[Adopted 11-20-2014 by Ord. No. 14-06]
This Part
1 shall be known as the "Jackson Township Impact Fee Ordinance" and shall be codified in the Code of Jackson Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania, as Chapter
23, Impact Fees, Part
1.
The purpose of this Part 1 is to establish the Jackson Township
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 Jackson Township Impact Fee Program shall be based upon the imposition
of an impact fee payable to the Township 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 Township 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 Township 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 Board of Supervisors hereby finds and declares that:
A. The recitals set forth at the beginning of this Part 1 are incorporated
herein as findings of the Board of Supervisors as if fully set forth
below.
B. The Township 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 Township 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
areas 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 areas is reflected in the Roadway Sufficiency Analysis Report and the Township's Comprehensive Plan and is implemented via the Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance (Chapter
22) and the Zoning Ordinance (Chapter
27).
F. To the extent that new development in the transportation service
areas 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 Township, 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 Part 1, applying the engineering standards set
forth in most recent edition of Trip Generation. Vols. 1 through 3,
Institute of Transportation Engineers.
[Amended 11-16-2017 by Ord. No. 17-07]
H. The Township 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 areas, the demand for which has been quantified through the
application of land use assumptions provided by the Impact Fee Advisory
Committee appointed by the Board of Supervisors, is in the best interest
of the Township and its residents.
As used in this Part
1, the words shall have the meanings 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
than in 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 Township and any
activity requiring an occupancy permit, including, without limitation,
the following:
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.
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
The overall policy guide for the physical man-made change
to improved or unimproved real estate of Jackson Township adopted
by the Board of Supervisors, the Comprehensive Plan of Jackson Township,
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. Jackson Township's Comprehensive
Plan includes but is not limited to the Jackson Township Comprehensive
Plan adopted in June 2017 by the Board of Supervisors, by Resolution
17-14 and designs or plans or any studies or surveys emanating therefrom.
[Amended 11-16-2017 by Ord. No. 17-07]
DEVELOPER
Any person who has legal title of land, an agent of the person
who has legal title or a 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 Part
1 or the fee to be paid in accordance with §
23-106E after a special transportation study pursuant to §
23-110A(5).
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 Township. 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
27, Zoning, of the Code of Jackson Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania.
P.M. PEAK HOURS
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.
TOWNSHIP MANAGER
The Township Manager of Jackson Township appointed pursuant to Chapter
1, §
1-202A, of the Code of Jackson Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania, and Article XIII of the Second Class Township Code, Section 1301.
TOWNSHIP TRAFFIC ENGINEER
For the purpose of the roadway sufficiency analysis and the
transportation capital improvement program, Herbert, Rowland &
Grubic, Inc., and thereafter shall mean any Pennsylvania-licensed
engineer with experience in traffic and roadway engineering as may
be appointed from time to time by the Board of Supervisors.
TRANSPORTATIONAL CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PLAN
A plan adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township
prior to the enactment of any impact fee ordinance for the purpose
of identifying and planning for transportation capital improvements,
as may be amended from time to time. Specifically, the Impact Fee
Advisory Committee prepared or directed to be prepared a Transportation
Capital Improvements Plan dated September 2014 and prepared by the
Township Traffic Engineer, adopted as Resolution No. 14-12 by the
Board of Supervisors on November 20, 2014, as updated and amended
by Resolution 17-28, adopted on October 19, 2017, and as updated and
amended by Resolution 22-27, adopted on December 15, 2022.
[Amended 11-16-2017 by Ord. No. 17-07; 12-15-2022 by Ord. No. 22-07]
TRANSPORTATION SERVICE AREA
That geographically defined area of the Township which, pursuant to the Zoning Ordinance (Chapter
27) 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 a part hereof.
TRIP GENERATION RATE
Those rates of traffic for the p.m. peak hour of adjacent
street traffic as determined in most recent edition of Trip Generation,
Vols. 1 through 3, the Institute of Transportation Engineers.
[Amended 11-16-2017 by Ord. No. 17-07]
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 a 10% contingency and the cost of the
Township Traffic Engineer's preparation of the roadway sufficiency
analysis within the transportation service areas 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 the most recent edition of Trip Generation, Vols.
1 through 3, the Institute of Transportation Engineers.
[Amended 11-16-2017 by Ord. No. 17-07]
[Amended 11-16-2017 by Ord. No. 17-07; 12-15-2022 by Ord. No. 22-07]
The Township has defined the transportation service areas as
shown on the Transportation Service Area Map (see Attachment A) in accordance with the provisions of the MPC.
The Township 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 Township 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 Township for the new development
for development on the applicable site.
[Amended 11-16-2017 by Ord. No. 17-07]
A. The Board of Supervisors may by resolution establish, amend, modify
and revoke reasonable regulations and forms governing:
(1) The collection, payment, crediting and refund of impact fees;
(2) The content, timing and methodology of traffic studies and special
traffic studies;
(3) The use of later published additions of the ITE Trip Generation Manual;
(4) The treatment of any parcel that lies both within and outside a transportation
service area;
(5) Funds, subaccounts and the uses of proceeds and interest earned;
(6) The determination of the amount of trips previously attached to a
developed property;
(7) Any other matter or procedure necessary for the orderly administration
of the transportation capital improvements plan or impact fees.
B. No such regulation shall modify a substantive provision of this Part
1. No amendment to these regulations shall be effective until approved
by the Board of Supervisors, by resolution.
C. These regulations shall not supersede or replace any other regulations
found elsewhere in the Code of Jackson Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania.
Where a conflict exists, the most stringent shall apply.
The words and phrases of this Part 1 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
Part 1;
(2) Second, words and phrases that are not defined by this Part
1 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 Part
1 or Sections 107 and 502-A of the MPC are to be interpreted as defined in the Township's Zoning, Land Development and Subdivision Ordinances;
(4) Fourth, words and phrases that are not defined in this Part
1, Sections 107 and 502-A of the MPC, or in the Township's Zoning, Land Development and Subdivision Ordinances are to be given their common, ordinary dictionary meanings within the context of the sentence in which they are used.
B. Construction. The words, phrases and provisions of this Part 1 are
not to be interpreted in a way that results in an absurd construction
of the meaning, or in a way that causes one provision to contradict
another.
The provisions of this Part 1 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.