Chapter 3.42
FIRE FACILITIES IMPACT FEE REQUIREMENTS
Sections:
3.42.020 Residential fire facilities impact fee required.
3.42.030 Nonresidential public facilities development impact fee required.
3.42.040 Exceptions from, and reduction of, fire facilities impact fees.
3.42.010 Findings and intent.
(A) The City Council finds that Palmdale is a rapidly growing city. The projected increase in population is reasonably expected to create a substantial increase in the demand placed upon public facilities, including fire protection facilities. The City’s existing fire protection facilities will soon be inadequate to handle the projected population growth at existing levels of service. In order to serve the projected population growth, fire protection facilities must be expanded.
(B) It is the intent of the City Council to require every person who develops land to mitigate the impacts of that development on the City’s public facilities. The City will therefore require developers to pay a fire facilities impact fee that will be used to meet the demand for fire protection facilities created by development.
(C) The amount of the fire facilities impact fees collected in accordance with this chapter will be limited to the cost of the facilities attributable to new development. The amount of the fire facilities impact fees collected will not include the cost of fire facilities that serve existing development. (Ord. 1142 § 1, 1999)
3.42.020 Residential fire facilities impact fee required.
(A) Except as provided in PMC 3.42.040, a fire facilities impact fee for a residential building must be paid, in an amount established by resolution of the City Council, upon the date of the final inspection, or the date the certificate of occupancy is issued, whichever occurs first.
(B) For the purposes of this section, the terms “final inspection” and “certificate of occupancy” have the same meaning as described in Government Code Section 66007, as amended. (Ord. 1142 § 1, 1999)
3.42.030 Nonresidential public facilities development impact fee required.
A fire facilities impact fee for a nonresidential building must be paid, in an amount established by resolution of the City Council, upon the date of final inspection, or the date the certificate of occupancy is issued, whichever occurs first. (Ord. 1142 § 1, 1999)
3.42.040 Exceptions from, and reduction of, fire facilities impact fees.
(A) A developer is entitled to a reduction in the amount of the fire facilities impact fee required by PMC 3.42.020 and 3.42.030 if the developer constructs fire facilities pursuant to a fire facilities plan adopted by the City Council. The fire facilities impact fee will be reduced by the amount of engineering and construction costs that would reasonably be incurred by the City in building those same public facilities. The amount of the reduction in the fire facilities impact fee is subject to the approval of the Director of Public Works prior to construction of the development.
(B) If a developer constructs fire facilities pursuant to a plan adopted by City Council, and if the City’s engineering and construction costs to construct those same fire facilities would have been more than the fee assessed to that developer pursuant to PMC 3.42.020 or 3.42.030, then nothing in this section prevents the City from entering into a reimbursement agreement with that developer, subject to the availability of funds.
(C) The City Manager may reduce the amount of the fire facilities impact fee required by PMC 3.42.020 or 3.42.030 if the City Manager determines that a development will generate extraordinary sales tax revenue for the City and thereby confer an extraordinary financial benefit upon the City. (Ord. 1142 § 1, 1999)
3.42.050 Fee adjustment.
(A) Application for Fee Adjustment.
(1) Any developer whose development is subject to the fire facilities impact fee required by this chapter may apply to the Director of Public Works for a reduction in that fee based upon the demonstrable absence of a reasonable relationship between the impact of that development on the City’s fire facilities and either the amount of fire facilities impact fee charged, or the type of fire facilities and improvements to be constructed and purchased. The application must be made in writing and filed with the Director of Public Works not later than 90 days after approval of the development project. If no application for discretionary review is required for the development, then the application for fee waiver must be made in writing and filed within 90 days after the City issues a building permit for the development. The application must state in detail the factual basis for the request for reduction.
(2) Failure to file a timely application for reduction deprives the Director of Public Works of jurisdiction to consider that application.
(3) The Director must make a decision on the application for reduction within 30 calendar days after the application has been filed. Notice of the Director’s decision must be mailed to the applicant, postage prepaid.
(B) Invalidation of Fee Reduction. If a reduction is granted pursuant to this section, then any subsequent change in the design of the subject development that may impact the demand for fire facilities, or any increase in the square footage of the development, will invalidate the reduction.
(C) Processing of Protests. The procedure set forth in this section will implement Government Code Section 66020, or any successor statute, and will serve as the City’s method for processing protests filed pursuant to that section. Prior to the effective date of the City’s approval of the development, or, if no discretionary review is required, then prior to the issuance of a building permit, a developer that is subject to this chapter must sign and acknowledge receipt of a notice informing the developer of the amount of the fire facilities impact fee imposed upon the development. The acknowledgment of the notice will not be deemed a waiver of the developer’s right to protest the imposition and to request a fee adjustment under this section. (Ord. 1142 § 1, 1999)
3.42.060 Use of funds.
All fire facilities impact fees paid and collected as authorized by this chapter must be placed in one or more funds and used solely for the purpose of constructing, expanding or rehabilitating fire protection facilities and equipment. (Ord. 1142 § 1, 1999)
3.42.070 Calculation of fees.
A developer subject to the fire facilities impact fee required by PMC 3.42.020 or 3.42.030 must pay the amount of the fee that is in effect when the fee becomes due. Furthermore, any fee imposed on a development that is protected by vested rights acquired through a vesting subdivision map will be the amount in effect at the time the rights became vested, plus any adjustment for inflation made between that date and the date that the fee becomes due. (Ord. 1142 § 1, 1999)