[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the
Town of St. Joseph as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
[Adopted 11-8-2018 by Ord. No. 2018-2[1]]
[1]
Editor’s Note: This ordinance also repealed former Art.
I, Impact Fees, adopted 7-10-2008 by Ord. No. 2008-2.
When undeveloped land is developed for residential or commercial/industrial
purposes, it often creates a need for additional transportation as
well as parks and recreational facilities and other public facilities.
Without the generation of new revenue sources, municipalities often
must choose between foregoing needed public facilities and imposing
higher property taxes. The imposition of impact fees has become an
increasingly important source of local revenue to pay for public facilities
that are necessary to serve new development. The State Legislature
has adopted an impact fee law which helps communities raise funds
to pay for new development and maintain current levels of services.
Pursuant to the authority granted to the Town of St. Joseph by § 66.0617(2),
Wis. Stats., the Town Board hereby enacts this article to enable it
to impose impact fees on developers to pay their fair share for the
capital costs that are necessary to accommodate land development and
to maintain current levels of service to those developing areas of
the Town. The impact fees created by this article shall apply to all
development in the Town, whether the property is owned privately or
by any political corporation, governmental subdivision or agency thereof,
or any nonprofit organization, including any religious or other eleemosynary
organization.
The definitions set forth in § 66.0617(1), Wis. Stats.,
and any amendments thereto, are hereby incorporated and made a part
of this article as if fully set forth herein, along with the following
additions:
For purposes of this article and public facilities needs
assessment, nonresidential development, and includes commercial and
industrial development and also nonprofit institutional or governmental
uses such as churches, schools, libraries, government buildings and
other similar uses.
A unit of measurement used in the calculation of impact fees.
For residentially zoned properties, one residential equivalent unit
(REU) is equivalent to one single-family residential dwelling unit.
In accordance with § 66.0617(4), Wis. Stats., the
Town Engineer for the Town of St. Joseph has prepared a needs assessment
for the public facilities for which it is anticipated that impact
fees may be imposed. A copy of the needs assessment is on file and
available for public inspection and copying in the office of the Town
Clerk-Treasurer.
Impact fees imposed under this article:
A.
Shall bear a rational relationship to the need for new, expanded
or improved public facilities that are required to serve land development.
B.
May not exceed the proportionate share of the capital costs that
are required to serve land development, as compared to existing uses
of land within the Town.
C.
Shall be based upon actual capital costs or reasonable estimates
of capital costs for new, expanded or improved public facilities.
D.
Shall be reduced to compensate for other capital costs imposed by
the Town with respect to land development to provide or pay for public
facilities, including special assessments, special charges, land dedications
or fees in lieu of land dedications under Ch. 236, Wis. Stats., or
any other items of value.
E.
Shall be reduced to compensate for monies received from the federal
or state government specifically to provide or pay for the public
facilities for which the impact fees are imposed.
F.
May not include amounts necessary to address existing deficiencies
in public facilities.
Revenues collected by the Town as impact fees shall be placed
by the Town Clerk-Treasurer in segregated interest-bearing accounts
and shall be accounted for separately from other funds of the Town.
Funds collected from impact fees shall be used solely for the purpose
of paying the proportionate costs of providing public facilities that
may become necessary due to development. These costs may include the
costs:
A.
Of debt service on bonds or similar debt instruments when the debt
has been incurred for the purpose of proceeding with designated public
facilities projects prior to the collection of all anticipated impact
fees for that project;
B.
To reimburse the Town for advances of other funds or reserves used
to pay for capital costs for which the impact fee was imposed; and
C.
Such other purposes consistent with § 66.0617, Wis. Stats.,
which are approved by the Town Board.
B.
If provisions of this article are inconsistent with any terms addressing
imposition or payment of impact fees in any developer's agreement
executed before the adoption of this article, the terms of any such
developer's agreement(s) shall control.
C.
In the event that § 66.0617, Wis. Stats., or any successor
statute, requires impact fee payments to be made later than at the
time of building permit issuance, then any impact fees shall be payable
on the earliest date allowed under state law.
D.
Owners of properties which are developed for the sole use of nonprofit
organizations and are not intended for resale to other parties may
petition the Town Board to be allowed to convert these impact fees
into an impact fee special assessment paid over no more than a five-year
period. Said impact fee special assessment shall be certified on the
property tax roll and collected along with property taxes. Upon any
future sale or change in the use of the property, the outstanding
balance shall be paid in full to the Town. All other provisions of
this article shall apply. The Town Board may require the submittal
of any information it deems necessary to verify the nonprofit or charitable
status of the developer as part of the application process. The Town
Board, in its sole discretion, may create additional conditions to
any impact fee special assessment approved pursuant to this subsection,
including, but not limited to, the addition of an administrative and/or
interest charge for being allowed to pay the impact fee over a period
of years. No cost associated with conversion of impact fees into an
impact fee special assessment under this subsection may be shifted
to any other land development in the Town.
A.
The Town determines the following as maximum lengths of time appropriate
for the planning, financing, acquisition and construction of the public
facilities listed:
B.
Pursuant to § 66.0617(9), Wis. Stats., impact fees held
by the Town under this article and not used within the following time
periods shall be refunded to the persons who are the owners of record,
at the expiration of such time period, of the property upon which
the impact fees were imposed:
(1)
Impact fees collected after December 31, 2002, and before April 11,
2006, must be used not later than the first day of the 120th month
beginning after the date on which the fee was collected.
(2)
Impact fees collected after April 10, 2006, and within seven years
of the effective date of the adoption of this article must be used
within 10 years of the effective date of this article, subject to
possible three-year extension if the Town passes a resolution that
includes detailed written findings specifying the extenuating circumstances
or hardship supporting the need for the extension.
(3)
Impact fees collected after April 10, 2006, and that are collected more than seven years after the effective date of this article: Such impact fees shall be used within a reasonable period of time after they are collected to pay the capital costs for which they were imposed or shall be refunded. Reasonable time periods under this subsection shall be the time periods stated in § 101-7A above.
C.
Impact fees shall be considered to be "used" within the meaning of
this section when:
(1)
The collected impact fees are spent to pay for the capital costs
for the designated public facility;
(2)
When debt is incurred to pay for the capital costs for the designated
public facility, and such debt is committed to be repaid, in whole
or in part, by the use of impact fees imposed and collected under
this article; or
(3)
When other Town funds are used to pay for the capital costs for the
designated public facilities and such Town funds are committed to
be repaid in whole or in part by impact fees collected under this
article; or
(4)
Impact fees are in some other way committed to pay the capital costs
of public facilities designated in the public facility needs assessment.
A.
The Town Board hereby establishes impact fees to pay for the construction,
expansion or improvement of public facilities, the need for which
is caused by new development. The public facilities for which impact
fees are imposed under this article are: roads; parks, playgrounds
and land for athletic fields; and fire protection and emergency medical
facilities. The basis for the imposition of these impact fees is the
most current public facilities needs assessment report and its attachments,
prepared by Stantec, which is on file in the office of the Town's
Clerk-Treasurer.
B.
The impact fees established in the fee schedule below shall be imposed
on any person seeking to construct or create a land development within
the Town, including land development on vacant or partially vacant
land, and land development on lots created before and after the effective
date of this article. Impact fees for residential development shall
be imposed on a per-residential-equivalent-unit basis as set forth
in the public facilities needs assessment. Impact fees for commercial
or industrial development shall be imposed based on the square footage,
or other applicable unit of measure, of the proposed new commercial
or industrial building, or significant modifications to existing buildings
that create a need for new, expanded or improved public facilities,
as set forth in the public facilities needs assessment. Park and recreational
improvement impact fees are not imposed on commercial/industrial development.
C.
The Town Board may periodically review and amend the impact fee ordinance
as necessary to address changing public facility needs, inflation,
revised cost estimates, capital improvements, changes in other funding
sources applicable to public facility projects and other relevant
factors and in accordance with the standards for impact fees set forth
in § 66.0617, Wis. Stats.
D.
The impact fee schedule is as follows:
[Amended 11-9-2023 by Ord. No. 2023-03]
|
Category of Fee
|
Residential per REU
|
Commercial/Industrial Development
|
|---|---|---|
|
Roadways
|
$999
|
Varies-Trip Based
|
|
Fire Protection and EMR
|
$0
|
$0.07 per square foot of building
|
|
Parks and playgrounds
|
$704
|
$0
|
|
Total impact
|
$1,703 per unit or REU
|
Varies
|
E.
A trip rate table shall be kept on file by the Town Clerk-Treasurer and Town Zoning Administrator for use in determining the roadway improvements fee for commercial/industrial uses in Subsection D above. The trip rate table will list common commercial/industrial land uses and their respective trip generation rates. The table shall be prepared in consultation with the Town's consulting engineer and shall be based on the latest edition of "Trip Generation," published by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). The trip rate table shall be reviewed and updated periodically by the Town Board.
F.
The roadway improvement fee for commercial/industrial uses shall be calculated by multiplying together three numbers: the per-trip amount in Subsection D above, the trip rate for the applicable land use from the trip rate table, and the number of units for the applicable land use, such as number of building square feet, number of hotel rooms, number of gas pumps, etc.
G.
For land uses which do not fall into a category on the trip rate
table, the Town Zoning Administrator shall make the determination
of an appropriate land use and trip rate, based on the latest edition
of ITE's "Trip Generation."
H.
For existing uses converted to a different, more intense use, the roadway improvement impact fee for commercial/industrial uses shall be calculated as in Subsection F above, but the trip rate used will be the difference in the existing and new trip rates, calculated by subtracting the lower existing trip rate from the new higher trip rate, both rates derived from the trip rate table or as provided for in this article.
A developer or property owner upon whom an impact fee is imposed
may appeal to contest the amount, method of collection or purpose
for which the impact fee funds are used. Appeal procedures and criteria
are provided in this section as follows:
A.
No appeal may be commenced pursuant to this article if any applicable
impact fee or installment payment is delinquent. No impact fee payment
obligation shall be suspended during the pendency of any appeal filed
pursuant to the article.
C.
Appeals must be brought within 15 days of the due date of payment
of the applicable impact fee.
D.
The appellant shall file a notice of appeal with the Town Clerk-Treasurer
and pay a filing fee of $200.
E.
Following the filing of the notice of appeal, the Town Clerk-Treasurer
shall compile a record of the chapter imposing the contested impact
fee and a record of the management and expenditure of the impact fee.
The Town Clerk-Treasurer shall transmit these documents to the Town
Board. The Town Clerk-Treasurer shall also compile a report for each
appeal in which the appellant is seeking a total or partial refund
of the impact fee paid. This report shall specify the fiscal impact
of a successful appeal on the Town of St. Joseph. The fiscal impact
report shall estimate whether it will be necessary for the Town to
adjust impact fees or amend the existing article if there is a successful
appeal.
F.
The Town Board shall hold a public hearing on the appeal, preceded
by a Class I notice, providing fair opportunity for the appellant
to be heard. The burden shall be on the appellant to establish the
illegality or impropriety of the impact fee at issue. Following the
close of the public hearing, the Town Board shall deliberate upon
the matter and shall conduct any studies and inquiries it deems appropriate
to decide the appeal.
G.
If the Town Board determines that the appeal has merit, it shall
determine appropriate remedies. These may include reallocation of
the proceeds of the challenged impact fee to accomplish the purposes
for which the fee was collected; refunding the impact fee in full
or in part, along with interest collected by the Town thereon; granting
the appellant the opportunity to make the impact fee payment in installments;
or such other remedies as it deems appropriate in a particular case.
If any article or portion thereof shall be declared by a court
of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, unlawful or unenforceable,
such decision shall apply only to the specific article or portion
thereof directly specified in the decision, and shall not affect the
validity of any other provisions, sections or portions thereof of
the article. The remainder of the article shall remain in full force
and effect. Any other chapters whose terms are in conflict with the
provisions of this article are hereby repealed as to those terms that
conflict.
