Administrative procedures for petitions for impact fee determinations and affordable housing and workforce housing deferrals, refunds and credits

(a)

Petition process.

(1)

Petitions for an impact fee determination and affordable housing or workforce housing impact fee deferral refund of impact fees and/or credit against impact fees shall be submitted using the petition process, requirements and time limits provided herein. All petition requests except petitions for refunds under subsections (c) and (d), shall be accompanied by a fee of $250.00. Any officer department board commission or agency of the city (collectively referred to as city "entities") submitting a petition shall not be required to pay said fee.

(2)

All petitions shall be submitted to the city manager's designee for processing and preparation of a staff report and recommendations on the petition, and the final determination on the petition shall be issued by the city manager. The city manager's designee is authorized to request analysis of the petition request by any and all appropriate city departments and staff in order to provide a complete and detailed review of and recommendations on the petition request to the city manager. The staff report and recommendations shall be forwarded to the city manager no later than 60 days after filing of a complete petition. The city manager shall, no later than 90 days of filing of the complete petition issue a written determination on the petition, with the reasoning for the determination based upon the petition data, the provisions of this article and applicable laws, and, if needed, direct the appropriate city staff to take the actions necessary to implement the determination.

(3)

Upon written agreement by the city manager's designee and the petitioner the time limits in this section may be waived for any reason, including, but not limited to, the submittal of additional data and supporting statements by the petitioner. The city manager's designee is authorized to determine whether a petition is complete and whether additional data or supporting statements by appropriate professionals are needed. If the city manager's designee determines that the petition is not complete, a written statement detailing the insufficiencies of the petition shall be provided to the petitioner within 30 days of initial filing of the petition. The date of such written determination of insufficiency shall toll the time limits established in the section until submittal of a complete petition. Any insufficiency not corrected during such time will cause the petition to not be considered, and it will be returned without the necessity of further action.

(4)

The filing of a petition shall stay action by the city on the application for building permit and any other city action related to the development. No building permit shall be issued for development for which a petition has been filed and is pending unless the total impact fees due have been paid in full or a sufficient bond or letter of credit satisfactory to the city attorney has been filed with the city.

(b)

Petitions for impact fee determination. Any applicant, prior to in conjunction with the submission of an application for a building permit, or within 30 days of the date of payment of impact fees, may petition the city manager for a determination that the amount of the impact fees imposed on the new development is inappropriate based on any or all of the following factors the specific land use category applied to the residential or nonresidential development and the amount of development (dwelling units and/or gross square footage). The petition shall specify in detail the basis on which the applicant asserts that the amount of the impact fees is inappropriate. The petition shall be on a form provided by the city and shall, at a minimum, include identification of the disputed factor(s), a detailed statement asserting the basis for the dispute, the data relied upon by the petition and a detailed statement by a qualified professional engineer, planner or other appropriate professional, and, if filed after payment of impact fees, a dated receipt for payment of the impact fees issued by the city's building department. Failure to timely file a petition for impact fee determination shall waive any right to review or recalculation to decrease the impact fee payment.

(c)

Petitions for affordable housing and workforce housing deferral program determinations. Any applicant for deferral of impact fees pursuant to the affordable housing and workforce housing impact fee deferral program established in section 13-8 shall submit a petition prior to or with submittal of a building permit application. Failure to timely file a petition for affordable housing and workforce housing deferral program determination shall waive any right to participation in the affordable housing and workforce housing deferral program. Such petition shall be on a form provided by the city and shall at a minimum include the following:

(1)

A list of all affordable and workforce housing unit numbers by building with the total number of dwelling units for each building and the anticipated sales price or rental amount for each affordable housing unit.

(2)

A list of all anticipated affordable and workforce housing unit owner names and current addresses and other contact information. If such information is available, if the information is not available the petition may be processed without it.

(3)

A covenant running with the land, previously recorded by the applicant in the public records of the county for each affordable or workforce housing unit. The recorded covenant shall be on a form provided by the city and shall be in a form acceptable to the office of the city attorney. A deed restriction, in a form acceptable to the office of the city attorney may be submitted in lieu of a covenant as long as it accomplishes the same goal as the covenant.

(4)

Any other information deemed relevant by city staff to a determination of eligibility under the affordable housing and workforce housing deferral program, including criteria established in this article and the applicable city commission resolution.

(d)

Petitions for refund of impact fees.

(1)

The current owner of property on which an impact fee has been paid may apply for a refund of such fee if the city has failed to appropriate or spend the collected fees by the end of the calendar quarter immediately following six years of the date of payment of the impact fee, if the building permit for which the impact fee has been paid has lapsed for noncommencement of construction, if the project for which a building permit has been issued has been altered resulting in a decrease in the amount of the impact fee due, or if the project has been approved for the affordable housing and workforce housing deferral program.

(2)

Only the current owner of property may petition for a refund. A petition for refund must be filed within 90 days of any of the above-specified events giving rise to the right to claim a refund. Failure to timely file a petition for refund shall waive any right to an impact fee refund.

(3)

The petition for refund shall be submitted to the city manager's designee on a form provided by the city for such purpose. The petition shall contain a notarize affidavit that petitioner is the current owner of the property, a certified copy of the latest tax records of Miami-Dade County showing the owner of the subject property, a copy of the dated receipt for payment of the impact fee issued by the city's building department and a statement of the basis upon which the refund is sought.

(4)

If a building permit applicant has paid impact fees and withdraws the building permit application, then the actual payor may petition for a refund within 90 days of the withdrawal of the building permit application that caused the impact fee to be due, if and only if the building permit has not been approved and issued. Failure to timely file a petition for refund shall waive any right to an impact fee refund. The petition for refund shall be submitted to the city manager's designee on a form provided by the city for such purpose. The petition shall contain (i) a notarized affidavit that the petitioner is the actual and only payor of the impact fees for the withdrawn building permit application; (ii) a copy of the dated receipt for payment of the impact fee issued by the city's building department; and (iii) a statement of the basis upon which the refund is sought. The city manager's designee shall have authority to request additional documents necessary to confirm the petitioner is the actual and only payor of the impact fees subject to refund and confirm that no impact requiring impact fees has occurred.

(5)

Any money refunded pursuant to this subsection shall be returned with interest at a rate of three percent per annum.

(e)

Petition for credits against impact fees.

(1)

Any applicant as defined in this article who elects to construct or dedicate all or a portion of a system improvement as defined in this article, or, who escrows money with the city for the construction of a system improvement may, if all criteria in this article and this subsection (e) are fulfilled, be granted a credit for such contribution against the impact fees otherwise due for the same type of system improvement. The applicant must, prior to the applicant's construction, dedication or escrow of the system improvement, submit a petition on a form provided by the city, obtain a determination of credit eligibility and the amount of any credit, and enter into a credit agreement with the city. The petition for credit shall contain, at a minimum, the following a certified copy of the most recently recorded deed for the subject property preliminary engineering plans and certified costs estimates by an architect, engineer or other appropriate professional for the proposed improvement legal description of any land proposed to be contributed, proposed schedule for completion of any construction/dedications identification of the proposed improvement in the current adopted CIP and the amount of impact fee funding for the improvement and identification in detail of the development against which the credits are to apply or which will pay the impact fees to be used for the credit including the land use type(s), number of units/gross floor area, anticipated development schedule, and legal descriptions of the subject property. Any appeal of petition determinations on credits must be filed, heard, and determined prior to the applicant's construction, dedication or escrow for which the credit is requested. Failure to timely file a petition for impact fee credits shall waive any right to impact fee credits.

(2)

A credit shall be granted and the amount of the credit shall be determined by the city manager if it is determined that the system improvement is in the adopted, current capital improvements plan and is funded in whole or in part with impact fee revenue. The amount of the credit shall be based on actual costs certified by a professional engineer or architect submitted by the applicant and reviewed and approved by the appropriate city department. In no event shall the credit exceed the amount of impact fees budgeted for that system improvement or the amount of the impact fees for the same type of system improvements that are due from the development requesting the credit whichever amount is smaller. If the impact fees due exceed the amount of credit the applicant shall pay the impact fees due less the credit at the time of issuance of the building permit.

(3)

If a credit petition is approved the applicant and the city shall enter into a credit agreement which shall provide for, but is not limited to the following the process to be used to verify actual costs the value of any dedicated land or methodology to determine the value of any dedicated land the obligations and responsibilities of the applicant, including but not limited to:

a.

Public bidding or solicitation requirements;

b.

Engineering, design and construction standards and requirements to be complied with;

c.

Insurance bonding and indemnification requirements;

d.

Project inspection standards and responsibilities;

e.

Timing of the actions to be taken by the applicant;

f.

Transfer of title to land and improvements;

g.

Process for submittal of credit payment requests; and

h.

Timing of payments by the city.

No impact fee credits shall be paid or provided until any land has been dedicated and conveyed to the city and/or the facilities have been constructed and accepted or alternatively until a bond has been posted to ensure the conveyance and/or construction. Any bond shall be issued by a state surety and in a form acceptable to the city attorney and risk manager. The city's obligation to pay impact fee credits shall be limited to the impact fees collected from the development for a period not to exceed ten years from the date of approval of the agreement. The credit agreement shall provide for forfeiture of any impact fee credit remaining at the end of such ten—year period. The credit applicant shall agree to provide recorded notice to subsequent purchasers/owners of the property regarding the credit, if any, that may be available to such purchasers and shall agree to indemnify the city for any and all costs and liabilities arising from any claims by others related to the impact fee credit.

(Ord. No. 12750, § 2, 12-15-05; Ord. No. 12929, § 2, 7-10-07; Ord. No. 13564, § 1, 10-22-15; Ord. No. 13601, § 2, 4-28-16; Ord. No. 14061, § 2, 4-28-22)