A.
In accordance with 30-A M.R.S. § 4354, paragraph 1A(4),
and its statutory and constitutional home rule provisions, the Town
Council hereby ordains the following chapter to authorize the assessment
of an impact fee for the purposes of providing for public safety capital
improvements needed as a result of expansion in building-related activity
as specified herein.
B.
Town exempt. The Town is exempt from the payment of an impact
fee as provided herein.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
A person making application for a building permit under Title
16, Land Use and Development Code.
New construction/development/building or renovations to any
existing structure that increases that structure, by volume or square
footage, or changes in the existing footprint.
The maintenance, prevention of, and protection from conditions
that could endanger the safety of the general public, including, but
not limited to, fire, police, transportation and emergency medical
services.
New, expanded or modified public safety equipment or facilities
as approved in the Town Capital Improvement Plan process.
A.
The Town Council acknowledges that improvements in the Town
lead directly to public safety infrastructure and capital equipment
requirements made necessary by such development. The purpose of this
impact fee is to ensure that improvements in Kittery are supported
for those public safety requirements with necessary equipment and
facilities, and ordain that such improvements must bear a proportional
or reasonably related share of the cost of public safety equipment
and facilities through:
B.
Determination of impact fee. The amount of the fee provided
herein is reasonably related to the improvement's share of the cost,
where the construction cost, as shown in the application for the building
permit, amounts to or exceeds the sum of $100,000.
(2)
The first $100,000 of the cost of the improvements, as determined
herein, is exempted from this impact fee.
(3)
The following formula is to be used to determine the impact
fee: Cost of the improvements less $100,000 x the rate set in Appendix
A = Impact Fee.
[Amended 5-30-2018 by Ord. No. 04-18]
C.
Payment of impact fees. Prior to the issuance of a building
permit, the applicant must pay this public safety impact fee as determined
above. The impact fee must be paid to the Town for deposit in the
dedicated impact fee account established for this purpose at the time
of issue of the building permit.
D.
Waiver of impact fee. The Town Council by vote, or the CEO in
consultation with the Town Manager, may waive in whole or in part
the payment of an impact fee as determined under this chapter if the
CEO, in consultation with the Town Manager, finds that:
(1)
The applicant, as part of the improvements to be undertaken,
is required by the Town or a state or federal agency, as part of the
development/building approval, to make or pay for capital improvements
that are in the same nature as the capital improvements to be funded
by the impact fee as determined under the terms of this chapter.
(2)
The construction/development/building subject to the impact
fee involves the construction of affordable housing as defined by
the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development or the Maine
State Housing Authority. If only part of the project is affordable
housing, the Town Council, or the CEO in consultation with the Town
Manager, may waive only that portion of the impact fee assessed hereunder
that is attributable to the affordable housing units.
All impact fees collected under the provisions of this chapter
must be segregated and accounted for in a dedicated impact fee account
designated as the Public Safety Impact Fee Account.
A.
The impact fee account is established by the Town Manager and
must be the depository for all impact fees collected by the Code Enforcement
Officer under the terms of this chapter.
B.
The impact fee funds must be segregated by the Town from general
revenues and must be applied solely and exclusively towards capital
improvements for public equipment and facilities for which the impact
fees are collected hereunder.
C.
No portion of these funds may be used for routine maintenance
or operational activities of the Fire Department relating to public
safety improvements and expenses.
D.
The proceeds in this account may be expended in concert with
other revenues and planned expenditures of capital improvement funds
of the Town only for capital costs of equipment and facilities for
the public safety as authorized by this chapter.
A.
If a building permit for which an impact fee has been paid is
revoked or allowed to lapse prior to the commencement of the improvements,
the payer of the impact fee is entitled to a refund, without interest,
of any impact fee paid in conjunction with the issuance of that building
permit.
B.
A request for refund must be made in writing to the CEO within
60 days of the lapse or revocation of the building permit, and the
refund if deemed to be allowed hereunder is to be remitted within
60 days after the request is received by the CEO.
Any fees collected that are not spent or obligated by contract
for the specified improvements allowed under this chapter by the end
of the calendar quarter immediately following 10 years from the date
the fee was paid must be returned to the payer of the impact fee,
or successor, heir or assign, together with interest calculated at
the simple interest rate of 2% per year from the date of the payment
of the impact fee.
This chapter is enforced by the CEO or any other person duly
authorized by the Town Council.
The Town Council must periodically review the provisions of
this chapter at least once in every five-year period.
A.
If the Council finds that the anticipated cost of the public
safety capital improvements has changed or that the identification
of capital improvements subject to this impact fee is no longer appropriate,
the Council may make any appropriate amendments to this chapter.
B.
Any changes adopted as a result of such review must apply to
all future development but must not be applied retroactively to construction/development/building
projects that have already paid an impact fee.
