This chapter is enacted to establish the mechanism for the imposition of impact fees upon development to finance the capital costs of acquiring, establishing, upgrading, expanding, and constructing public facilities which are necessary to accommodate such development. This chapter is intended to assure that development bears an appropriate share of the cost of capital expenditures necessary to provide such public facilities within the City of Lodi and its service areas as are required to serve the needs arising out of development, as well as to comply with § 66.0617, Wis. Stats. As provided in § 66.0617(2)(b), Wis. Stats., the City of Lodi, by adopting this chapter, is not intending to limit its authority to finance public facilities by any other means authorized by law, including, without limitation because of enumeration herein, the means authorized by § 236.13(2) and (2m), Wis. Stats., and Chapter
300, Subdivision of Land, of this Code, and any other statutes or ordinances.
The following fees are impact fees established
by the City pursuant to § 66.0617, Wis. Stats.:
A. Public water impact fees pursuant to §
198-10 of this chapter.
The following City documents contain the needs assessments for the impact fees identified under §
198-3 above, demonstrate City compliance with the requirements of § 66.0617(3), Wis. Stats., and shall be kept on file and available for public inspection in the office of the City Clerk:
A. Public water impact fees.
(1) Engineering Report and Public Needs Assessment for
Water Supply and Distribution System prepared by MSA Professional
Services dated June 5, 1998; and
(2) Report on Water Impact Fees prepared by Virchow, Krause
& Company, LLP, dated June 8, 1998.
Revenues collected by the City as impact fees
shall be placed by the City Treasurer in segregated interest-bearing
accounts and shall be accounted for separately from other funds of
the City. Impact fee revenues and interest earned on impact fee revenues
may be expended by the City only for the capital costs for which the
impact fees were imposed. Separate accounts shall be kept of fees
collected from different impact fee zones, where the particular impact
fee ordinance provides for differential fees according to zones, and
revenues collected in particular zones shall be spent in those zones
as appropriate.
All required impact fees, unless expressly excepted in a section of this chapter, shall be paid before a building permit may be issued for the construction for which the impact fee is to be imposed. With respect to any development affected by any impact fee imposed under this chapter which is under construction at the time the ordinance imposing such impact fee becomes effective or which has received a building permit at such time, all required impact fees shall be paid before a certificate of occupancy under Chapter
127, Building Construction, §
127-16 may be issued for such development. Impact fee payments shall be assumed to be the responsibility of the owner of record at the time the building permit is requested.
A. With respect to the public water impact fee, the above
requirement of payment before a building or occupancy permit may be
issued shall apply, and also the following shall apply:
(1) With respect to any development in the area affected
by the public water impact fee where construction has commenced at
the time this chapter becomes effective but which has not yet been
connected to the public water system, the impact fee is imposed and
payment thereof shall be required before any building included in
such development will be allowed to connect to the public water system.
(2) With respect to any development in the area affected
by the public water impact fee, as to which development the developer
has agreed to imposition of impact fees, the impact fee is imposed
and payment thereof shall be required as follows: If, at the time
this chapter becomes effective, no building permit has been issued,
payment of the fee shall be required before a building permit may
be issued. If, at the time this chapter becomes effective, a building
permit has been issued, payment of the impact fee shall be required
before any building included in such development will be allowed to
connect to the public water system. If, at the time this chapter becomes
effective, a building permit has been issued and the development has
been connected to the public water system, payment of the impact fee
shall become due when the property owner is billed for the impact
fee. In the last described situation, if payment of the fee is not
made within 30 days following billing by the City, public water service
may be disconnected by the City and such service discontinued until
payment of the impact fee has been made.
(3) Development will be considered to be "connected" to
the public water system for purposes of this section at such point
in time as a permanent connection has been made to said system and
the City has allowed the development to begin receiving water from
the system.
(4) With respect to a larger meter fee as imposed in §
198-10B, the impact fee shall be paid before the larger meter is allowed to be installed.
The Common Council, by resolution, may authorize
the payment of impact fees, otherwise payable in full, in installment
payments. If installment payments are authorized, interest shall be
paid on the installment payments at the same rate then charged by
the City on installments of special assessments.
A developer may appeal to contest the amount,
collection or use of the impact fee in the manner provided herein.
A. It shall be a condition to the commencement of such
an appeal that the impact fee from which the developer appeals shall
be paid as and when the fee or any permitted installment thereof becomes
due and payable, and upon default in making any such payment, such
appeal may be dismissed.
B. The only questions appealable under this section are
the following, as authorized by § 66.0617, Wis. Stats.:
(1) The amount of fee charged and paid by the developer.
(2) The method of collection of the impact fee.
(3) The use to which the particular fee paid by the developer
is put by the City.
C. Appeals must be brought within 30 days of the earlier
of:
(1) The date the impact fee is payable hereunder.
(2) In a situation where installment payments are allowed,
the due date of the first required installment.
D. The appellant shall pay a filing fee of $200 at the
time of filing of the appeal. The notice of appeal shall be filed
with the City Clerk.
E. Following the filing of the notice of appeal, the
City Clerk shall compile a record of the ordinance imposing the impact
fee that is the subject of the appeal and a record of the management
and expenditure of the proceeds of the impact fee and shall transmit
these documents to the Common Council. In consultation with the City
departments, the City Clerk shall also compile a report on each appeal
in which the appellant is seeking a reduction or total refund in the
impact fee paid. This report shall specify the fiscal impact on the
City of Lodi if the appeal overturns the impact fee. If the fiscal
impact report indicates that the appeal, if successful, will cause
a revenue shortfall that otherwise was not budgeted with respect to
the public facility, and if this revenue shortfall cannot be reconciled
by reduction in impacts caused by development on the appellant's property,
the report shall estimate whether it will be necessary for the City
to adjust impact fees, or amend existing ordinances, to recover the
proposed revenue shortfall.
F. The Common Council shall hold a public hearing on
the appeal, preceded by a Class 1 notice, providing fair opportunity
for the appellant to be heard. The burden shall be on the appellant
to establish illegality or impropriety of the fee from which the appeal
has been taken. Following the close of the public hearing, the Common
Council shall deliberate upon the matter and shall conduct such studies
and inquiries as it deems appropriate to decide the appeal.
G. If the Common Council determines that the appeal has
merit, it shall determine appropriate remedies. These may include
reallocation of the proceeds of the challenged impact fee to accomplish
the purposes for which the fee was collected, refunding the impact
fee in full or in part, along with interest collected by the City
thereon, or granting the appellant the opportunity to make the impact
fee payment in installments, or such other remedies as it deems appropriate
in a particular case.