(a) Authorization. Article XI-E of the Maryland Constitution, Article 23A of the Annotated Code of Maryland, and the City of Frederick Charter authorize the city to enact ordinances for the protection and promotion of public safety, health, welfare, comfort, convenience and happiness.
(b) Purpose and intent. This section is for the purpose of requiring that new residential development pay for its appropriate share of park development and improvement through the imposition of a park facilities development impact fee which will be used to finance, defray or reimburse the city for all or a portion of the costs of park development and improvement which serve such residential development.
(c) Findings. The mayor and board of aldermen hereby find that:
(1) New residential development imposes increased and excessive demands upon city park facilities.
(2) Planning, economic and demographic studies project that new residential development will continue and will place ever-increasing demands on the city to provide park facilities to serve the new residential development.
(3) The contribution made or to be made in the future by new development from taxes by the property owner towards the capital costs of park development and improvements do not generate sufficient funds to provide park development and improvements to serve such new development.
(4) To the extent that new residential development places demands upon the park facilities, those demands should be satisfied by shifting the responsibility for financing the provision of such facilities from existing citizens to the residential development creating the demands.
(5) The city assumes the responsibility for and is committed to providing park facilities at levels necessary to cure any existing deficiencies in already developed areas.
(6) Impact fees collected pursuant to this section shall not be used to cure existing deficiencies in park facilities.
(7) The department of planning has prepared a report assessing the cost of the impact of new development upon existing and future park development and improvements.
(8) The mayor and board of aldermen find that the imposition of an impact fee to finance park development and improvement in designated areas, the demand for which is created by new residential development, is in the best interest and the general welfare of the city and its residents, is equitable and does not impose an unfair burden on new residential development.
(d) Applicability. Any person who undertakes a residential development project shall pay a park facilities development impact fee and shall not receive a building permit until such park facilities development impact fee is paid.
(e) Exemptions.
(1) The following types of development are exempt from the provisions of this section.
(A) Alterations or expansions of an existing residential building, where no additional dwelling units are created and where the use is not changed.
(B) The construction of accessory buildings or structures.
(C) The on-site replacement of a destroyed or partially destroyed structure with a new building or structure where no additional dwelling units are created.
(D) The off-site replacement of a demolished structure with a new building or structure where no additional dwelling units are created, provided the demolition and replacement are performed pursuant to a comprehensive replacement plan which is approved by the director of planning and community development prior to the demolition of the structure.
(E) The installation of a replacement mobile or modular home on a lot or other such site when a development impact fee for such site has previously been paid pursuant to this section.
(2) Any claim of exemption must be made by the applicant, in writing to the department of permits and inspections, no later than the time of application for a building permit or permit for mobile home installation. Any claim not so made shall be deemed to be waived.
(f) Definitions. As used in this chapter:
“Building permit” means an official document issued by the department of permits which authorizes construction, alteration, enlargement, conversion, reconstruction, remodeling, rehabilitation, erection, moving or repair of a building or structure. Building permit, for the purposes of this chapter, shall include a mobile home permit for the installation or placement of a mobile or manufactured housing unit.
“Dwelling unit” means one or more rooms in a building or a portion of a room, designed or intended to be used, or actually used, for occupancy by one family for living and sleeping quarters and containing one kitchen only, including a mobile home, but not hotel or motel units.
“Impact fee” means any monetary exaction imposed by the city as a condition of or in connection with approval of a residential development project for the purpose of defraying all or some of the cost of or repayment of costs previously expended from other city funds for park development and improvement relating to the project.
“Residential development” means any development undertaken which creates a new dwelling unit or units.
(g) Hearing required for establishing or increasing an impact fee. Prior to establishing or increasing any impact fee the mayor and board of aldermen shall hold a public hearing at which oral and written testimony may be given. Action to establish or increase any impact fee shall be taken only by ordinance or resolution.
(h) Imposition and collection of impact fees.
(1) Except as provided in this section and any amendment thereto, the city shall impose a park facilities development impact fee as a condition of approval of all new residential development. No building permit, final inspection, or certificate of occupancy may be approved unless the provisions of this section have been fulfilled.
(2) Impact fees shall be imposed by including the following language in any document of development approval: “Approval of this project is conditioned upon payment to the city of all applicable impact fees.”
(3) Impact fees shall be collected by the department of permits and inspections prior to the issuance of a permit.
(i) Impact fee schedule. The amount of the impact fee shall be eight hundred sixty-eight dollars ($868.00) per unit if the development does not have a home owners’ association pool, and five hundred sixty-eight dollars ($568.00) per unit if the development has a home owners’ association pool. No development permit shall be issued until such fee has been paid.
(j) Appeals. An applicant may appeal the amount of the impact fee imposed pursuant to this section by filing a written notice of appeal to the director of planning and community development within ten (10) days of receiving notice of the amount of impact fee imposed by the department of permits and inspections. The notice of appeal shall be entitled “Notice of Appeal of Impact Fee” and shall include a statement of the nature and reasons for the appeal. The applicant bears the burden of proof to demonstrate that the amount of the impact fee was not calculated according to the procedures established by this section.
(k) Impact fee accounts. The city shall establish a park facilities development impact fee account and impact fees collected shall be deposited in such account. The funds of the account shall not be commingled with other funds of the city. The impact fee account shall be interest-bearing and the accumulated interest shall become a part of the account.
(l) Use of impact fee proceeds. Impact fees shall be expended only for the use for which they were imposed. Impact fees may be used to pay the principal interest and other costs of bonds notes and other obligations issued or undertaken by or on behalf of the city to finance such improvements.
(m) Refunds.
(1) Except as described below, upon application of the property owner, the city shall refund that portion of any impact fee which has been on deposit for more than ten (10) years and which is unexpended and uncommitted. The refund shall be made to the then-current owner or owners of lots or units of the residential development.
(2) If a property-owner is entitled to a refund the city shall notify the property owner by first class mail deposited with the United States Postal Service. The property owner must submit a request for a refund to the finance department in writing within one year of the date the right to claim the refund arises or the date the notice is given, whichever is later. Any impact fees that are not expended or encumbered within the time limitations established herein, and for which no application for a refund has been made within this one year period, shall be retained and expended in accordance with this section.
(3) If fees in any impact fee account are uncommitted for three (3) or more years after deposit, the city shall make findings, at least once each fiscal year while such condition prevails, to identify the purpose to which such fees shall be put and to show a roughly proportional and reasonable relationship between the fee and the purpose for which it was collected. If the city makes such findings, the fees are exempt from the refund requirement.
(4) The city may refund by direct payment, or otherwise by agreement, with the owner.
(5) An applicant who has paid an impact fee for a new residential development for which the necessary building permit has expired prior to construction, for which the building permit has been revoked prior to construction, or for which the building permit has been cancelled prior to construction, shall be eligible to apply for a refund. The applicant must submit a request for a refund to the finance department in writing within one year of the date the subject permit expired, was revoked, or was cancelled. Any impact fees that are not expended or encumbered within the time limitations established herein, and for which no application for a refund has been made within this one year period, shall be retained and expended in accordance with this section.
(n) Severability. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or portion of the ordinance codified in this section is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by the final decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this section. (Ord. No. G-03-9, § 1, 5-15-03)