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Resolution 2005-128 RESOLUTION NO. 2005- 128 A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA, OPPOSING ENACTMENT INTO LAW PROPOSED FLORIDA HOUSE BILL 1173 AND FLORIDA SENATE BILL 2302, WIIICH PROVIDE FOR NEW REGULATIONS CONTROLLING THE IMPLEMENTATION, COLLECTION AND EXPENDITURE OF IMPACT FEES BY LOCAL GOVERNMENTS THAT, IF ENACTED, WOULD HAVE A DETRIMENTAL EFF~:CT ON THE COUNTY'S ABILITY TO PROVIDE NECESSARY AND ST ATE MANDATED, GROWTH-RELATED CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS WHEREAS, proposed Florida House Bill 1173 and proposed Florida Senate Bill 2302, if enacted, would create a new Section 163.3219, Florida Statutes, asserting "there is a lack of consistent criteria for the determination of the appropriateness, amount, and collection of impact fees;" and WHEREAS, proposed Section 163.3219 (I), states that "In some areas of the state, impact fees are increasing the cost of housing to an unreasonable degree, and there is insufficient oversight of local governments who collect and use impact fees;" and WHEREAS, proposed Section 163.3219 (4)(a) would require that "An impact fee or impact fee increase may be caHected onlv after 6 months following the date of final adoption of the ordinance imposing the impact fee or impact fee increase (emphasis added);" and WHEREAS, proposed Section 163.3219 (6) would require that "Any local government that collects impact fees shall permit the fees to be paid in whole or in part at the time of the first real estate closing following issuance of a certificate of occupancv for the property subject to the fee and shall allow any remainder to be assessed as part of the local government's tax bill and paid over a 10- to 20-year period. If the fee is not fully paid at the time of closing, the local government may establish a schedule of payments including any costs of deferring payment of the fee (emphasis added);" and WHEREAS, enactment of this legislation would have a detrimental effect on Collier County's ability to coHect impact fees in sufficient amounts and in a sufficiently timely manner to fund the construction of public facilities necessitated by growth; and WHEREAS, Collier County has an aggressive program to address the need for affordable housing and has implemented many new initiatives in recent years to address housing affordability, including an expanded impact fee rate structure focused on low-income dwellings and a residential impact fee deferral program for the Immckalee Community Redevelopment Area, with staff currently working with consultants and outside legal counsel on a county-wide deferral program for affordable housing; and Page 1 of3 WHEREAS, the proposed six-month statutory delay in implementing new impact fees and impact fee rate increases after final approval of enacting ordinances would render unmanageable and ineffective Collier County's existing provisions lor annual impact fee indexing adjustments, which were established to provide scheduled, predictable rate adjustments designed to avoid economic disruptions caused by large rate increases; and WHEREAS, Collier County already provides ample notice of all new fees and rate increases, as well as delayed effective dates, in order to give builders adequate time to apply for building pern1its prior to those effective dates and, thus, be subject to the lower rates in effect at the time ofbuilding permit submittal; and WHEREAS, the proposed legislation's requirement for local governments that collect impact fees to allow for the payment of impact fees, in whole or in part, at the first real-estate closing after the Certificate of Occupancy for the property is issued, and the additional requirement that fees not paid in full at the time of real estate closing will then be paid over a 10-20 year period as a part of the local tax bill for the property, is highly problematic in that the language is unclear and subject to interpretation upon application as it does not address upon what criteria impact fees would be paid in full or in part, what constitutes "in part," and by what authority such decisions would be made. Additionally, this proposed requirement not only places an undue administrative burden on local governments to accurately track, calculate and collect the requisite fees, and prepare detailed annual reports for State overseers, but also fails to address impact fee assessments on developments for which real estate closings are not applicable. Further, the proposed legislation provides for the payment of impact fees over extended time periods, but does not address the devastating effect such payment plans would have on concurrency management and funding for capital improvements, which are mandated bv State law to manage and accommodate growth; and WHEREAS, this legislation, if enacted, does not have a "Grandfather Clause" pertaining to current impact fee regulations adopted by Florida Counties, and therefore aU impact fee regulations that are not in compliance with the new provisions of proposed Section 163.3219, Florida Statutes, would be invalid as of July 1,2005; and WHEREAS, the proposed legislation does not provided sufficient definition or detail of the new requirements and standards for developing impact fees and therefore a lengthy litigation process may ensue before such standards are defined; and WHEREAS, Collier County would then be required to update all impact fee regulations to comply with the new provisions of proposed Section 163.3219, and in accordance with the proposed regulations, such changes may only become effective six months after their formal adoption; and Page 2 of3 WHEREAS, until impact fees could be updated, Collier County would be unable to collect impact fees or operate a concurrency management program as the County would be unable to provide the scheduled and future capital facility improvements necessitated by growth. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA, that: I. The Board of County Commissioners of Collier County, Florida strenuously opposes enactment into law proposed Florida House Sill 1173 and its similar counterpart, Florida Senate Bill 2302, because proposed Section 163.3219, Florida Statutes: (A) creates standards that arc vague, administratively burdensome and unjustified; (B) creates opprcssive restrictions on the implementation of new impact fees and impact fee rate increases; (C) requircs countics to collcct impact fccs ovcr an cxtcndcd period of time, thus delaying much need cd improvements; (D)does not properly balance the demand placed on public facilities by growth and the requirement for development to pay its fair share of such necessitated improvements against the requirements of the local governments to fund such construction and improvement projects; (E) will likely cause Collier County to essentially shut down all capital improvement projects funded by impact fees until a new Ordinance is enacted and becomes effective following the six-month statutory waiting period, and all legal challenges to this new statute are resolved; and (F) is not otherwise in the public interest. 2. The Board of County Commissioncrs of Collier County, Florida, rcquests that its Local Legislative Delegation advocate that the proposcd Bills not be enacted into law unless and until the County's concerns are cured. THIS RESOLUTION ADOPTED after motion, second and majority vote in favor of adoption this '~A '~ay of fV I (I (( (0) ,2005. " \~~' ,." , :.1 ATTEST: ..... , DWIdHT E.BROCK;'cLBRK By1f... ;;{>Q (f),'~rhri(},I){J . ...., D7,~ty Clerk '/ '. ~. ..', . , II '. - ',""'.,;' BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA By: ~t~ W. (~ FRED . COYLE, Chairm ...... Ap an .1 .' 1_ }i: p S t form j~~~;"",.......n.~ Jeffr Assi A. latzkow, nt ounty Attorney Page 3 on