(A) Refunds. A refund (or partial refund) will be paid to any current owner of property within the city who submits a written request to the city and demonstrates that:
(1) The permit(s) that triggered the collection of the development fee have expired or been voided prior to the commencement of the development for which the permits were issued and the development fees collected have not been expended, encumbered, or pledged for the repayment of financing or debt; or
(2) The owner of the subject development or its predecessor in interest paid a development fee for the applicable capital facility on or after October 31, 2022, and one of the following conditions exists:
(a) The capital facility designed to serve the subject development has been constructed, has the capacity to serve the subject development and any development for which there is reserved capacity, and the service which was to be provided by that capital facility has not been provided to the subject development from that capital facility or from any other infrastructure.
(b) After collecting the fee to construct a capital facility, the city fails to complete construction of the capital facility within the time period identified in the Infrastructure Improvements Plan, as it may be amended, and the corresponding service is otherwise unavailable to the subject development from that capital facility or any other infrastructure.
(c) For a category of necessary public services, any part of a development fee is not spent within 10 years of the city's receipt of the development fee.
(d) The development fee was calculated and collected for the construction cost to provide all or a portion of a specific capital facility serving the subject development and the actual construction costs for the capital facility are less than the construction costs projected in the Infrastructure Improvements Plan by a factor of 10% or more. In such event, the current owner of the subject development shall, upon request as set forth in this division (A), be entitled to a refund for the difference between the amounts of the development fee charged for and attributable to such construction cost and the amount the development fee would have been calculated to be if the actual construction cost had been included in the Development Fee Report. The refund contemplated by this section shall relate only to the costs specific to the construction of the applicable capital facility and shall not include any related design, administrative, or other costs not directly incurred for construction of the capital facility that are included in the development fee as limited by A.R.S. § 9-463.05.
(B) Earned interest. A refund of a development fee shall include any interest actually earned on the refunded portion of the development fee by the city from the date of collection to the date of refund. There is no duty however for the city to invest the funds in an interest bearing account. All refunds shall be made to the record owner of the property at the time the refund is paid.
(C) Refund to government. If a development fee was paid by a governmental entity, any refund shall be paid to that governmental entity.
(Ord. 1521, passed 8-16-2022)