The City Council hereby finds and declares that:
A. The City is committed to the funding and provision of public facilities necessary to cure any deficiencies that may exist in already developed areas of the City.
B. Such facilities shall be provided by the City using existing funding sources allocated for such facilities, other than impact fees, including, but not limited to, the General Fund, general obligation bonds and special assessment districts.
C. New development causes and imposes increased demands on public facilities.
D. The City Council appointed an Advisory Committee, pursuant to Montana Code Annotated 7-6-1604, to review the growth policy and the capital improvements plan (CIP). The Advisory Committee reviewed the growth policy and the CIP.
E. The growth policy, incorporated in this chapter by reference, indicates that new development will continue and will place increasing demands on the City to provide public facilities.
F. New development should pay an amount not to exceed its proportionate share of the capital costs related to the additional public facilities needed to accommodate that new development.
G. The City Council, after careful consideration of the matter, hereby finds and declares that it is in the best interest of the health, safety and general welfare of the City and its residents to impose impact fees upon new development in order to finance public facilities in the designated service areas for which demand is created by the new development.
H. The City Council further finds and declares that impact fees provide a reasonable method of assessing new development to ensure that such new development pays a portion of the cost of public facilities that are rationally related to the new development in accordance with applicable law.
I. The City Council further finds and declares that such impact fees are equitable, and impose a fair assessment on new development by requiring that new development pay a portion of the cost, and deems it advisable to adopt this chapter as set forth.
J. The City Council further finds that there exists a rational relationship between the capital costs of providing public facilities at the level of service adopted and the impact fees imposed on development under this chapter.
K. The City Council further finds that there exists a rational relationship between the impact fees to be collected pursuant to this chapter and the expenditure of those funds on capital costs related to public facilities as limited and restricted by this chapter.
L. The City Council further finds and declares that this chapter is consistent with both the procedural and substantive requirements of Montana Code Annotated 7-6-1601 through 7-6-1604. (Ord. 299-06-07, 4-24-2007, eff. 5-24-2007)