Article XI.
Development Impact Fees.
25.1501 Findings and intent.
a. It is the intent of the City to require every person who develops land to mitigate the impacts of that development on public facilities. The City will therefore require developers to construct public facilities in accordance with specific capital programs or pay fees that will be used to construct such facilities pursuant to those specific capital programs.
b. The amount of the public facilities fees collected pursuant to this chapter shall be limited to the cost of public facilities attributable to new development. The amount of fees collected shall not include the cost of facilities attributable to demand generated by existing development.
c. The City has determined that sources of City revenue other than development impact fees, including tax revenues which would be paid by new development, will be used for many public purposes and therefore will not be sufficient to offset the burdens on public facilities created by new development. (Ord. No. 2013-11, § 2.)
25.1502 Purpose.
The purpose of this article is to establish a traffic facility construction and fee requirement, an urban design facilities construction and fee requirement, a public facilities construction and fee requirement, a park and recreational facilities construction and fee requirement, and a Northeast Area facility construction and fee requirement that impose upon future development projects an equitable share of the cost of mitigating future public facilities demands created by such projects. (Ord. No. 2013-11, § 2.)
25.1503 Definitions.
For the purposes of this article, the following terms shall be defined as set forth in this section:
"Developer" means the owner of land which is being developed.
"Development" or "Development Project" means the construction or addition of floor area, roofed structures or paved area to a property.
"Director" means the Director of Public Works.
"Northeast Area" means that portion of the City shown on the Land Use Plan (Figure 1-2) of the July 2011 Train Station Specific Plan as well as other land within the City that is located east of Clay Bank Road and north of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks.
"Rest of City" means that area of the City that is neither in the Northeast Area, nor in the Plan Area for the Heart of Fairfield Specific Plan as shown on Figure 1.2 of the Heart of Fairfield Plan adopted by City Council Resolution 2017-95. (Ord. No. 2013-11, § 2; Ord. No. 2022-12, § 2.)
25.1504 Establishment of City-wide development impact fees.
Except as otherwise provided in this article, a developer of a property shall pay the following development impact fees pursuant to the procedures set forth in this article and in an amount established by resolution of the City Council:
a. Traffic Impact Fee.
b. Urban Design Impact Fee.
c. Public Facilities Impact Fee.
d. Park and Recreational Facilities Impact Fee. (Ord. No. 2013-11, § 2.)
25.1505 Establishment of northeast area development impact fees.
Except as otherwise provided in this article, a developer of property in the Northeast Area shall pay the following development impact fees pursuant to the procedures set forth in this article and in an amount established by resolution of the City Council:
a. Northeast Area Traffic Impact Fee.
b. Northeast Area Linear Park Fee.
c. Northeast Area Greenbelt Fee.
d. Northeast Area Sewer Fee.
e. Northeast Area Storm Drainage Fee.
f. Train Station Specific Plan Capital Improvement Fee.
A developer of property in the Rest of City shall also pay the Northeast Area Traffic Impact Fee pursuant to the procedures set forth in this article and in an amount established by resolution of the City Council. (Ord. No. 2013-11, § 2; Ord. No. 2022-12, § 3.)
25.1506 Payment of fees.
Pursuant to California Government Code Section 66007(b), the City has established reserve accounts and appropriated funds to those accounts for the purposes of funding public facilities and the City has adopted a public facilities implementation plan for the construction of such facilities. Therefore, fees required by this article shall be paid at the time of issuance of a building permit for a development. The fees assessed to a development shall be paid in an amount equal to the fees in effect at the time that a developer submits a complete and adequate application for a building permit for such development. (Ord. No. 2013-11, § 2.)
25.1507 Credits.
a. An applicant for a building permit which involves the demolition of an existing commercial or industrial structure and its replacement with a new commercial or industrial structure shall be entitled to a credit to the amount of the fees required by this article. The credit shall be calculated as follows: The amount of square feet of commercial and/or industrial use existing on a site shall be subtracted from the amount of square feet of commercial and/or industrial square feet to be constructed. The fee shall be calculated on the difference, provided that the fee shall not be reduced below $0.
b. A developer shall be entitled to a credit to the amount of fees required by this article to the extent that the developer constructs, pursuant to City standards and requirements, public facilities that were included in the project lists used to determine the fees established pursuant to this article.
1. Credits shall be earned when the Developer has entered into an improvement agreement with the City to construct such public facility. The City is not obligated to enter into such improvement agreement with the Developer.
2. The credit amount shall be the engineering and construction costs, plus the applicable inflation adjustment, that would be reasonably incurred by the City in building the public facility, as specified in the project list used to determine the fees established pursuant to this article.
3. Upon a default under an improvement agreement, the Developer shall lose all unused fee credits and shall compensate the City for such credits. The Developer shall pay such compensation to the City within thirty (30) days of the notice of default under the improvement agreement. The amount of the compensation shall be equal to: (i) 100% of the dollar amount of the Fee Credits used, plus (ii) accrued interest from the date that the credit was used, compounded at an annual rate of 6%, plus (iii) liquidated damages in an amount equal to 20% of the dollar amount of the credits used.
4. Any credits earned by Developer shall be applied by City only to building permits pursuant to development entitlements specifically described in an improvement agreement. Credits may not be transferred to other development projects unless explicitly approved by the City. The City may establish a reasonable fee for such transfer via resolution, following issuance of proper notice required by the Government Code. (Ord. No. 2013-11, § 2.)
25.1508 Annual Findings.
The City Council shall make findings once each fiscal year, on or before June 1, with respect to any portion of the fee remaining unexpended or uncommitted in the respective reserve account five or more years after deposit of the fee to identify the purpose to which the fee is to be put and to demonstrate a reasonable relationship between the fee and the purpose for which it was charged. The City shall refund any such unexpended or uncommitted portion of the fees (including any interest accrued thereon) for which need cannot be demonstrated in accordance with Government Code Section 66001(e) and (f). (Ord. No. 2013-11, § 2.)
25.1509 Review of Thirty Year Capital Construction Program.
At least once every five years, the City Council shall review the City of Fairfield’s Thirty Year Capital Construction Program and increase or decrease the amount of the fees established by this article based on updated project costs, project needs and available alternative revenue sources and other economic considerations. (Ord. No. 2013-11, § 2.)
25.1510 Administrative Review Procedure.
An applicant for building permit subject to the fees imposed by this article may apply to the Director for an adjustment to one or more of those fees. The following procedure shall be used to consider such an application:
a. The application shall be in writing and filed with the Director no later than (i) ten days before the public hearing on the development permit application for the project; or (ii) if no development permit is required, the time of the application for a building permit. The application shall state in detail the factual and legal basis for the adjustments or waivers.
b. The Director shall consider the application at a meeting with the applicant within thirty days after the filing of the application. The applicant bears the burden of proof in presenting substantial evidence to support the application. The applicant must present technical information to show that the fee(s) is inappropriate for the particular development which is comparable to the information found in the Nexus Study.
c. The Director shall consider the following factors to determine whether or not to approve a fee adjustment:
(i) The proposed use of the fee;
(ii) The characteristics of the project which is the subject of this review procedure;
(iii) The appropriate land use category for the project which is the subject of this review procedure;
(iv) The relationship between: the fee’s use and the type of development; the need for the improvements and the type of development; and the amount of the fee and the portion of it attributable to the development.
(v) Whether the fee(s) are reasonably related in extent to the likely impacts of the proposed development project.
d. The Director is authorized to reduce the amount of the fee based upon the determination made pursuant to this Section.
e. The decision of the Director shall be appealable to the City Manager pursuant to Section 25.1511 of this article. (Ord. No. 2013-11, § 2.)
25.1511 Appeal to City Manager.
a. A person (the "Appellant") appealing a decision of the Director made pursuant to Section 25.1501 of this article shall file a written appeal with the City Manager, stating the factual and legal basis of the appeal, within ten calendar days following the decision of the Director. A person seeking judicial review shall first seek an appeal hearing under this section.
b. The City Manager or a hearing officer appointed by the City Manager, shall set the time and place for the hearing, notice that hearing as is required under the zoning ordinance for consideration of a variance application, notify the Appellant and any other relevant parties, conduct the appeal hearing, prepare written findings of fact and a written decision on the matter, and shall preserve the complete administrative record of the proceeding. The hearing officer shall consider relevant evidence presented by the appellant and by the Director.
c. The Appellant may appeal the decision of the hearing officer to the City Council stating the factual and legal basis of the appeal, within ten calendar days following the decision of the hearing officer. The City Clerk shall set the time and place for the hearing by the City Council. The City Council shall conduct a public hearing to consider the appeal after providing ten days written notice to the Appellant and any other persons who appeared at the hearing conducted by the hearing officer. The City Council shall prepare written findings of fact and a written decision on the matter and shall preserve the complete administrative record of the proceeding.
d. The City Manager and the City Council shall consider the factors listed in Section 25.1510 of this article in making the decision to affirm the fee(s) or reduce the fee(s).
e. Sections 25.1510 and 25.1511 provide an administrative remedy which must be exhausted prior to compliance with the procedure provided in Government Code Sections 66020 and 66021. (Ord. No. 2013-11, § 2.)