[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.
IMPACT FEE
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.
NEW DEVELOPMENT
An activity which results in:
a. 
The subdivision of land that creates additional building lots; or
b. 
The creation of a new dwelling unit or units; or
c. 
The conversion of a lawfully existing use which would result in a net increase in the number of dwelling units; or
d. 
The creation of or an increase in the number of bedrooms within an existing dwelling unit; or
e. 
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.