Chapter 3.45
PUBLIC FACILITY DEVELOPMENT IMPACT FEE REQUIREMENTS
Sections:
3.45.020 Residential public facility development impact fee required.
3.45.030 Nonresidential public facility development impact fee required.
3.45.040 Exemptions from, and reduction of, public facility development impact fee.
3.45.010 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 public safety and library facilities. The City’s existing general public facilities will be inadequate to handle the projected population growth at existing levels of service. In order to serve the projected population growth, the 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 public facility development impact fee that will be used to meet the demand for public facilities created by development.
(C) The amount of the public facility development 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 public facility development impact fees collected will not include the cost of facilities to serve existing development. (Ord. 1233 § 1, 2004)
3.45.020 Residential public facility development impact fee required.
(A) Except as provided in PMC 3.45.040, a public facility development impact fee for a single dwelling 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. If the residential development contains more than one dwelling, the public facility development impact fee must be paid on a lump-sum basis when the first dwelling in the development or development phase receives its final inspection or certificate of occupancy, 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.
(C) The public facility development impact fee will not be levied against any new additions, which are under 2,000 square feet, or development on rural or public use land, nor will the public facility development impact fee be levied against any building for which a building permit has been issued on or before August 9, 2004. However, any project with a specific condition imposed upon it to participate in an appropriate general public facilities financing mechanism does not qualify for this exclusion and shall remain subject to the public facility development impact fee. (Ord. 1233 § 1, 2004)
3.45.030 Nonresidential public facility development impact fee required.
(A) Except as provided in PMC 3.45.040, a public facility development impact fee for a nonresidential 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.
(C) The public facility development impact fee will not be levied against any new additions which are under 2,000 square feet, or development on rural or public use land, nor will the public facility development impact fee be levied against any building for which a building permit has been issued on or before August 9, 2004. However, any project with a specific condition imposed upon it to participate in an appropriate general public facilities financing mechanism does not qualify for this exclusion and shall remain subject to the public facility development impact fee. (Ord. 1233 § 1, 2004)
3.45.040 Exemptions from, and reduction of, public facility development impact fee.
(A) A developer is entitled to a reduction in the public facility development impact fee required by PMC 3.45.020 and 3.45.030 if the developer constructs public facilities pursuant to a public facilities plan adopted by the City Council. The public facility development 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 public facility development impact fee is subject to the approval of the Director of Public Works prior to construction of the development.
(B) If a developer constructs public facilities pursuant to a plan adopted by the City Council, and if the City’s engineering and construction costs to construct those same facilities would have been more than the fee assessed to that developer pursuant to PMC 3.45.020 and 3.45.030, 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 public facility development impact fee required by PMC 3.45.030 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. 1233 § 1, 2004)
3.45.050 Fee adjustment.
(A) Application for Fee Adjustment.
(1) Any developer whose development is subject to the public facility development 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 public facilities and either the amount of public facility development impact fee charged, or the type of public 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 general public 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 public facility development 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. 1233 § 1, 2004)
3.45.060 Use of funds.
All public facility development 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 the public facilities set forth in the Public Facilities Impact Fee Final Report, dated December, 2003. (Ord. 1233 § 1, 2004)
3.45.070 Calculation of fees.
A developer subject to the public facility development impact fee required by PMC 3.45.020 or 3.45.030 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. 1233 § 1, 2004)