A. Authorized: Any fee payer may pay the impact fees imposed by this chapter under protest in order to obtain the development approval and/or a building permit. Appeals regarding the impact fees imposed on any development activity may only be taken by the fee payer of the property where such development activity will occur. No appeal shall be permitted unless and until the impact fees at issue have been paid.
B. Determinations Appealable: The impact fee administrator's determinations with respect to the applicability of the impact fees to a given development approval and/or a building permit, the availability of an exemption, the availability or value of a credit, or the building official's decision concerning the independent fee calculation which is authorized in section 14-1-15 of this chapter, or the impact fees imposed by the impact fee administrator pursuant to section 14-1-5 of this chapter, or any other determination which the impact fee administrator is authorized to make pursuant to this chapter, can be administratively appealed to the city council pursuant to Utah Code Annotated section 11-36a-703, as amended.
C. Time Limit; Filing; Fee: Administrative appeals shall be taken within thirty (30) days after payment of an impact fee. Appeals shall be taken to the city council by filing a written notice of appeal with the city recorder, specifying the grounds thereof, and depositing an administrative fee in the amount set forth by the city's current consolidated fee schedule. The person appealing the fee shall also submit, in writing, a request for information relative to the fee. The impact fee administrator shall transmit to the city council and within two (2) weeks of the written request for information, to the person appealing the fee, all papers constituting the record for the determination, including the written analysis required by title 11, chapter 36a of the Utah code (the act), as amended, and any other relevant information relating to the impact fee.
D. Conduct Of Hearing: The city council shall fix a time for the hearing of the appeal, give notice to the parties in interest, and decide the same. At the hearing, any party may appear in person or by agent or attorney. If the matter which is the subject of the appeal requires development approval which also requires a hearing before the city council, both the appeal and the development approval hearing may be combined in a single hearing.
E. Findings Of Fact: The city council is authorized to make findings of fact regarding the applicability of the impact fees to a given development activity, the availability or amount of the credit or the accuracy or applicability of an independent fee calculation. The decision of the city council shall be final, except as provided in subsection J of this section and shall be made within thirty (30) days from the date the appeal was filed.
F. Decision: The city council may, so long as such action is in conformance with the provisions of this chapter, reverse or affirm, in whole or part, or may modify the determination of the impact fee administrator with respect to the amount of the impact fees imposed or the credit awarded upon a determination that is proper to do so based on principles of fairness, and may make such order, requirements, decision or determination as ought to be made, and to that end shall have the powers which have been granted to the impact fee administrator by this chapter.
G. Reconsideration: Any fee payer who believes that the decision of the city council is based on erroneous procedures, errors of law or fact, error in judgment, or has discovered new evidence which could not be reasonably available at the prior hearing, may make a written request for reconsideration by the city council within ten (10) working days of the date the decision is rendered. Such fee payer is the "appellant" for the purpose of this subsection. This request shall set forth the specific errors or new information relied upon by such appellant, and the city council may, after review of the record, take further action as it deems proper.
H. Stay Of Appeal: The filing of a request for reconsideration shall effectively stay the appeal period until the city council takes further action.
I. Flaws In Program: Where the city council determines that there is a flaw in the impact fee program or that a specific exemption or credit should be awarded on a consistent basis or that the principles of fairness require amendments to this chapter, they shall issue a decision requiring that such a modification, change or elimination of a fee or fee requirement, as is deemed necessary to correct the flaw, be made.
J. District Court Review: Any fee payer aggrieved by a decision of the city council may submit an appeal of the decision to a court of competent jurisdiction as set forth in title 11, chapter 36a of the Utah code (the act), as amended. (Ord. 2013-07, 5-28-2013, eff. 9-1-2013)