Pacifica Municipal Code Ch. 14 Development Impact Fees

In order to implement the goals and objectives of the City's General Plan and Capital Improvement Plan and to mitigate the impacts caused by new development in the City, certain public improvements must be or had to be constructed. The City Council has determined that development impact fees are needed in order to finance the public improvements and to pay for the development's fair share of the construction costs of these improvements. In establishing these fees, the City Council has found the fees to be consistent with its General Plan and, pursuant to Government Code Section 65913.2, has considered the effects of the fees with respect to the City's housing needs as established in the Housing Element of its General Plan.

(§ 2. Ord. 549-C.S., eff. March 28, 1990)

Development fees are levied upon issuance of all building permits or prior to the approval of a parcel or final map for development in the City to pay for public improvements needed to serve new development. The City Council in Council Resolution No. 8-90 and documents incorporated therein, as well as in other provisions of this Code, has set forth the specific amounts of the fees, described the benefit and impact areas on which the development fees are imposed, listed the specific public improvements to be financed, described the estimated cost of these facilities, described the reasonable relationship between these fees and the various types of new developments, and set forth time for payment. As described in said fee ordinances and resolution, these development fees shall be paid by each developer either prior to issuance of a building permit or prior to the approval of a parcel or final map for the commercial or industrial project or the respective dwelling units in a residential project, pursuant to Chapter 13 of Title 3 herein. On an annual basis, the City Council shall review these fees to determine whether these fee amounts are reasonably related to the impacts of developments and whether the described public facilities are still needed.

(§ 2, Ord. 549-C.S., eff. March 28, 1990)

The revenues raised by payment of these fees shall be placed in separate and special accounts and such revenues, along with any interest earnings on that account, shall be used solely to:

(a) Pay for the City's future construction of facilities described in the resolution and fee ordinances referred to above or to reimburse the City for those described or listed facilities constructed by the City with funds advanced by the City from other sources; or

(b) Reimburse developers who have been required or permitted by Section 3-14.04, to install such listed facilities which are oversized with supplemental size, length or capacity.

(§ 2, Ord. 549-C.S., eff. March 28, 1990)

Whenever a developer is required, as a condition of approval of a development permit, to construct a public facility described in an ordinance or resolution adopted pursuant to Section 3-14.02 which facility is determined by the City to have supplemental size, length or capacity over that needed for the impacts of that development, and when such construction is necessary to ensure efficient and timely construction of the facilities network, a reimbursement agreement with the developer and a credit against the fees, which would otherwise be charged pursuant to this chapter on the development project, shall be offered. The reimbursement amounts shall not include the portion of the improvement needed to provide services or mitigate the need for the facility or the burdens created by the development.

(§ 2, Ord. 549-C.S., eff. March 28, 1990)

A developer of any project subject to the fees described in Section 3-14.02 may apply to the City Council for a reduction or adjustment to such fees, or waiver of such fees, based upon the absence of any reasonable relationship or nexus between the impacts of that development on public facilities and either the amount of the fees charged or the type of facilities to be financed. The application shall be made in writing and filed with the City Clerk not later than (1) ten (10) days prior to the first public hearing on the discretionary development permit application for the project; or (2) if no development permit is required, at the time of the filing of the request for a building permit. The application shall state in detail the factual basis for the claim of waiver, reduction, or adjustment. The City Council may consider the application at the public hearing on the permit application if such application comes before it or at a separate hearing. The decision of the City Council shall be final. If a reduction, adjustment, or waiver is granted, any change in use or intensity of development within the project shall invalidate the waiver, adjustment or reduction of the fee.

(§ 2, Ord. 549-C.S., eff. March 28, 1990)