These impact fee provisions are adopted by the City under the
authority of 30-A M.R.S.A § 4354 and under statutory and
constitutional home rule provisions.
The purpose of these impact fee provisions is to ensure that
new development in Saco will be accomplished in a safe and healthful
manner and that such development will bear a proportional or reasonably
related share of the cost of new, expanded, or modified infrastructure
necessary to service the development through:
A. The payment of impact fees that shall be dedicated to paying for
the needed improvements.
B. The construction of appropriate improvements as provided for herein.
The amount of impact fees or the value of constructed improvements
required of a development must be reasonably related to the development's
share of the cost of infrastructure improvements made necessary by
the development, or if the improvements were constructed at municipal
expense prior to the development, shall be reasonably related to the
portion or percentage of the infrastructure used by the development.
A. Impact fee accounts. As required by state law, funds received from
impact fees must be segregated from the City's general fund and revenues,
and such funds shall be expended solely for the purposes for which
they were collected. There are four impact fee fund accounts:
(1)
Recreational Facilities Impact Fee account;
(2)
Open Space Impact Fee account;
(3)
Fire Department/Emergency Medical Service Impact Fee account;
and
(4)
Traffic Mitigation and Bicycle and Pedestrian Infrastructure
Impact Fee account.
B. Use of impact fees. Impact fees collected under the provisions of
this article shall be used only to pay for the capital cost of the
infrastructure improvements specifically associated with the impact
fee accounts as identified below. No portion of the fee shall be used
for routine maintenance or operational activities.
(1)
Acquisition of land or easements, including conservation easements.
(2)
Engineering, surveying, and environmental assessment services
directly related to the design, construction, and oversight of the
construction of the improvement.
(3)
The actual construction of the improvement, including, without
limitation, demolition costs, clearing, and grading of the land, and
necessary capital equipment.
(5)
Legal and administrative costs associated with construction
of the improvement, including any borrowing necessary to finance the
project.
(6)
Debt service costs, including interest if the City borrows for
the construction of the improvement.
(8)
Similar costs that are directly related to the project.
C. Modification of impact fees. The City Council may, by formal vote
following a public hearing, reduce or eliminate the payment of a required
impact fee if it finds that:
(1)
The developer or property owner who would otherwise be responsible
for the payment of the impact fee voluntarily agrees to construct
the improvement for which the impact fee would be collected, or an
equivalent improvement approved by the City Council; or
(2)
The developer or property owner is required, as part of a development
approval by the City or a state or federal agency, to make or to pay
for infrastructure improvements that are of the same nature as the
improvement to be funded by the impact fee; or
(3)
The project subject to the impact fee involves the construction
of affordable housing as defined by the United States Department of
Housing and Urban Development or the Maine State Housing Authority.
If only part of the project is affordable housing, the Council may
waive only the portion of the fee attributable to the affordable units;
or
(4)
The project involves the construction of an elder/disability
housing facility or other elder care facilities.
D. Review and revision. The City Council shall periodically review each
impact fee established under this chapter. If the Council finds that
the anticipated cost of the improvement has changed or that the identification
of developments subject to the fee is no longer appropriate, the Council
may adopt changes to the impact fee.
E. Payment of impact fees. The impact fees provided for under this article
shall be paid to the City of Saco in care of the Code Enforcement
Department.
F. Refunds. Impact fees shall be refunded in the following cases:
(1)
If a building permit is surrendered or if a subdivision or site
plan approval lapses without commencement of construction, the permit
holder or developer shall be entitled to a refund, without interest,
of any impact fee paid in conjunction with that project. A request
for a refund shall be made in writing to the City Planner and shall
occur within 90 days of the lapse of the approval or the expiration
of the permit.
(2)
Any fees collected that are not spent or obligated by contract
for the specified improvements or acquisitions by the end of the calendar
quarter immediately following 10 years from the date the fee was paid
shall be returned to the current owner of the property for which the
fee was paid, together with interest calculated at 3% per year from
the date of the payment of the fee.
Refer to Chapter
176 for sewer-related impact fees.