article 9 of Part III of Chapter 2 of Title 10 of this Code.
10-12.102 Use of the Land or Fee.
The use of the dedicated land or fee shall be for the same purposes and accounted for in the same manner as fees collected under section 10-1.602.
10-12.103 Collection of the Fee.
Park land required to be dedicated under this chapter shall be dedicated prior to the issuance of a building permit. A fee imposed by this chapter shall be collected at the time of the issuance of a building permit. A different time for the dedication of land or the collection of fees may be provided in the project's conditions of approval or otherwise approved by the Community Development Director. (§1, Ord. 2036, eff. 9/4/04)