§ 33-156. Offsets and credits against impact fees.

(a)

The city shall offset or credit the contribution of land, improvements or funding for construction of any system facility that is required or agreed to by the city, pursuant to rules established in this section or pursuant to administrative guidelines promulgated by the city, against the amount of the impact fee due for that category of capital improvement. The offset or credit shall be associated with the plat of the property that is to be served by the capital improvement constructed.

(b)

All offsets or credits against impact fees shall be based upon standards promulgated by the city, which may be adopted as administrative guidelines, including the following standards:

(1)

No offset or credit shall be given for the dedication or construction of site-related facilities.

(2)

No offset shall exceed an amount equal to the eligible costs of the improvement multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which is the impact fee per service unit due for the new development as computed using Schedule 2 and the denominator of which is the maximum impact fee per service unit for the new development as computed using Schedule 1.

(3)

The unit costs used to calculate offsets and credits shall not exceed those assumed for the capital improvements included in the impact fees capital improvements plan for the category of facility for which the impact fee is imposed, nor shall the amount of the offset or credit exceed the actual costs of constructing a capital improvement.

(4)

No offset or credit shall be given for an oversized facility which is not identified within the applicable impact fees capital improvements plan, unless the city agrees that such improvement supplies capacity to new developments other than the development paying the impact fee and provisions for offsets or credits are incorporated in an agreement for capital improvements pursuant to section 33-164. For roadway facilities, the costs of any roadway improvement not included within the roadway improvements plan or the master thoroughfare plan are not eligible for offsets or credits.

(5)

In no event will the city reimburse the property owner or developer for an offset or credit when no impact fees for the new development can be collected pursuant to these impact fee regulations or for any amount exceeding the total impact fees due for the development for that category of capital improvements, unless expressly agreed to by the city in writing.

(6)

Offsets or credits for system facilities dedicated to and accepted by the city for a development prior to the effective date of this article shall be prorated among the total number of service units within such development and reduced by an amount equivalent to the number of existing service units within such development and shall be further reduced by the amount of any participation funds received from the city and by any payments received from other developments who utilize the system facility.

(7)

The city may participate in the costs of a system improvement to be dedicated to the city, including costs that exceed the amount of the impact fees due for the development under Schedule 1 for that category of capital improvements, in accordance with policies and rules established under the city's subdivision regulations. The amount of any offset shall not include the amount of the city's participation.

(c)

Offsets or credits created after the effective date of an ordinance establishing an impact fee for a particular category of capital improvement shall expire within ten (10) years from the date the offset or credit was created. Offsets or credits arising prior to such effective date shall expire ten (10) years from such effective date. Credits for construction of improvements shall be deemed created when the improvements are completed and the city has accepted the facility, or in the case of improvements constructed and accepted prior to the effective date of the ordinance establishing the impact fee for a particular category of capital improvements, on such effective date.

(d)

Unless an agreement for credits under section 33-164 is executed providing for a different manner or applying credits against impact fees due, an offset or credit associated with a plat shall be applied to reduce an impact fee at the time of application for the first building permit or at the time of application for the first utility connection for the property, in the case of land located within the city's extraterritorial jurisdiction, and, thereafter, to all subsequently issued building permits or utility connections, until the offset or credit is exhausted.

(e)

A developer or owner of a master planned project, including a subdivision containing multiple phases, and whether approved before or after the effective date of an ordinance establishing an impact fee for the category of capital improvements for which an offset or credit is claimed, may apply for offsets or credits against impact fees for the entire project based upon contributions of land, improvements or funds for system facilities, or other capital improvements supplying excess capacity. Credits shall be determined by comparing capacity supplied or to be supplied by the project with capacity to be consumed by development within the project, utilizing a methodology approved by the city. The determination shall be incorporated within an agreement for credits, in accordance with section 33-164.

(Ord. No. 2092, 8-20-01; Ord. No. 2494, § 1f., 11-17-08; Ord. No. 2725 , § 1f., 10-21-13)