[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Board of Supervisors 11-24-2015 by Ord. No. 427. Amendments noted where applicable.]
This chapter shall be known as the "West Whiteland Township
Transportation Impact Fee Ordinance."
The purpose of this chapter is to establish a transportation
impact fee program to ensure that the transportation system is available
and adequate to support new growth and development. To advance this
objective, there is hereby created an impact fee payable to the Township
at the time of building permit issuance.
The Board of Supervisors hereby makes the following findings:
A.
Findings of fact.
(1)
West Whiteland Township, Chester County (the Township) has experienced
considerable growth in recent years; and
(2)
It is anticipated that such development will continue, creating a
substantial impact upon the transportation facilities within certain
districts of the Township; and
(3)
The Board of Supervisors is required to keep all roads open and usable
for the safe and convenient travel by the public; and
(4)
Fulfillment of the above duty by the Board of Supervisors will entail
a substantial cost directly attributable to the impact of new development;
and
(5)
The Board of Supervisors is empowered by law to impose all or a portion
of said cost upon new development; and
(6)
The amount of the impact fee to be imposed shall be determined by
the cost of the additional transportation improvements needed to meet
such minimum capacity standards, which public facilities shall be
identified in a capital improvement program, considering the projected
growth and development in the transportation district; and
(7)
The Township hereby finds and declares that an impact fee imposed
upon residential and nonresidential development in order to assist
in the financing of specified major transportation capacity improvements
in the designated transportation area, the demand for which is uniquely
created by such development, is in the best interest of the Township
and its residents, is equitable, and does not impose an unfair burden
on such development.
B.
Conditions and standards.
(1)
The conditions and standards for the determination and imposition
of the impact fee set forth herein are those set forth in Act 209
of 1990, December 19, 1990, P.L. 1343, No. 209, and any and all amendments
thereto (hereinafter the Act),[1] and consist of:
(a)
The recitals set forth above;
(b)
The analysis, advice and recommendations of the Transportation
Impact Fee Advisory Committee;
(c)
The Land Use Assumptions as adopted by the Board of Supervisors;
(d)
The Roadway Sufficiency Analysis as adopted by the Board of
Supervisors;
(e)
The Transportation Capital Improvements Plan, as adopted by
the Board of Supervisors; and
(f)
Such other conditions and standards as the Board of Supervisors
may by resolution identify from time to time as being relevant and
material to the imposition of an impact fee and consistent with the
provisions of the Act and any amendments thereto.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. § 10501-A et seq.
(2)
The collection, disbursement and accounting of impact fees shall
be administered by the Township Manager, subject to review, oversight
and control by the Board of Supervisors.
(3)
Such exemptions as the Board of Supervisors shall choose to enact shall be as set forth in § 295-11 of this chapter.
(4)
The amount of the per-peak-hour-trip transportation impact fee shall
be set forth in Exhibit A of this chapter.[2]
[2]
Editor's Note: Exhibit A is included as an attachment to this chapter.
The terms and definitions set forth in § 502-A of
the Act are hereby adopted and incorporated in this chapter by reference.
There is hereby enacted an impact fee to be imposed upon new
development for the purpose of off-site transportation capital improvements
authorized by the Act and as described in the Transportation Capital
Improvement Plan adopted by the Board of Supervisors. Said impact
fee shall apply to all new land developments and subdivisions within
the transportation service area identified herein, and payment of
such fee shall be a condition of final plan approval for all such
land development or subdivision plans and shall be payable prior to
the issuance of any building permit pursuant to such plan.
Impact fees collected pursuant to this chapter shall be expended
for costs incurred for improvements attributable to new development
and designated in the Transportation Capital Improvements Plan adopted
by the Board of Supervisors for improvements within the transportation
service area in which the new development will be located. Additionally,
such fees may be used for the acquisition of land and rights-of-way,
engineering, legal and planning costs, and all other costs, including
debt service, related to road improvements within the designated service
area, and including such proportionate amount of the Roadway Sufficiency
Analysis as is allowed under the provisions of the Act.
The following documents, previously adopted by the Board of
Supervisors, are hereby incorporated by reference in this chapter:
A.
Township Resolution No. 2014-19 designating the geographical area(s)
of the Township as the transportation district constituting the Transportation
Service Area.
B.
Land Use Assumptions Report as adopted by Township Resolution No.
2015-30.
C.
Roadway Sufficiency Analysis as adopted by Township Resolution No.
2015-49.
D.
The Transportation Capital Improvements Plan as adopted by Township
Resolution No. 2015-50.
As outlined in § 505-A(h) of the Act, developments
generating 1,000 or more new peak hour trips, net of pass-by trips,
as defined by the most current Trip Generation Manual published by
the Institute of Transportation Engineers, during the peak-hour period
designated in this chapter, must complete a traffic analysis, reviewed
and approved by the Township to determine if additional impact fees
are required. Any such studies required by the Township shall be submitted
prior to the imposition of the impact fee and shall be considered
in the determination of the fee.
This chapter shall be uniformly applicable to all development
that occurs within the Transportation Service Area.
No building permit shall be issued for a development in the
designated transportation area, as herein defined, unless the applicant
therefore has paid the "impact fee" imposed by and calculated pursuant
to this chapter.
The Board of Supervisors, within its discretion, may grant a
credit of up to 100% of the applicable impact fees for growth and
development which is proposed and undertaken by a developer who is
a municipality, public school district, public authority or other
governmental entity, and such development is for a governmental purpose
and in the public interest. In order to claim the credit provided
by this section, the developer must make a request for the credit
upon application for preliminary subdivision or land development approval
or a building, zoning, conditional use or occupancy permit if no subdivision
or land development approval is required. The developer shall have
the burden of establishing that its proposed development serves an
overriding public interest.
A.
The impact fee for transportation capital improvements shall be based
upon the total costs of the road improvements included in the adopted
Transportation Capital Improvements Plan within the given transportation
service area attributable to and necessitated by new development within
the service area as defined, divided by the number of anticipated
peak-hour trips generated by all new development consistent with the
adopted Land Use Assumptions and calculated in accordance with Trip
Generation published by the Institute of Transportation Engineers
(current edition) which is hereby adopted by the Township, to equal
a per-trip cost for transportation improvements within the service
area.
B.
The specific impact fee for a specific new development or subdivision
within the transportation service area for road improvements shall
be determined as of the date of preliminary land development or subdivision
approval by multiplying the per-trip cost established for the service
area, as determined by Exhibit A and incorporated herein by reference,
by the estimated number of trips to be generated by the new development
or subdivision using generally accepted traffic engineering standards.
C.
The Board of Supervisors may authorize or require the preparation
of a special transportation study in order to determine traffic generation
or circulation for nonresidential developments to assist in the determination
of the amount of the transportation fee for such development or subdivision.
The transportation service area is established as the geographical
area of the Township indicated in Exhibit B.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Exhibit B is included as an attachment to this chapter.
An applicant may request a nonbinding impact fee estimate from
the Township, which shall be based upon the maximum development potential
of the site pursuant to existing zoning regulations, unless the applicant
specifies a lesser use of development. The applicant will reimburse
the Township for the cost of preparing the estimate.
A.
Collection of impact fee. Impact fees due pursuant to this chapter
shall be collected by the Township in the manner or manners prescribed
herein prior to the issuance of a building permit.
B.
Establishment of fund. Upon receipt of impact fees, the Township
Manager shall be responsible for the separate and proper accounting
of such fees. All such fees shall be deposited in an interest-bearing
account in a bank authorized to receive deposits of the Township funds.
Interest earned by each account shall be credited to that account
and shall be used solely for the purpose specified for funds of such
account.
C.
Establishment and maintenance of accounts. The Township Manager shall
establish appropriate interest-bearing accounts and shall maintain
records. The Manager shall review and report on these accounts and
records annually to ensure their accuracy.
D.
Maintenance of records. The Township Manager shall maintain and keep
adequate financial records for each such account which shall show
the source and disbursement of all revenues, which shall account for
all monies received, and which shall ensure that the disbursement
of funds from each account shall be used solely and exclusively for
the provision of projects specified in the Transportation Capital
Improvement Plan for the particular transportation district subarea.
Payment of the transportation capital improvements impact fee
shall be made by the traffic generator prior to the issuance of a
building permit by the Township to the traffic generator for development
on the applicable site.
Any applicant who shall perform, at his own expense and with
the consent and agreement of the Board of Supervisors, off-site improvements,
as herein defined, shall be eligible for a credit from the impact
fee otherwise due in the amount of the actual cost of such off-site
improvements, including, but not limited to, engineering, legal and
planning costs as approved by the Board of Supervisors. Such credit
shall not exceed the amount of the impact fee.
A.
If the applicant makes such improvements, he must enter into an agreement
with the Board of Supervisors prior to the issuance of any building
permit. The agreement must establish the estimated cost of the improvement,
the schedule for initiation and completion of the improvement, a requirement
that the improvement be completed to Township and Pennsylvania Department
of Transportation standards and design criteria and such other terms
and conditions as deemed necessary by the Board of Supervisors. The
Board of Supervisors must review the improvement plan, verify costs
and time schedules, determine if the improvement is an eligible improvement,
and determine the amount of the applicable credit for such improvement
to be applied to the otherwise applicable impact fee prior to issuance
of any building permit. In no event shall the Board of Supervisors
provide a credit which is greater than the applicable impact fee.
Any such applicant shall be required to supply financial security
sufficient, in the judgment of the Township, to cover the cost of
any such improvement installed by the applicant for which credit is
sought.
B.
An applicant shall be entitled as a credit against impact fees an
amount equal to the value of any road improvement construction which
is contained in the Transportation Capital Improvements Plan and which
was performed at the applicant's expense.
C.
An applicant shall be entitled as a credit against transportation
impact fees an amount equal to fair market value of land dedicated
by the applicant to the Township and accepted by the Township for
future right-of-way, realignment or widening of existing roadways
except for land dedicated for on-site improvements. The fair market
value of any land dedicated to and accepted by the Township other
than land dedicated for on-site improvements shall be determined as
of the date of the submission of the subdivision and land development
application to the Township, whichever is earlier.
Impact fees collected pursuant to this chapter shall be refunded,
together with interest earned thereon, to the payer of the fees under
the following circumstances:
A.
In the event the Township completes or terminates the Capital Improvements
Plan and there remain undisbursed funds, the respective payers shall
be entitled to a share of the fund balance in the same proportion
as the payer's impact fee payment plus interest earned.
B.
In the event any specific road improvement project is completed at
a cost to the Township less than 95% of the budgeted cost of the road
project, the Township shall refund an amount equal to the excess budgeted
cost over actual cost to the payers, pro rata, plus accumulated interest.
C.
In the event the Township fails to commence construction within three
years of the scheduled construction date of the project as set forth
in the Transportation Capital Improvements Plan, the Township shall
refund the portion of the fee paid by any payer making written request
thereof which is attributable to said project, with accumulated interest,
provided that no refund shall be paid with respect to any project
actually begun prior to the receipt of such refund request.
D.
In the event the development for which impact fees were paid has
not commenced prior to the expiration of the building permit issued
therefor, the impact fees paid with accumulated interest shall be
refunded to the payer. Further, if a building permit after issuance
is altered in such a way as to reduce the indicated impact fee, the
difference between the amount indicated and the amount actually paid
shall be refunded. The payer, at his option, may roll over the impact
fees attributable to an expired building permit to cover fees incurred
by a renewal of said expired permit.
E.
With respect to refunds arising out of Subsection A or B hereof, the Township shall provide written notice by certified mail to each person who previously paid the fees which remain undisbursed that such person's proportionate share of the fund balance is available for refund to such person. Such notice shall be provided to the last known address provided by the payer of the transportation impact fees to the Township. In the event that any of the funds remain unclaimed following one year after the notice, the Township shall be authorized to transfer any funds so remaining to the general account of the Township, and the payer's entitlement to said refund shall lapse. It is the responsibility of the payer to provide the Township with the current address of his place of business.
F.
Except as expressly provided herein, the applicant shall not be eligible
for any other refund, including any refund based upon post-construction
trip generation studies.
This chapter shall not affect, in any manner, the permissible
use of property, density of development, previously adopted design
and improvement standards and requirements or any other aspect of
the development of land or provision of public improvements which
remain subject to applicable zoning and subdivision regulations of
the Township, which shall be operative and remain in full force and
effect without limitation with respect to all such development.
The impact fee is additional and supplemental to, and not in
substitution of, any other requirements imposed by the Township on
the development of land or the issuance of building permits. Nothing
herein contained shall be deemed to alter or affect the Township's
existing ordinances and regulations regarding on-site improvements.
In no event shall a property owner be obligated to pay for transportation
capital improvements in an amount in excess of the amount calculated
pursuant to this chapter; provided, however, that a property owner
may be required to pay, pursuant to Township ordinances, regulations
or policies, for other public facilities in addition to the impact
fee for transportation improvements as subdivided herein.
The provisions of this chapter shall be liberally construed
to effectively carry out its purposes which are hereby found and declared
to be in furtherance of the public health, safety, welfare and convenience.
All ordinances, code sections or parts thereof in conflict herewith
shall be repealed to the extent of such conflict.
Should any sentence, section, clause, part or provision of this
chapter be declared by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid,
the same shall not affect the validity of this chapter as a whole,
or any part thereof, other than the part declared to be invalid.
This chapter shall take effect five days after its passage.
A.
Notwithstanding § 295-24 hereof, impact fees may be imposed on those projects involving developments and subdivisions for which an application has been filed on or after the first publication of notice of the Township's intent to adopt this chapter; provided, however, that such retroactivity does not exceed 18 months after the adoption of the resolution that created the advisory committee in connection herewith.
B.
In retroactive applications, the per-trip fee may not exceed $1,000
or the actual calculated fee, whichever is less.
