[Adopted 6-28-2001; amended 4-9-2012]
This article is adopted pursuant to home rule powers as provided
for in Article VIII, Part 2, Section 1, of the Maine Constitution
and 30-A M.R.S.A. §§ 3001 and 4354.
This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Recreational
Facilities and Open Space Impact Fee Ordinance of the Town of Cumberland,
Maine" and will be referred to herein as "this article."
The general purposes of this article are to maintain the Town's
financial capacity to provide adequate public facilities to meet the
additional needs for recreation and open space created by future residents.
Further, this article establishes a fair and equitable process by
which to ensure that new residential development in the Town of Cumberland
will be accomplished in a safe and healthful manner and that such
development will bear a proportional or reasonably related share of
the cost of new, expanded or modified recreational infrastructure
necessary to service such development through the payment of impact
fees that shall be dedicated to paying for the needed improvements.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
DEVELOPER
A person who has received an approval for residential construction under either Chapter
250, Subdivision of Land, or Chapter
229, Site Plan Review, or a person who has otherwise applied for a residential building permit for any activity described herein.
GROSS FLOOR AREA
Includes the entire floor area of each floor measured from
the outside of exterior walls, and shall include all interior partitions
and spaces whether finished or not, but shall exclude basements, garages
intended for the storage of automobiles, unheated porches and any
portion of a room or attic with sloping ceilings measuring less than
five feet from floor to ceiling.
IMPACT FEES
Charges or assessments imposed by the Town of Cumberland
against new residential structures to help with the acquisition and
development of recreation lands and facilities and for the acquisition
and preservation of open space for the future use and enjoyment of
the Town's residents.
[Amended 7-23-2012]
RESIDENTIAL STRUCTURE
Any living unit, including those in single-family homes,
multifamily homes, attached and/or detached residential structures,
condominiums, apartments, manufactured housing and mobile homes.
SENIOR HOUSING PROJECT
A residential development constructed solely for elderly
residents who meet strictly enforced age guidelines and within which
the residential units are by deed or covenant restricted to occupation
by residents who meet such age guidelines.
The Code Enforcement Officer shall collect the impact fee prior to the issuance of any building permit for residential construction that is subject to the fee. The amount of the fee shall be based upon the procedure set out in §
137-11 below.
All impact fees collected under the provisions of this article
shall be segregated from the Town's general fund revenue and
be accounted for in a separate impact fee account.
The Town Council may, by formal vote following a public hearing,
waive the payment of a required impact fee, in whole or in part, if
it finds that:
A. The developer or property owner who would otherwise be responsible
for the payment of the impact fee voluntarily agrees to construct
an improvement for which the impact fee would be collected or an equivalent
improvement approved by the Town Council.
B. The developer of a subdivision offers to dedicate and/or improve
public lands or recreational amenities and the Town Council finds
these public lands or recreational amenities to be of Town-wide benefit.
The recreational facilities and open space impact fee shall
be a per-square-foot fee established by the Town Council and shall
be based upon the Town's impact fee calculation methodology.
This methodology has been adopted by the Town Council and is on file
and available for review in the Town Planner's office. The amount of the fee paid by a developer shall be determined
by multiplying the gross floor area as defined in this article less
1,000 square feet by the per-square-foot fee established herein. The
total amount of the impact fee due for each project shall be determined
by the developer, subject to the approval of the Code Enforcement
Officer (CEO), using the impact fee calculation worksheet provided
by the CEO and shall be based upon the following:
A. The developer shall determine, subject to the CEO's approval,
the gross floor area of the residential structure subject to the impact
fee based upon plans and other documents submitted by the developer.
B. The developer shall determine, subject to the CEO's approval,
the total impact fee due by multiplying $1.40 per square foot of gross
floor area, less 1,000 square feet.
C. The one-thousand-square-foot reduction in gross floor area discussed
in this section shall not apply to residential additions made within
five years of the issuance of the original building permit for the
home.
Should any section, phrase, sentence or portion of this article
be found to be in conflict with other local, state or federal ordinances
or regulations, the more stringent section or provision shall prevail.
Existing provisions for building permit fees are to be held separate
from the impact fees described herein and are not affected by this
article.
The Town Council shall periodically review each impact fee established
under this article. If the Council finds that the anticipated cost
of the improvement has changed or that the identification of development
subject to the fee is no longer appropriate, the Council may adopt
changes to the impact fee. Any changes adopted as a result of such
review shall apply to all future development but shall not apply retroactively
to projects that have already paid an impact fee. A public hearing
shall be held prior to the adoption of any amendment. Notice of such
public hearing shall be in accordance with state and local requirements.
A developer may appeal the determination of the Code Enforcement
Officer as to either the applicability of the impact fee to a particular
project, the gross floor area subject to the fee, or the amount of
the fee to be paid. Appeals shall be made in writing to the CEO within
10 days of the CEO's initial determination of the amount of the
impact fee due for a particular residential structure. The Board of
Adjustment and Appeals shall consider such appeal at its next regularly
scheduled meeting and shall issue a determination either upholding
the CEO's decision or modifying the CEO's decision within
seven days of the date of the hearing at which the appeal was heard.