A. Procedural and Administrative Requirements.
1. Purpose and Authority.
a. The City Commission of the City of Boynton Beach recognizes that growth and development in the city will require that the capacity of the city’s public facilities be expanded in order to maintain adequate levels of service, and that without a funded program for public facility improvements, new growth and development will have to be limited in order to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of the City of Boynton Beach.
b. The City Commission has completed studies establishing the type, amount, and cost of projected public facility improvements needed to serve new growth and development.
c. The purpose of this section is to ensure that new growth and development that is approved by the city pays a fair share of the costs of public facilities needed to serve new growth and development.
d. This section, which requires new development to pay reasonable impact fees, requires new development to pay its pro rata share of the reasonably anticipated expansion costs of new public facilities created by new growth and development, which is the responsibility of the city in order to carry out its Comprehensive Plan, as amended, and adopted under F.S. §§ 163.3161 et seq., and is in the best interest of the public health, safety, and welfare.
e. The City Commission of the City of Boynton Beach has determined that it is in the best economic interests of the citizens of the city to ensure that certain forms of development be exempt from the requirements of payment of certain impact fees.
f. The technical data, findings, and conclusions herein are based on the Comprehensive Plan, as amended, and the Technical Reports.
2. Adoption of Technical Reports as Basis of Impact Fees.
a. The city hereby adopts and incorporates by reference, the report entitled "City of Boynton Beach 2023 Parks and Recreation Impact Fee Study," prepared by Raftelis Financial Consultants, Inc., dated May 19, 2023 (referred to herein as the “Park Facilities Technical Report”), which, among other things, supports the amounts and reasonableness of the Park impact fees imposed by this article.
b. The City hereby adopts and incorporates by reference the report entitled "City of Boynton Beach Police Impact Fee Study," prepared by Raftelis Financial Consultants, Inc., dated October 20, 2023 (referred to herein as the "Police Facilities Technical Report," and together with the Park Facilities Technical Report, the "Technical Reports"), which, among other things, supports the amounts and reasonableness of the Police impact fees imposed by this Article.
3. Interpretations of sections and fee schedule. Interpretation of the provisions of this section shall be made by the City Manager or the City Manager’s designee.
4. Effect on other regulations and requirements.
a. This section may not be construed to alter, amend, or modify any other provision of the city's LDRs and Code of Ordinances. Other provisions of the City’s LDRs and Code of Ordinances shall be operative and remain in full force and effect notwithstanding any contrary provisions, definitions, or intentions that are or may be expressed or implied in this section.
b. The payment of impact fees shall not entitle the applicant to a building permit unless all other applicable land use, land development, zoning, planning, concurrency, and other applicable requirements, standards, and conditions have been met. Such other requirements, standards, and conditions are independent of the requirement for payment of impact fees required by this section.
c. This section, including the specific impact fee ordinances for particular public facilities, shall not affect, in any manner, the permissible use of property, density or intensity of development, design and improvement standards, or other applicable standards or requirements of the LDRs.
B. Definitions. Article II of Part III of the LDRs entitled Definitions and general rules of construction shall apply to this article. However, the following words, terms, and phrases, when used in this section, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this subsection, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
Alternate park impact fee shall mean the alternate to the parks and recreation impact fee pursuant to Section 9 of Article VI of the LDRs.
City park system shall include all parks and recreation facilities owned and operated by the city and designed and intended to serve all city residents, including active parks, passive parks, water access sites, and associated recreational facilities and buildings, but does not include those parks and recreational facilities that are owned and operated by any private entity, the federal government, or Palm Beach County or those parks and recreational facilities that are owned and operated by the State of Florida.
City police department shall include police headquarters, other associated facilities, and buildings owned and operated by the City and also includes police vehicles and equipment used in connection with the performance of police duties, including communication, detection, surveillance, defense, and detention, but does not include those police facilities that are owned and operated by the federal government, State of Florida or Palm Beach County.
Developer shall mean a person, corporation, organization, or other legal entity undertaking development.
Development shall mean any new residential or nonresidential construction or expansion of building(s) or structure(s), or any changes in the use of any building(s) or structure(s) or land use that will generate additional impact on the city’s public facilities.
Encumbered shall mean legally obligated or otherwise committed to use by appropriation or contract.
Fair share shall mean that share or portion of the cost of public facility improvements which is reasonably connected to, or has a rational nexus with, the need for additional capital facilities and the increased impact generated by the new residential or commercial construction.
Fee paver shall mean a person undertaking development who pays a fair share impact fee in accordance with the terms of this section.
Impact fee shall mean a fee imposed pursuant to this section, including park and recreation impact fees and police impact fees.
Impact fee account shall mean an account established by the city for the purpose of segregating impact fee revenues collected for a particular public facility from all other city funds.
Infrastructure means a fixed capital expenditure or fixed capital outlay, excluding the cost of repairs or maintenance, associated with the construction, reconstruction, or improvement of public facilities that have a life expectancy of at least five (5) years; related land acquisition, land improvement, design, engineering, and permitting costs; and other related construction costs required to bring the public facility into service. The term also includes a fire department vehicle, an emergency medical service vehicle, a police department vehicle, and the equipment necessary to outfit the vehicle for its official use.
Level of service is a measure of the availability and accessibility of public facilities in support of public facility services.
Non-commencement shall mean the cancellation of construction activity making a material change in a structure or the cancellation of any other development activity making a material change in the use or appearance of land.
Parks and recreation facilities shall mean the land, buildings, structures, equipment and facilities as may be necessary to meet the needs of the city parks and recreation system, which are created by new development, including those costs that are incidental to the above.
Parks and recreation facilities capital costs include, but are not limited to, capital costs associated with the planning, design, and construction of new or expanded parks and recreation facilities, which have a life expectancy of five (5) or more years, and the land acquisition, land improvement, design, and engineering related thereto. Such costs do not include routine and periodic maintenance expenditures or personnel, training, or other operating costs, but do include the following as they relate to the provision of parks and recreation facilities:
a. The cost of all labor and materials;
b. The cost of all lands, property, rights, easements, and franchises acquired, including costs of acquisition or condemnation;
c. The cost of all plans and specifications;
d. The cost of new equipment;
e. The cost of all construction, new drainage facilities in conjunction with new buildings and structures, and site improvements required in accordance with the Comprehensive Plan and/or LDRs;
f. The cost of relocating utilities to accommodate new construction;
g. The cost of planning, engineering, and legal services;
h. The cost of all land surveying, and soils and materials testing; and
i. The cost of mitigating negative impacts of construction, including natural resource impacts, environmental impacts, noise impacts, air quality impacts, and community impacts.
Park and recreation impact fee shall mean impact fees relating to park and recreational facilities.
Park facilities technical report shall mean the "City of Boynton Beach 2023 Parks and Recreation Impact Fee Study," prepared by Raftelis Financial Consultants, Inc., dated May 19, 2023.
Police facilities shall mean the land, buildings, structures, equipment, and facilities as may be necessary to meet the needs for the provision of police services at the same level of service, which are created by new development, including those costs that are incidental to the above.
Police facilities capital costs include, but are not limited to, capital costs associated with the planning, design, and construction of new or expanded police facilities, which have a life expectancy of five or more years, and the land acquisition, land improvement, design, and engineering related thereto. Such costs do not include routine and periodic maintenance expenditures or personnel, training, or other operating costs, but do include the following as they relate to the provision of police facilities:
1) The cost of all labor and materials;
2) The cost of all lands, property, rights, easements, and franchises acquired, including costs of acquisition or condemnation;
3) The cost of all plans and specifications;
4) The cost of new equipment;
5) The cost of all construction, new drainage facilities in conjunction with new buildings and structures, and site improvements required in accordance with the Comprehensive Plan and/or LDRs;
6) The cost of relocating utilities to accommodate new construction;
7) The cost of planning, engineering, and legal services;
8) The cost of all land surveying, and soils and materials testing; and
9) The cost of mitigating negative impacts of construction, including natural resource impacts, environmental impacts, noise impacts, air quality impacts, and community impacts.
Police impact fee shall mean impact fees relating to police facilities.
Police facilities technical report shall mean the "City of Boynton Beach Police Impact Fee Study," prepared by Raftelis Financial Consultants, Inc., and dated October 20, 2023.
Public facilities shall mean means major capital improvements, including parks and recreational facilities and police facilities for which impact fees are collected pursuant to this article.
Public facilities capital costs include parks and recreation facilities capital costs and police facilities capital costs.
Technical reports shall mean collectively, the park facilities technical report and the police facilities technical report.
C. Applicability of this section.
1. Affected area. This section shall apply to all new development within the city. Impact fees for particular public facilities may apply to less than the entire city, only as indicated specifically in this section.
2. Type of development affected. Except where specifically exempt by the provisions of this section, this section shall apply to all new development.
3. Type of development not affected. Exemption for governmental or public facilities. Governmental or public facilities are exempt from the requirement that impact fees be paid.
a. Such facilities are those parcels, grounds, buildings or structures owned by municipal, county, state or federal governments, the Palm Beach County School Board or the South Florida Water Management District and related to the operation of those entities and used for governmental purposes including, but not limited to, governmental offices, police and fire stations, airports, seaports, parking facilities, equipment yards, sanitation facilities, water control structures, schools, parks and similar facilities in or through which general government operations are conducted.
b. This exemption also includes privately-owned properties or facilities that are leased to a governmental entity for the exclusive purpose of establishing a temporary public facility while the permanent public facility is being constructed, provided that impact fees shall be assessed at the time another use is established on such property or in such facility.
c. It is provided, however, the following shall not be considered governmental or public facilities and shall be subject to payment of impact fees:
(1) Privately owned properties or facilities leased for governmental operations or activities, except as provided in this subsection; and
(2) Public properties or facilities used for private residential, commercial, or industrial activities.
D. Collection of impact fees; when not paid by mistake or inadvertence; liens.
1. Collection. Impact fees required by this section shall be assessed against new development and collected in full at the time of the issuance of a building permit by the city. The city may withhold the issuance of a TCO or CO until the applicant has paid in full the applicable impact fees imposed by this section. The obligation for payment of assessed impact fees shall run with the land. The City Commission may establish and collect an administrative charge (which will be limited to actual costs) to offset its actual costs of impact fee collection by adoption of a resolution.
2. Collection of fees when not paid by inadvertence; liens. If the impact fees are not paid as required by this section prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy because of mistake or inadvertence, the city shall proceed to collect the impact fees as follows:
a. The city shall serve, by certified mail, return receipt requested, an impact fee statement notice upon the applicant at the address set forth in the application for building permit, and the owner at the address appearing on the most recent records maintained by the property appraiser of Palm Beach County. The city also shall attach a copy of the impact fee statement notice to the building permit posted at the affected construction site if the building is under construction. Service of the impact fee statement notice shall be deemed effective on the date the return receipt indicates the notice was received by either the applicant or the owner or the date said notice was attached to the building permit, whichever occurs first.
b. The impact fee statement notice shall contain the legal description of the property and shall advise the applicant and the owner as follows:
(1) The amount due and the general purpose for which the impact fee was imposed.
(2) That the impact fee shall be delinquent if not paid and received by the city within sixty (60) calendar days of the date the impact fee statement notice is received, excluding the date of receipt, and, upon becoming delinquent, shall be subject to the imposition of a delinquent fee and interest on the unpaid amount until paid;
c. That in the event the impact fee becomes delinquent, a lien against the property for which the building permit was secured shall be recorded in the Official Records Book of Palm Beach County. The impact fee shall be delinquent if, within sixty (60) calendar days from the date of the receipt of the impact fee statement notice by either the applicant or the owner, or the date said notice was attached to the building permit, neither the impact fees have been paid and received by the city, nor a hearing requested pursuant to the requirements above. In the event a hearing is requested, the impact fees shall become delinquent if not paid within thirty (30) calendar days from the date the City Commission determines the amount of impact fees due upon the conclusion of such hearing. Said time periods shall be calculated on a calendar day basis, including Sundays and legal holidays, but excluding the date of the earliest receipt of said impact fee statement notice or the hearing date of the City Commission’s decision in the event of an appeal. In the event the last day falls on a Sunday or legal holiday, the last due date prior to becoming delinquent shall be the next business day. Upon becoming delinquent, a delinquency fee equal to ten percent (10%) of the total impact fee imposed shall be assessed. Such total impact fee, plus delinquency fee, shall bear interest at the statutory rate for final judgments calculated on a calendar day basis, until paid.
d. Should the impact fee become delinquent, the city shall serve, by certified mail return receipt requested, a "Notice of Lien" upon the delinquent applicant if the building is under construction at the address indicated in the application for the building permit, and upon the delinquent owner at the address appearing on the most recent records maintained by the Property Appraiser of Palm Beach County. The notice of lien shall notify the delinquent applicant and owner that due to their failure to pay the impact fee, the city shall file a Claim of Lien with the Clerk of the Circuit Court in and for Palm Beach County.
e. Upon mailing of the notice of lien, the City Attorney shall file a claim of lien with the Clerk of the Circuit Court in and for Palm Beach County for recording in the Official Records of Palm Beach County. The claim of lien shall contain the legal description of the property, the amount of the delinquent impact fees and the date of their imposition. Once recorded, the claim of lien shall constitute a lien against the property described therein. The City Attorney shall proceed expeditiously to collect or otherwise enforce said lien.
f. After the expiration of six (6) months from the date of recording of the claim of lien, as provided herein, a suit may be filed to foreclose said lien. Such foreclosure proceedings shall be instituted, conducted and enforced in conformity with the procedures for the foreclosure of municipal special assessment liens, as set forth in F.S. §§ 173.04 through 173.12, inclusive, which provisions are hereby incorporated herein in their entirety to the same extent as if such provision were set forth herein verbatim.
g. The liens for delinquent impact fees imposed hereunder shall remain liens, coequal with the lien of all state, county, district and municipal taxes, superior in dignity to all other subsequently filed liens and claims, until paid as provided herein.
h. The collection and enforcement procedures set forth in this section shall be cumulative with, supplemental to and in addition to, any applicable procedures provided in any other ordinances or administrative regulations of the city or any applicable law or administrative regulation of the State of Florida. Failure of the city to follow the procedure set forth in this section shall not constitute a waiver of its rights to proceed under any other ordinances or administrative regulations of the city or any applicable law or administrative regulation of the State of Florida.
E. Individual assessment of impact fees.
1. Any applicant, prior to or in conjunction with the submission of an application for a building permit or within thirty (30) days of the date of payment of impact fees, may petition the City Manager or City Manager’s designee for a determination that: i) the type of impact fee (park impact fee or police impact fee), the amount of the impact fees imposed on the new development is inappropriate based on the specific land use category applied to the residential or nonresidential development and/or based on the amount of development used to calculate the impact fees and/or based on the service units, as identified in the Technical Reports, to be generated by the applicant's new development as documented by studies and data supported by qualified experts; or ii) the impact fees are otherwise unlawfully imposed. The petition shall specify in detail the basis on which the applicant asserts that the amount of the impact fees is inappropriate or unlawful.
2. 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 petitioner, 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 Development Department. The applicant/petitioner shall be responsible for all costs incurred by the city in reviewing and evaluating the petition, including but not limited to, staff time and costs of outside consultants used at the discretion of the city. Failure to timely file a petition for impact fee determination shall waive any right to challenge, review or recalculate the impact fee payment.
3. Within thirty (30) business days of receipt of an individual assessment analysis, the City Manager or City Manager’s designee shall determine if the individual assessment analysis is complete. If the City Manager or City Manager’s designee determines the application is not complete, they shall send a written statement specifying the deficiencies by mail to the person submitting the application. Until the deficiencies are corrected, the City Manager or City Manager’s designee shall take no further action on the application.
4. When the City Manager or City Manager’s designee determines the individual assessment analysis is complete, they shall review it within thirty (30) business days. The City Manager or City Manager’s designee shall approve the proposed fee if they determine that the data, factors, and methodology used to determine the proposed impact fee are professionally acceptable and fairly assess the costs for capital improvements to the city's public facilities systems that are necessitated by the proposed development if the facilities are to be maintained at adopted levels of service. If the City Manager or City Manager's designee determines that the data, factors, or methodology are unreasonable, the proposed fee shall be denied, and the developer shall pay the impact fees according to the schedule established in Section 9 of Article VI of the LDRs or as set by the City Manager or City Manager’s designee, if the use had not previously been identified in the fee schedule.
5. Any applicant may appeal the City Manager’s or City Manager’s designee’s decision on an individual assessment analysis by filing a petition to the City Commission of the city consistent with subsection 2(J) of Article VI of the LDRs.
F. Credits.
1. Any person who initiates any development may apply for a credit against the impact fees imposed by this section for any contribution, payment, construction, or dedication of land accepted and received by the city for public facilities, not otherwise required in order to obtain development approval, consistent with the Comprehensive Plan, including all public facilities capital costs.
2. No credit shall exceed the impact fee imposed by this section for the proposed development, unless the applicant provides public facility capacity in excess of the fair share demand created by its proposed development.
3. Development agreements entered into prior to the adoption of this section which contained public facility improvements may be entitled to a credit under the provisions of this section if the improvement is a public facility and is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan.
4. Except as limited above, if an applicant is entitled to a credit, such credit shall be equal to the dollar for dollar value of the cost of the public facilities contributed, paid for, constructed, or dedicated to the city, based on the following criteria:
a. The actual cost, or estimated cost of improvements based on recent bid sheet information of the city; and
b. A qualified appraisal of the fair market value of any land.
5. The property owner shall initiate a determination of entitlement to credit by submitting a proposed credit agreement to the City Manager or City Manager’s designee. The credit agreement shall include the following information:
a. A proposed plan of specific public facility improvements, prepared and certified by a duly qualified and licensed Florida engineer; and
b. The estimated costs for the suggested public facilities improvements consistent with the definition of public facilities capital costs, which shall be based on local information for similar public facilities improvements, along with a construction timetable for the completion of such improvements.
6. The proposed credit agreement shall be prepared by qualified professionals in the field of planning and/or engineering, impact analysis, and economics, as related to the particular impact fee to be credited.
7. Within thirty (30) business days of receipt of the proposed credit agreement, the City Manager or City Manager’s designee shall determine if the proposal is complete. If it is determined that the proposed credit agreement is not complete, the City Manager or City Manager’s designee shall send a written statement to the applicant outlining the deficiencies. The City Manager or City Manager’s designee shall take no further action on the proposed credit agreement until all deficiencies have been corrected or otherwise settled.
8. Once the City Manager or City Manager’s designee determines the credit agreement is complete, they shall review it within thirty (30) business days, and shall recommend to the City Commission that the proposed credit agreement be approved if it is determined that the proposed public facility improvement is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan, and the proposed costs for the suggested public facility improvement are professionally acceptable and fairly assess the cost for the capital improvement. If the City Manager or City Manager’s designee determines that either the suggested public facilities improvement is not consistent with the Comprehensive Plan or that the proposed costs are not acceptable, they shall propose a suggested public facility improvement similar to that proposed, but consistent with the provisions of this section.
9. If the proposed credit agreement is approved by the City Commission, a credit agreement shall be prepared and signed by the applicant and the city. The credit agreement shall specifically outline the public facility improvement that will be constructed by the applicant, the time by which it shall be completed, and the dollar credit the applicant shall receive for construction of the public facilities improvement.
10. Within fourteen (14) days after execution by the city, the credit agreement shall be recorded in the Palm Beach County public records.
11. If the city increases its impact fee rates, the holder of any impact fee credits, whether such credits are granted under F.S. §§ 163.3180 or 380.06, or otherwise, which were in existence before the increase, is entitled to the full benefit of the intensity or density prepaid by the credit balance as of the date it was first established. This subsection F. shall operate prospectively and not retrospectively.
12. Impact fee credits are assignable and transferable at any time after establishment from one development or parcel to any other within the city and which receives benefits from the improvement or contribution that generated the credits.
G. Use of funds collected; impact fee accounts.
1. Impact fees collected pursuant to this section shall be used solely for the purpose of acquisition, expansion, and development of the public facilities identified in the Comprehensive Plan, the need for which results from and the provision of which will benefit new development paying impact fees. Allowable expenditures include, but are not limited to:
a. Public facilities and public facilities capital costs identified in the Comprehensive Plan to benefit new users;
b. Repayment of monies transferred or borrowed from any budgetary fund of the city which were used to fund the acquisition, expense and development of the public facilities identified in the Comprehensive Plan where the use of the monies is reasonably connected to, or has a rational nexus with, the increased impact on the public facilities generated by the new residential or nonresidential construction;
c. Payment of principal and interest, necessary reserves and costs of issuance under any bonds or other indebtedness issued by the city to provide funds for acquisition, expansion and development of public facilities identified in the Comprehensive Plan;
d. Administration of the city’s impact fee program to the extent that such administration costs do not exceed actual costs of such administrative activities.
2. Impact fees collected shall be encumbered for the construction of public facilities within seven years of the date of collection.
3. In order to ensure that impact fee revenues are earmarked and spent solely for the expansion of public facilities necessary to offset the impacts of new development, the following provisions apply:
a. The city shall establish and maintain separate impact fee accounts for each public facility for which an impact fee is collected, in accordance with the provisions of this section.
b. Impact fees shall be spent solely for the public facility category for which they were collected.
c. Any amounts in an impact fee account not immediately necessary for expenditure shall be invested in an interest bearing account and all interest income derived from such investments shall be deposited in the impact fee account.
4. Impact fee revenues shall remain segregated from other city funds and only impact fees and accrued interest shall be maintained in the impact fee accounts.
5. Amounts withdrawn from an impact fee account must be used solely in accordance with the provisions of this section. Amounts on deposit in an impact fee account shall not be used for any expenditure that would be classified as a maintenance, operations, or repair expense or to address existing deficiencies in public facilities.
H. Refunds.
1. Any impact fee collected may be returned to the fee payer if the approved development is canceled due to non-commencement of construction before the funds have been spent or encumbered. Refunds may be made in accordance with this section provided the present owner of the approved development files a petition for a refund within six (6) months from the date of non-commencement.
2. A refund application shall include the following information:
a. A notarized sworn statement that the fee payer paid the impact fee for the property and the amount paid;
b. A copy of the dated receipt issued by the city for payment of the fee;
c. A certified copy of the latest recorded deed for the property; and
d. A copy of the most recent ad valorem tax bill.
3. Within fifteen (15) business days of receipt of a refund application, the City Manager or City Manager’s designee shall determine if it is complete. If the City Manager or City Manager’s designee determines the refund application is not complete, they shall send a written statement specifying the deficiencies by mail to the person submitting the refund application. Unless the deficiencies are corrected, the City Manager or City Manager’s designee shall take no further action on the refund application.
4. When the City Manager or City Manager’s designee determines the refund application is complete, they shall review it within thirty (30) business days, and shall approve the proposed refund if they determine that the city has not spent or encumbered an impact fee within seven (7) years from the date the fees were paid.
5. When the refund application is approved, the money shall be returned with interest actually accrued, less any administrative charges (which will be limited to actual costs) paid to offset the city's costs of collection.
6. Any fee payer may appeal the City Manager’s or City Manager’s designee’s written decision on a refund application by filing a petition with the City Commission consistent with subsection 2(J) of Article VI of the LDRs.
I. Updating, indexing, annual reporting, and audits.
1. At least once every five years, the city shall update the Technical Reports which provides the basis for the impact fees imposed under this section.
2. Audits of the City’s financial statements, which are performed by a certified public accountant pursuant to F.S. § 218.39, and submitted to the auditor general, must include an affidavit signed by the Finance Director, in compliance with the requirements of F.S. § 163.31801. The city will provide for annual accounting and reporting of impact fee collections and expenditures and will account for the revenues and expenditures of such impact fee in a separate accounting fund.
3. All updates and annual adjustments to this section shall comply with statutory requirements for notice and publication.
J. Appeals.
1. Initiation. A fee payer may appeal a final decision of the City Manager made pursuant to this section or any provision of this section to the City Commission, by filing an appeal, in writing, with the City Clerk, within twenty (20) calendar days of the decision. The appeal shall include a written notice stating and specifying briefly the grounds of the appeal. The City Clerk shall place the appeal on the City Commission’s agenda for a regularly scheduled meeting or a special meeting called for that purpose, and forward the record of the matter that is on appeal to the City Commission.
2. Record. The record considered by the City Commission shall be the record of the application associated with the final decision being appealed from and any other documents related to the decision.
3. Notice. The City Clerk shall provide the applicant at least fifteen (15) calendar days notice of the Appeal before the City Commission by mail or hand delivery.
4. Hearing on Appeal. At the hearing on the appeal, the City Commission shall provide the appellant an opportunity to identify the grounds for the appeal and the basis for the City Manager’s alleged error on the decision, based on the record. To the extent relevant, the City Manager whose decision is being appealed from shall be allowed to respond, based on the record. After the presentations, the City Commission may hear from any other person(s) it deems appropriate, and then based on the testimony heard at the hearing and the record affirm, modify, or reverse the decision of the City Manager or the provision of this section.
5. Standards. To reverse a decision of a City official, the City Commission shall find that there is a clear and demonstrable error in the application of the facts in the record to the applicable standards set forth in this section. If the City Commission reverses or modifies the decision, it shall provide the City official clear direction on the proper decision. In no case shall the City Commission have the authority to negotiate the amount of the impact fees or waive the impact fees otherwise specified in this section. The decision of the City Commission shall be final.
6. Form of Decision. The City Commission’s decision on the appeal shall be in writing, and include findings of fact and the application of those facts to the relevant standards.
(Ord. 23-013, 7-18-23; Am. Ord. 23-022, passed 12-19-23)