[Ord. No. 1674, 11-29-1977; Ord. No. 1775, 10-21-1980; Ord. No. 2120, Ren&Amd, 12-19-1995]
The City Council of the City of Lake Oswego finds and declares that in order to secure the peace, safety, convenience and welfare of the people of this City; and to promote the coordinated and orderly development of land within this City; it is desirable to provide a means whereby owners of lots subject to assessments for local improvements, or connection charges as a result of formation of a Zone of Benefit may be provided with a means for deferring payment of all or a portion of said assessments upon lots equal to or exceeding one acre in area and occupied and used for single-family residential purposes. These provisions (LOC §§ 40.08.010 - 40.08.090) are intended to mitigate the economic forces arising from the imposition of assessments for local improvements which tend to promote the development of larger residential lots to more intensive uses, thereby diminishing the quality of the human environment and increasing the demands upon the City to provide capital improvements.
[Ord. No. 1674, 11-29-1977; Ord. No. 1775, 10-21-1980; Ord. No. 2120, Ren&Amd, 12-19-1995; Ord. No. 2511, Amended, 5-6-2008]
The following conditions must exist concurrently for the granting of either a Class I or Class II deferral of assessment or connection charge payments pursuant to LOC §§ 40.08.010 to 40.08.090:
1. 
Class I Deferral.
a. 
The assessment, or assessments, must be for a local improvement as defined in ORS Chapter 223 or for a Zone Connection Charge as described in LOC Article 40.04.
b. 
The lot must be one acre or greater in area and be capable of being subdivided or partitioned under the development regulations in force at the time of application. For the purposes of these provisions the term "lot" means a single lot or more than one contiguous lots that are held in common ownership, and the term "development" includes the partitioning or division of any lot or the transfer of ownership of any contiguous lot held in common ownership except as allowed by subsection (g) of this section.
c. 
The lot must be zoned and used for single-family residential purposes and occupied for such purposes by the owner.
d. 
The owner of the lot must file and qualify for the right to pay all or part of the assessment in installments in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
e. 
The owner’s unpaid assessment must exceed the "average residential assessment" in the improvement district by at least $1,500. The "average residential assessment" is computed by determining the arithmetic average of the assessments for lots which carry a City Comprehensive Plan residential designation of D-3, D-4, D-5 or D-6.
f. 
The owner must not be eligible for an assessment deferral program funded by any other public, quasi-public or private agency which provides for deferral of an amount equal to or greater than this City deferral program.
g. 
The owner must file a written application for deferral which shall contain a provision that the deferral shall terminate 1) upon transfer of occupancy or ownership to a person other than the heir or heirs of the owner/applicant, 2) upon a change to a use other than for single-family residential purposes, 3) upon the granting of approval to develop the lot, or 4) 30 days after the owner/applicant, or heir, if applicable, becomes eligible for an assessment deferral program funded by any other public, quasi-public or private agency which provides for deferral of an amount equal to or greater than this City deferral program.
2. 
Class II Deferral.
a. 
The same requirements as set forth in 40.08.020 (1).
b. 
The owner, or owners, must have an income not to exceed the Federal Community Services Administration Poverty Income Guidelines Standard applicable at the time of application for the deferral. The owner must provide proof to the City each year for which the deferral is to be continued that the income limit established by this subsection and updated for that year is not exceeded. Failure to comply with this income reporting provision shall result in the termination of the deferral granted.
[Ord. No. 1674, 11-29-1977; Ord. No. 1775, 10-21-1980; Ord. No. 2120, Ren&Amd, 12-19-1995]
1. 
Class I Deferral. The maximum amount of the assessment which may be deferred in a Class I deferral is determined by subtracting the average residential assessment, as determined pursuant to Section 40.08.020 (1)(e), from the total unpaid assessment.
2. 
Class II Deferral. The maximum amount of the assessment which may be deferred in a Class II deferral is determined by subtracting the typical residential assessment from the total unpaid assessment. The typical residential assessment is an amount equal to the assessment that would be levied against a residential lot of a size that is equal to the mean lot area allowed by the City Comprehensive Plan Land Use Map designation for the lot that is the subject of the assessment for which deferral is sought. If the Plan Map designation is other than D-3, D-4, D-5 or D-6, the D-3 designation shall be considered for the purposes of this section to be the Plan Map designation.
[Ord. No. 1674, 11-29-1977; Ord. No. 1775, 10-21-1980; Ord. No. 2120, Ren&Amd, 12-19-1995]
1. 
The City shall pay the deferred portion of the semi-annual installment due under the provisions of this chapter to the fund provided for payment of the bonds. A deferral under these provisions shall terminate simultaneously with the term of the bonds applicable to the property unless sooner terminated by the occurrence of any of the events identified in LOC §§ 40.08.020 (1)(g) or 40.08.020 (2)(b). The amount paid by the City shall become a debt certain payable to the City upon termination of the deferral agreement and shall, after notice to the owner of record and upon docketing in the City Lien Docket, become a lien on the lot that is the subject of the deferral.
2. 
The City may terminate any deferral granted pursuant to these provisions if funds to support the program are not available. If such action becomes necessary the Council by resolution shall so state and direct the City Manager to give notice to all persons affected by the action that the deferral granted will terminate 60 days from the date of the notice.
[Ord. No. 1674, 11-29-1977; Ord. No. 1775, 10-21-1980; Ord. No. 2120, Ren&Amd, 12-19-1995]
Applications for deferral shall be processed in the order in which they are filed. If the applications for deferral exceed the amount of money budgeted for such purpose during the fiscal year in which the application is filed, the City Manager shall grant such deferrals to the extent of the available monies and hold the remaining applications in suspense for not more than one year. To the extent that additional amounts of money are available for such purposes during the year in which such applications are held in suspense, they shall be processed and granted by the City Manager to the extent of the additional amounts of money according to the priority of filing. Should any application for deferral not be granted within one year of its filing due to insufficient amounts of money appropriated for such purpose, the City Manager shall report to the City Council regarding such applications, informing the Council of the number of applications in suspense and the amount of money required to fulfill such requests for deferral. The City Council may increase the amount of money available, in the manner prescribed by law, and permit the granting of such applications. To the extent that such applications have not been funded after Council consideration of the matter, the City Recorder shall mark the application "denied" and return it to the applicant.
[Ord. No. 1690, 3-21-1978; Ord. No. 1775, 10-21-1980; Ord. No. 2120, Ren&Amd, 12-19-1995]
Where a deferral under these provisions would be terminated because of a prohibited transfer, the occurrence of a development, where the lot fails to meet the area requirement by less than 10% of the required area, or where the application fails to meet one or more of the requirements of subsections (1)(c), (d) or (e) of LOC § 40.08.020, the City Council may nevertheless grant or continue a deferral under these provisions after consideration of the special circumstances attendant to such request. If the City Council finds and determines that maintenance of the existing deferral or granting of an original deferral would substantially tend to advance the purposes for which these provisions were enacted, it shall declare its determination of such conclusion by resolution and such application shall thereafter be processed according to the standards and procedures applicable to an application falling within the express terms of these provisions.
[Ord. No. 1674, 11-29-1977; Ord. No. 1775, 10-21-1980; Ord. No. 2120, Ren&Amd, 12-19-1995]
Upon cancellation, expiration or termination of a deferral, all sums advanced by the City shall become immediately due and payable to the City. During the period of deferral, interest shall accrue and be computed at the rate for financing local improvements established by the resolution adopted by the City Council pursuant to LOC § 40.02.151.
[Ord. No. 1674, 11-29-1977; Ord. No. 1775, 10-21-1980; Ord. No. 2120, Ren&Amd, 12-19-1995]
The deferral provided by LOC §§ 40.08.010 - 04.08.080 shall be available to any person qualifying pursuant to these provisions.