The Town Council of the Town of Middletown finds, determines, and declares that:
(A) The town must expand its recreational facilities and equipment, police station facilities and equipment, fire station facilities and equipment, sewer facilities, and other municipal facilities in order to maintain current standards if new residential and commercial development is to be accommodated without decreasing current standards. This must be done in order to promote and protect the public health, safety, and welfare.
(B) The State of Rhode Island through the enactment of Rhode Island General Laws Chapter 45-22.4-1 et seq., Rhode Island Development Impact Fee Act provides for orderly growth and makes provisions for protecting public investment in public facilities.
(C) The imposition of impact fees is one of the preferred methods of ensuring that residential and commercial development bears a proportionate share of the cost of capital facilities necessary to accommodate the needs of future residents of such developments. This must be done in order to promote and protect the public health, safety, and welfare.
(D) Residential land development, except as exempted in § 150.19(D) hereof, creates demand for the acquisition or expansion of parks, open space and recreational facilities, the construction of park improvements, expansion of police and fire facilities, expansion of other municipal facilities, and sewer facilities expansion. Commercial development creates demand for police, fire, and sewer facilities. The fees established by § 150.19 are derived from and based upon the costs of providing additional capacity to general government, recreation, police, fire, and sewer facility improvements necessitated by the new land developments for which the fees are levied.
(Ord. passed 8-16-04; Am. Ord. 2016-15, passed 10-3-16; Am. Ord. 2018-6, passed 3-19-18; Am. Ord. 2020-8, passed 9-21-20)