Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2016 23:22:27 -0500
From: “”
Subject: impact fee legal application
I have done a large amount of reading and one question I have in particular keeps getting the same answer . I want to see what others opinion of this is .. This is a copy of what the state set in stone for Orange and Chatham County regarding the impact fee for schools .
House Bill 917 Chapter 460
S.L. 2004-39. The court noted that other counties (Orange and Chatham) had secured explicit authority for school impact fees, while that authority had been denied to others (particularly Union County). The court contrasted the wording of Cabarrus County’s local act with the 1987 explicit grant to Orange and Chatham Counties to “provide by ordinance a system of impact fees to be paid by developers to help defray the costs to the county of constructing certain capital improvements.” S.L. 2004-1987 N.C. Sess. Laws 609.
I read that as ,( paid by developers ) not paid by individual home builders . I also understand that for some reason Chatham and Orange county are the only two counties to get this special provision and are likely to be the last . Does this make any sense ? I also read the report done for the county by the law firm Tischler Bise July 4th 2009 and how they recommended the impact fee be applied and its not like the county applies it as I understand the wording on the Chatham County site . I’m not totally against an impact fee but I am not happy with how its applied and how it effects disabled , low income , semi retired and elderly who want to build a home to suit their specific needs on a fixed budget . It is very discriminating and unfair to those on the lower end of the income scale who are trying to own a home . The report listed a means of coming up with the impact fee based on number of bedrooms instead of a flat fee for all .
Its similar to what I suggested with a graduating scale based on square footage . The logic I take from the Tischler Bise report is that the more bedrooms the more people will be in a home there for there is a higher percentage of student generation to impact schools . In effect a system of graduated impact fees would be fair to everyone including those who build smaller homes or retirement homes after the nest is empty . I am not attacking anyone but I am questioning the fairness of the impact fee and how the county is applying that fee to individual home builders . The way it is if you build a 1 bedroom home and never have a child to go to a Chatham county school you pay $3500 . If you build a 10 bedroom home with 10 kids that go through the school system costing the county much more money you still pay $3500 . Its not fair to the county or to the individuals who have already had kids and retired , disabled or just simply want to downsize .
So let me put it simply can we try to have a discussion on how to fix this so its fair without getting into a political BS finger pointing match . I think it would be feasible to come up with a set of impact fees based on the Tischer Bise report that would lessen the impact fee on tiny and not so tiny homes , special needs homes for disabled and elderly and generate more money for the county by levying a larger fee on larger occupancy homes . It could be a major win win for the citizens and politicians of this county who make it work .
Goodnite Mark