This chapter shall be known as the "Municipality of Murrysville Impact Fee Ordinance" and shall be codified in the Municipal Code as repealing and replacing Chapter
135, Impact Fees.
The purpose of this chapter is to repeal and replace the provisions of Chapter
135 of the Code of the Municipality of Murrysville that contains the Municipality of Murrysville Impact Fee Ordinance and enact new provisions for the Municipality of Murrysville Impact Fee Program, including a TRANSPORTATION CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PLAN, to ensure that the transportation system is available
and adequate to support existing volumes of traffic and traffic projected
to be generated by new growth and development. To advance this objective,
the Municipality of Murrysville Impact Fee Program shall be based
upon the imposition of an IMPACT FEE payable to the Municipality at
the time of BUILDING PERMIT issuance. Additionally, the program identifies
existing deficiencies due to pass-through trips and future trip generation
attributable to NEW DEVELOPMENT. The program will provide a continuing
generation of funds necessary for the Municipality to initiate and
complete capital transportation improvements as needed in support
of new growth and development. Such a program will involve participation
by DEVELOPERS as well as local, state and federal governments. Through
the Impact Fee Program, the Municipality is establishing a process
whereby future traffic needs can be addressed in a timely manner and
the impact of increased traffic volumes can be minimized to the extent
possible.
The Council hereby finds and declares that:
A. The recitals set forth at the beginning of this chapter are incorporated
herein as findings of the Council as if fully set forth below.
B. The Municipality is committed to the provision of a transportation
system at service levels necessary to support residential and nonresidential
growth and development.
C. Transportation service levels will be provided by the Municipality
utilizing funds allocated via the capital budget, capital improvements
programs, formal and informal partnerships with the Pennsylvania Department
of Transportation (PennDOT) and IMPACT FEES.
D. The aggregation of development in the defined TRANSPORTATION SERVICE
AREA intensifies the demand for transportation improvements designed
to accommodate traffic volumes at a "D" level of service as defined
by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Science,
which is the minimum acceptable level of service to accommodate such
development and the intensity thereof.
E. The development potential of properties in the defined TRANSPORTATION
SERVICE AREA is reflected in the RSA Report and the Municipality's
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN and is implemented via the Subdivision and Land
Development Ordinance and the Zoning Ordinance.
F. To the extent that NEW DEVELOPMENT in the TRANSPORTATION SERVICE
AREA places demands upon the transportation system, those demands
should be satisfied by the establishment of an Impact Fee Program
that distributes the responsibility for financing the provision of
such transportation facilities among the Municipality, state and federal
governments, and DEVELOPERS.
G. The amount of the IMPACT FEE to be imposed shall be calculated in
accordance with the provisions of the MPC and this chapter, applying the engineering standards set
forth in Trip Generation, 9th Ed., 2012, vols. 1-3, Institute of Transportation
Engineers, and any amendments or future editions thereof.
H. The Municipality hereby finds and declares that an IMPACT FEE imposed
upon NEW DEVELOPMENT, in order to assist in the financing of specified
major TRANSPORTATION CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS in the defined TRANSPORTATION
SERVICE AREA, the demand for which has been quantified through the
application of land use assumptions provided by the Impact Fee Advisory
Committee appointed by the Council, is in the best interest of the
Municipality and its residents.
As used in this chapter, the words shall have the meaning set
forth in Sections 107 and 502-A of the MPC unless the context clearly
indicates to the contrary. The following words and terms, not defined in the MPC
or defined differently from the MPC, shall have the following meanings
unless the context clearly indicates to the contrary:
BUILDING PERMIT
A permit for the activities regulated under the Pennsylvania
Uniform Construction Code as administered by the Municipality and
any activity requiring an OCCUPANCY PERMIT, including, without limitation,
the following activities:
A.
The construction or alteration of a man-made object having a
stationary location on land or water.
B.
The construction of an addition.
C.
The demolition of or the movement of a man-made object having
a stationary location on land or water.
D.
A change of occupancy or use.
E.
The installation of or the alteration of any equipment regulated
by the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code.
CHIEF ADMINISTRATOR
The chief administrator of the Municipality of Murrysville
appointed pursuant to Article XI of the Municipality of Murrysville
Home Rule Charter, Pa. Code, Title 365, Part V, Chapter 41.
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
The overall policy guide for the physical man-made change
to improved or unimproved real estate of the Municipality of Murrysville
adopted by the Council as the COMPREHENSIVE PLAN of the Municipality
of Murrysville either as a whole or in parts, consisting of documents,
maps, drawings and charts in accordance with the MPC and as amended
from time to time. The Municipality of Murrysville COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
includes but is not limited to the Murrysville Comprehensive Plan
adopted in February 2015 by the Council and designs or plans or any
studies or surveys emanating therefrom.
DEVELOPER
Any person who has legal title of land, agent of the legal
title or tenant with permission of the person who has legal title
of land, who makes an application for development. A DEVELOPER is
also known as an "APPLICANT." In the case of the assessment of additional
IMPACT FEES, it shall also mean a successor in title.
IMPACT FEE
A fee, to be paid at BUILDING PERMIT issuance, and calculated in accordance with the provisions of the MPC, as amended, and this chapter or the fee to be paid in accordance with §
135-6D after a special transportation study pursuant to §
135-10A(5).
MUNICIPAL TRAFFIC ENGINEER
For the purpose of the roadway sufficiency analysis and the
TRANSPORTATION CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM, any Pennsylvania-licensed
engineer with experience in traffic and roadway engineering as may
be appointed from time to time by the Council.
NEW DEVELOPMENT
Any commercial, industrial or residential or other project
which involves new construction, enlargement, reconstruction, redevelopment,
relocation or structural alteration and which is expected to generate
additional vehicular traffic within the transportation service area
of the municipality. NEW DEVELOPMENT also includes any change in use
that increases peak-hour trips generated by such change in use, whether
or not physical changes to the site or structures on the site are
required. Development pursuant to MPC Article VII, Planned Residential
Development (PRD), and MPC Article VII-A, Traditional Neighborhood
Development (TND), is included in NEW DEVELOPMENT.
OCCUPANCY PERMIT
A permit for occupancy and use issued pursuant to Chapter
220, Zoning, of the Municipal Code.
P.M. PEAK-HOUR
The relevant peak-hour period for the calculation of IMPACT
FEES. Trips generated in the P.M. PEAK-HOUR shall be used to determine
the IMPACT FEE.
TRANSPORTATION CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PLAN
A plan adopted by the Council of the Municipality prior to
the enactment of any Impact Fee Ordinance for the purpose of identifying
and planning for TRANSPORTATION CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS. Specifically,
the Impact Fee Advisory Committee prepared or directed to be prepared
a Transportation Capital Improvements Plan dated November 2, 2015,
and prepared by the MUNICIPAL TRAFFIC ENGINEER adopted as Resolution
No. 656-15 by the Council on December 16, 2015.
TRANSPORTATION SERVICE AREA
That geographically defined area of the Municipality which,
pursuant to the Zoning Ordinance and applicable district regulations,
has an aggregation of sites with development potential creating the
need for transportation improvements for such area to be funded by
IMPACT FEES as set forth in Attachment A attached hereto and made
apart hereof.
TRIP GENERATION RATES
Those rates of traffic for the P.M. PEAK-HOUR, or in the
case of retail commercial use the Saturday peak-hour, of adjacent
street traffic as determined in Trip Generation, 9th Ed., 2012, vols.
1-3, the Institute of Transportation Engineers, and any amendments
or future editions thereof.
UNIT COST PER TRIP
The dollar figure calculated by dividing the total costs
of the road improvements included in the adopted TRANSPORTATION CAPITAL
IMPROVEMENTS PLAN, plus both i) a ten-percent contingency, and ii)
the cost of the MUNICIPAL TRAFFIC ENGINEER's preparation of the
roadway sufficiency analysis within the TRANSPORTATION SERVICE AREA
attributable to and necessitated by NEW DEVELOPMENT within the service
area divided by the number of anticipated P.M. PEAK-HOURS trips generated
by all NEW DEVELOPMENT consistent with the land use assumptions and
calculated in accordance with Trip Generation, 9th Ed., 2012, vols.
1-3, the Institute of Transportation Engineers, and any amendments
and future editions thereto.
The Municipality has defined a TRANSPORTATION SERVICE AREA as
shown on the Transportation Service Area Map (see Attachment A) in
accordance with the provisions of the MPC.
The Municipality may expend IMPACT FEES paid by an APPLICANT
on projects not contained in the adopted TRANSPORTATION CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS
PLAN if all of the following criteria are met:
A. The APPLICANT has provided written consent to use of its collected
IMPACT FEES for specific transportation projects which are not included
in the TRANSPORTATION CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PLAN.
B. The alternative transportation project, whether highway or multimodal,
has as its purpose the reduction of traffic congestion or the removal
of vehicle trips from the roadway network.
C. The Municipality amends its TRANSPORTATION CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PLAN
components required by Section 504-A(e)(1)(vi) of the Municipalities
Planning Code, 53 P.S. § 10504-A(e)(1)(vi), to provide replacement
of the collected IMPACT FEES transferred to transportation projects
outside the approved TRANSPORTATION CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PLAN from
sources other than IMPACT FEES or DEVELOPER contributions within three
years of completion of the alternative projects to which the transferred
fees were applied.
Payment of the IMPACT FEE shall be made by the APPLICANT prior
to the issuance of a BUILDING PERMIT, or OCCUPANCY PERMIT if no physical
improvements are required, by the Municipality for the NEW DEVELOPMENT
for development on the applicable site.
The words and phrases of this chapter are to be construed in
accordance with the following rules:
A. Definitions.
(1) First, words and phrases are to be interpreted as defined by this
chapter;
(2) Second, words and phrases that are not defined by this chapter are
to be interpreted as defined in Sections 107 and 502-A of the Municipalities
Planning Code (MPC), 53 P.S. §§ 10107 and 10502-A,
as amended;
(3) Third, words and phrases that are not defined in this chapter or
Sections 107 and 502-A of the MPC are to be interpreted as defined
in the Municipality's Zoning, Land Development and Subdivision
Ordinances;
(4) Fourth, words and phrases that are not defined in this chapter, Sections
107 and 502-A of the MPC, or in the Municipality's Zoning, Land
Development and Subdivision Ordinances are to be given their common,
ordinary dictionary meaning within the context of the sentence in
which they are used.
B. Construction. The words, phrases and provisions of this chapter are
not to be interpreted in a way the results in an absurd construction
of the meaning or in a way that causes one provision to contradict
another.
C. Words in capitals. The words in all CAPITALS are defined in this
chapter or in the MPC.
The provisions of this chapter shall be liberally construed
to effectively carry out the purposes that are hereby found and declared
to be in furtherance of the public health, safety, welfare and convenience.