[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Meeting of the Town of Hampton 3-12-2002; amended 3-11-2003. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
1.1
This
ordinance is enacted pursuant to RSA 674:16 and 674:21, and in order
to:
Promote public health, safety, convenience, welfare, and prosperity;
Ensure that adequate and appropriate facilities are available
to individuals who may come to be located in the Town of Hampton;
Prevent scattered or premature development of land as would
involve danger or injury to health, safety, or prosperity by reason
of the lack of water supply, drainage, transportation, schools, fire
protection, or other public services;
Provide for the harmonious development of the municipality and
its environs;
Ensure the proper arrangement and coordination of streets; and,
Ensure streets of sufficient width to accommodate existing and
prospective traffic.
2.1
Impact
fees may be assessed in any manner consistent with the terms of this
ordinance and, in addition, the Planning Board may, as a condition
of approval of any subdivision or site plan, and when consistent with
applicable Board regulations, require an applicant to pay an impact
fee for the applicant's fair share of off-site improvements to public
facilities affected by the development.
2.2
Nothing
in this section shall be construed to limit the existing authority
of the Planning Board to disapprove proposed development which is
scattered or premature or which would otherwise violate applicable
ordinances and regulations. The adoption of this ordinance shall expressly
authorize the Planning Board to require off-site work to be performed
by the applicant in lieu of or in addition to paying an impact fee
and nothing in this section shall limit the Board's authority to impose
other types of conditions of approval. Nothing in this section shall
be construed to affect types of fees governed by other statutes, Town
ordinances or regulations.
In review of the impact of growth relative to the existing and
planned capital facility capacity available to the Town of Hampton
for its municipal and school needs, the Town of Hampton hereby finds
that:
3.1
Recent
and anticipated growth rates in public enrollment with associated
improvements and costs, and recent increases in the demand and costs
for public services has required an excessive expenditure of public
funds in order to maintain adequate municipal and school facility
standards and to promote and protect the public health, safety and
welfare.
3.2
The imposition
of impact fees is one of the methods available to ensure that new
development will bear a proportionate share of the capital costs necessary
to accommodate such development.
3.3
The impact
fee methodology shall be reasonable, rational and proportional method
for the assessment of growth-related facility costs to new development.
3.4
An impact
fee ordinance for public capital facilities is consistent with the
goals and objectives of the Master Plan and Capital Improvements Program
for the Town of Hampton.
4.1
The amount
of the impact fee shall be a proportional share of municipal capital
improvement costs which is reasonably related to the capital needs
created by the development, and to the benefits accruing to the development
from the capital improvements financed by the fee.
4.2
Upgrading
of existing facilities and infrastructures, the need for which is
not created by new development, shall not be paid for by impact fees.
4.3
An impact
fee assessment schedule may be calculated and adopted by the Planning
Board after a public hearing. The Impact Fee Assessment Schedule shall
be reviewed periodically by the Planning Board. Such review may result
in recommended adjustments in one or more of the fees based on the
most recent data as may be available including, but not limited to,
current construction cost information or capital improvement plans
or programs, property assessment data, demographic data, US Census
information, and other sources. Based on its review, the Board may
consider the adoption of an updated or amended impact fee methodology,
or may modify the schedule to correct errors or inconsistencies identified
in the review process. No change in the methodology or in the impact
fee schedules shall become effective until it shall have be the subject
of a public hearing before the Planning Board, noticed in accordance
with RSA 675:7.
4.4
Impact
fees may be assessed to new development to compensate the Town of
Hampton for the proportional share of capital facilities generated
by new development in the Town of Hampton, including capital facilities
to be constructed, or which were constructed in anticipation of new
development by the Town of Hampton, the Hampton School District, or
the Winnacunnet Cooperative School District.
4.5
All impact
fees imposed pursuant to this section shall be assessed at the time
of Planning Board approval of a subdivision plat or site plan. When
no Planning Board approval is required, or has been made prior to
the adoption or amendment of this Ordinance, impact fees shall be
assessed prior to, or as a condition for, the issuance of a building
permit or other appropriate permission to proceed with development.
5.1
Accounting.
In accord with RSA 673:16, II and RSA 674:21, V(c), impact fees shall
be accounted for separately, shall be segregated from the Town's general
fund, may be spent upon order of the Board of Selectmen, and shall
be used solely for the capital improvements for which it was collected,
or to recoup the cost of capital improvements made in anticipation
of the needs which the fee was collected to meet.
5.2
Assessment.
All impact fees imposed pursuant to this section shall be assessed
at the time of Planning Board approval of a subdivision plat or site
plan. When no Planning Board approval is required, or has been made
prior to the adoption or amendment of this Ordinance, impact fees
shall be assessed prior to, or as a condition for, the issuance of
a building permit or other appropriate permission to proceed with
development.
5.3
Security.
In the interim between assessment and collection, the Planning Board
may require developers to post bonds, issue letters of credit, accept
liens, or otherwise provide suitable measures of security so as to
guarantee future payment of assessed impact fees.
5.4
Collection.
Impact fees shall be collected at the time a certificate of occupancy
is issued. If no certificate of occupancy is required, impact fees
shall be collected when the development is ready for its intended
use. Nothing in this subparagraph shall prevent the municipality and
the assessed party from establishing an alternate, mutually acceptable
schedule of payment of impact fees.
5.5
Waivers.
The Planning Board may grant full or partial waivers of impact fees
where the Board finds that one or more of the following criteria are
met with respect to the particular capital facilities for which impact
fees are normally assessed.
a.
A person
may request a full or partial waiver of school facility impact fees
for those residential units that are lawfully restricted to occupancy
by senior citizens age 62 or over or to households with at least one
person age 55 and over as applicable, in a development that is maintained
in compliance with the provisions of RSA 354-A:15, Housing For Older
Persons. The Planning Board may waive school impact fee assessments
on age-restricted units where it finds that the property will be bound
by lawful deeded restrictions on occupancy for a period of at least
20 years.
b.
The Planning
Board may agree to waive all or part of an impact fee assessment and
accept in lieu of a cash payment, a proposed contribution of real
property or facility improvements of equivalent value and utility
to the public. Prior to acting on a request for a waiver of impact
fees under this provision that would involve a contribution of real
property or the construction of capital facilities, the Planning Board
shall submit a copy of the waiver request to the Board of Selectmen
for its review and consent prior to its acceptance of the proposed
contribution. The value of contributions or improvements shall be
credited only toward facilities of like kind, and may not be credited
to other categories of impact fee assessment. Full or partial waivers
may not be based on the value of exactions for on-site or off-site
improvements required by the Planning Board as a result of subdivision
or site plan review, and which would be required of the developer
regardless of the impact fee assessments authorized by this Section.
c.
The Planning
Board may waive an impact fee assessment for a particular capital
facility where it finds that the subject property has previously been
assessed for its proportionate share of public capital facility impacts,
or has contributed or constructed capital facility capacity improvements
equivalent in value to the dollar amount of the fee(s) waived.
d.
The Planning
Board may waive an impact fee assessment where it finds that, due
to conditions specific to a development agreement, or other written
conditions or lawful restrictions applicable to the subject property,
the development will not increase the demand on the capacity of the
capital facility or system for which the impact fee is being assessed.
e.
A person
may request a full or partial waiver of the amount of the impact fee
for a particular development based on the results of an independent
study of the demand on capital facility capacity and related costs
attributable to that development. In support of such request, the
feepayer shall prepare and submit to the Planning Board an independent
fee calculation or other relevant study and supporting documentation
of the capital facility impact of the proposed development. The independent
calculation or study shall set forth the specific reasons for departing
from the methodologies and schedules adopted by the Town. The Planning
Board shall review such study and render its decision. All costs incurred
by the Town for the review of such study, including consultant and
counsel fees, shall be paid by the feepayer.
f.
A person
may request a full or partial waiver of impact fees for construction
within a plat or site plan approved by the Planning Board prior to
the effective date of this Section, and the Planning Board shall grant
such waiver to the extent that the development (or a phase of it)
is entitled to statutory or common law vesting protection. This waiver
may not be applicable to phases of a phased development project where
active and substantial development, building and construction has
not yet occurred in the phase in which construction is proposed.
5.6
Refund.
Any portion of an impact fee which has not become encumbered or otherwise
legally bound to be spent for the purpose for which it was collected,
shall be refunded, with any accrued interest, to the property owner
of record at the time the refund is made. Note, however, this does
not preclude assessed parties from entering into any agreement with
successors in interest concerning the disbursement of any refunds
of impact fees. An impact fee shall be refunded:
a.
When
the subdivision or site plan approval expires under the respective
rules of the Planning Board, or under the terms of the decision, without
having become vested under RSA 674:39, and without any extension being
granted by the Planning Board; or
b.
When
such approval is revoked under RSA 676:4-a; or
c.
Six years
after its collection, or, if any extension of approval is granted
by the Planning Board, six years after such extension is granted;
or
d.
Six years
after its collection, whenever the calculation of an impact fee has
been predicated upon some portion of capital improvement costs being
borne by the Town, the Hampton School District, or the Winnacunnet
Cooperative School District, and the Legislative Body of the Town
and/or the responsible School Board has failed to appropriate their
share of the capital improvement costs.
In accord with RSA 676:5, III, appeals of the decision of the
Planning Board in administering this ordinance may be made to Superior
Court, as provided in RSA 677:15.
A fee or assessment imposed upon development, including subdivision,
building construction or other land use change, in order to help meet
the needs occasioned by that development for the construction or improvement
of capital facilities owned or operated by the municipality, including
and limited to water treatment and distribution facilities; wastewater
treatment and disposal facilities; sanitary sewers; storm water, drainage
and flood control facilities; public road systems and rights-of-way;
municipal office facilities; public school facilities; the municipality's
proportional share of capital facilities of a cooperative or regional
school district of which the municipality is a member; public safety
facilities; solid waste collection, transfer, recycling, processing
and disposal facilities; public library facilities; and public recreational
facilities not including public open space.
An activity which results in:
The subdivision of land that creates additional building lots;
or
The creation of a new dwelling unit or units; or
The conversion of a lawfully existing use which would result
in a net increase in the number of dwelling units; or
The creation of or an increase in the number of bedrooms within
an existing dwelling unit; or
A non-residential development or conversion of property that
results in a net increase in the gross floor area of a non-residential
use.
This ordinance was adopted by the Legislative Body of the Town
of Hampton, acting at its duly warned annual meeting on March 12,
2002 and amended March 11, 2003.
