Fair share development fees
A. General requirements. Consistent with the provisions of the Comprehensive Community Plan and Land Use 2010: State Land Use Policies and Plan, issuance of building permits for the creation or placement of dwelling units shall be contingent upon payment of development fees for a fair share of the cost of providing school facilities and open space, conservation, park and recreation land and/or facilities to meet the needs of serving future residents of the development.
B. Relationship to adopted plans. The requirement of funds for provision of school facilities and open space, conservation, park and recreation land and/or facilities shall be based upon needs as documented in adopted plans of the town, i.e. the comprehensive community plan, the local recreation, conservation and open space plan, and the capital improvement program (CIP), and shall be consistent with the policies stated therein.
C. Fee assessment. The fee amount shall be based upon the following.
1. A town baseline fee schedule for school facilities shall be established by the town council annually for the fiscal year, to be included in the town's annually adopted capital improvement program. The fees shall be based upon documented analysis of the projected cost of providing school facilities as indicated in the then-current "capital improvement program," reflecting adjustments for the time-value of money over the period between when the fee is paid and when it is projected to be utilized, and reflecting credits for the present value of any future property taxes to be paid by the developed properties for the same school facility capital costs, and shall reflect expected differences in school pupil generation rates among dwelling types, such as single-household, two-household, and multi-household dwellings.
2. The school facility fee for dwellings in any particular development may be adjusted relative to that baseline fee to reflect any special characteristics of the development that can be assured for at least the following ten (10) years, such as occupancy characteristics resulting in public school enrollment expectations significantly departing from those underlying the baseline fee, or property tax payment expectations significantly departing from those assumed in calculating the baseline fee. Request for such adjustment must be made and documented in writing to the town council, which shall approve it upon determination that doing so is supported by the facts of the case. No request for such adjustment for development located within the Route 1 Special Management District (SMD) shall be made until conceptual master plan approval has been granted by the planning board. The planning board shall make an advisory recommendation to the town council on any such application for development within the SMD.
3. The fee per dwelling unit for open space, conservation, park and recreation land and/or facilities shall be established by the town council annually for the fiscal year, to be included in the town's annually adopted capital improvement program. The methodology for determining the fee shall be as provided in article III section D of the town subdivision and land development regualtions as amended on January 12, 1994.
D. Fee exemption.
1. Those lots or dwelling units whose development will be limited to affordable housing as that term is defined in article 12 shall be exempt from those development fees otherwise required under this section. Cost and income bases for determining affordability shall be officially determined by RI Housing and illustrated in the town's annually adopted capital improvement program.
2. Dwellings shall be exempt from payment of school facility fees required under this section 1101 if located on lots for which school facility fees have previously been paid under section I.E.1.A. entitled "Adequacy of School Sites and Buildings" of the town subdivision regulations adopted in 1977 and as amended October 14, 1986.
3. Dwellings shall be exempt from payment of school facility fees required under this section 1101 if reserved for housing for older persons as provided at 24 CFR Subpart E (adopted pursuant to the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988) which includes both publicly subsidized and private housing, including mobile and manufactured home parks, if intended and operated for occupancy by at least one (1) person over age fifty-five (55) per housing unit.
4. Dwellings shall be exempt from payment of fees for open space, conservation, park and recreation land and/or facilities required under this section 1101 to the extent that requirements provided in article III, section D of the subdivision and land development regulations adopted March 3, 1993, or in section II.K. entitled "Required Minimum Standards - Open Space" of the town subdivision regulations adopted in 1977 and as amended October 14, 1986, have been satisfied for that dwelling through either:
(a) Land having been dedicated to the town or a fee-in-lieu of land dedication having previously been paid; or
(b) Land having been committed for open space in a residential cluster development or residential compound, or in the Route 1 Special Management District provided that:
(1) The minimum amount of land required to be dedicated shall be land suitable for development as defined in the subdivision and land development regulations; and
(2) The land is dedicated to the town for public use; or
(3) If the land is dedicated to any individual, organization, corporation or trust other than the town as permitted by said regulations and/or the zoning ordinance, it shall be open to and available for use by the general public.
5. For subdivisions approved by the planning board but not recorded in the land evidence records of the town prior to January 12, 1994, fees required for school sites or facilities under section I.E.1.A. entitled "Adequacy of School Sites and Buildings" of the town subdivision regulations adopted in 1977 and as amended October 14, 1986, or required for open space, conservation, park and recreation land and/or facilities under article III section D of the subdivision and land development regulations adopted March 3, 1993, or in section II.K. entitled "Required Minimum Standards - Open Space" of the town subdivision regulations adopted in 1977 and as amended October 14, 1986, shall be waived provided that notice is recorded on or accompanying the plans indicating that the impact fee requirements of this section 1101 must be complied with for each lot prior to issuance of any building permit for that lot.
E. Fee utilization. Required fees shall be paid to the town prior to the time of issuance of a building permit for the dwelling for which they are assessed. All fees collected shall be deposited in a special reserve fund established by the town, the use of which shall be limited to the provision of school facilities and open space, conservation, park and recreation land and/or facilities to meet the needs of new development. Fees shall be utilized in the order received.
F. Fee refunds. Upon application to the town manager by the developer or his successors in interest, fees deposited or a portion thereof may be refunded in any of the following cases, if application for refund is made within six (6) months of eligibility for that refund:
1. Upon expiration or cancellation of the related building permit; or
2. Where the number of dwelling units on which the fees were based exceeds the number actually buildable, as a result of resubdivision reducing the number of lots, or lots being definitively determined by the planning board to be unbuildable; or
3. Termination of approved status of the development plan for any reason, such as through planning board vote for plan modification, court action, or failure to meet timing requirements; or
4. If the fees paid or any portion thereof have not been utilized by the town or encumbered for such use within ten (10) years of the date of deposit.
G. Definition of affordable housing. "Affordable housing" means residential housing that has a sales price or rental amount that is within the means of a household that is moderate income or less. In the case of dwelling units for sale, housing that is affordable means housing in which the principal, interest, taxes which may be adjusted by state or local programs for property tax relief, and insurance constitute no more than thirty (30) percent of the gross household income for a low or moderate income household. In the case of dwelling units for rent, housing that is affordable means housing for which the rent, heat and utilities other than telephone constitute no more than thirty (30) percent of the gross annual income for a household with eighty (80) percent or less of the area median income, adjusted for family size. Affordable housing shall include all types of year-round housing, including, but not limited to, manufactured housing, housing originally constructed for workers and their families, accessory dwelling units, housing accepting rentals vouchers and/or tenant-based certificates under Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended, and assisted living housing, where the sales and rental amount of such housing, adjusted for any federal, state or municipal government subsidy, is less than or equal to thirty (30) percent of the gross household income of the low and moderate income occupants of the housing (reference G.L. 1956, § 42-128.8.1(d)). The affordability of such housing shall be assured for a period of not less than thirty (30) years from the date of initial occupancy.
(Ord. of 8-16-06(1))