This article shall be known and may be cited as the “School Facilities Fee/Dedication Ordinance.”

This article is adopted pursuant to the provisions of chapter 4.7 (commencing with § 65970) of division 1 of title 7 of the government code.

The purpose of this article is to provide a method for financing interim school facilities necessitated by new residential developments causing conditions of overcrowding.

The city council may, from time to time, by resolution, issue regulations to provide for the administration and implementation of this article.

The City of Fairfield general plan provides for the location of public schools. Where facilities are to be constructed from fees or land required to be dedicated hereunder, or both, they shall be consistent with the general plan.

"Conditions of overcrowding” means that the total enrollment of a school, including enrollment from proposed development, exceeds the capacity of such school within the attendance area, as determined by the governing body of the school district.

"Decision-making body” means the city council, or their designee.

"Dwelling unit” means a building or portion thereof, or a mobilehome, designed for residential occupation by one person or group of two or more persons living together as a domestic unit.

"Reasonable methods for mitigating conditions of overcrowding” shall include, but are not limited to, concepts such as:

(a)    Any agreements entered into by the affected school district which would alleviate conditions of overcrowding caused by new residential development;

(b)    The use of relocatable structures, student transportation, and school boundary realignments;

(c)    The use of available bond or state loan revenues to the extent authorized by law;

(d)    The use of funds which could be available from the sale of surplus school district real property and funds available from other appropriate sources, as determined by the governing body of affected school districts;

(e)    Agreements between a subdivider or other developer of residential developments in the affected school district whereby temporary-use buildings will be leased to or for the benefit of the school district or temporary-use buildings owned by the school district will be used.

"Residential development” means a project containing residential dwellings, including mobilehomes, of one or more units, or a division of land for the purpose of constructing one or more residential units. Residential development includes, but is not limited to, a preliminary or final development plan, a subdivision tentative or final map, a parcel map, conditional use permit, a building permit, or any other discretionary permit for new residential use.

Pursuant to government code § 65970, et seq., the governing body of a school district may make a finding supported by clear and convincing evidence that:

(a)    Conditions of overcrowding exist in one or more attendance areas within the district which will impair the normal functioning of educational programs, including the reason for such conditions existing;

(b)    All reasonable methods of mitigating conditions of overcrowding have been evaluated;

(c)    No feasible method for reducing such conditions exist. Upon making these findings, the school district must provide the city with written notice of its findings as provided in sec. 25.502.

Any notice of findings sent by a school district to the city shall specify:

(a)    The findings listed in sec. 25.501;

(b)    Findings of fact and a summary of the evidence upon which the findings in sec. 25.501 were based;

(c)    The mitigation measures and methods, including those listed in sec. 25.404, considered by the school district in any determination made concerning them by the district.

(d)    The precise geographic boundaries of the overcrowded attendance area or areas;

(e)    Such other information as may be required by a council regulation.

After receipt of any notice of findings complying with the requirements of sec. 25.502, the council, if it concurs with such school district findings, shall do so by resolution. Such concurrence or any other disposition of the school district’s request shall be an exercise of the legislative power of the council.

Within an attendance area, where the council has concurred in a school district’s notice of finding that conditions of overcrowding exist, no decision-making body shall approve an application for a residential development within such area, unless such decision-making body makes one of the following findings:

(a)    That pursuant to this ordinance, provision has been made for payment of fees, dedication of land, or both, or some other provision has been agreed upon by the applicant for a residential development in the school district to mitigate the conditions of overcrowding within that attendance area; or

(b)    That there are specific, overriding physical, economic, social, or environmental factors, which, in the judgment of the decision-making body, would benefit the city, thereby justifying the approval of a residential development otherwise subject to the provisions of this ordinance without requiring the payment of fees or the dedication of land or other alternate provision required by division 4 of this article.

In an attendance area where the council has concurred as provided in division 3 that overcrowding exists, the applicant of a proposed residential development, as a condition of approval, or the obtaining of a building permit, shall pay fees, make an equivalent arrangement in lieu thereof, dedicate land, or do a combination thereof unless excepted as provided in sec. 25.504, subsection (b), as determined by the decision-making body during the hearings and other proceedings on specific residential development applications falling within their respective jurisdictions. Prior to the imposition of the fees, or the dedication of land, or both, it shall be necessary for the decision-making body acting on the application to make the following determination: That the facilities to be constructed, purchased, leased, or rented from such fees or the land to be dedicated, or both, are consistent with the general plan.

Only the payment of fees shall be required in subdivisions containing 50 parcels, or less, or other developments containing 50 units, or less.

Any requirement imposed pursuant to this ordinance shall bear reasonable relationship and will be limited to the needs of the community for interim, elementary, or high school facilities, and shall be reasonably related and limited to the need for the schools caused by the development.

(a)    When fees are required by this division to be paid in lieu of land dedication or as a combination, or both, such fees shall be, and paid as follows:

(1)    One bedroom $O; two bedrooms $300; three bedrooms $500, four bedrooms $600; five or more bedrooms $800. Any room designed for sleeping which has a closet is a bedroom for the purposes of this article.

(2)    $300 for each dwelling unit, space, or lot in a mobilehome park.

(b)    The total land area required by this article to be dedicated shall be at least equal in monetary value as to the fees which would be otherwise required by sec. 25.604(a). The director of public works shall determine and establish the monetary value of land area for the purposes of this division.

(c)    On July 1, 1979, and each July 1st thereafter, the fees in subsection (a) shall automatically increase or decrease from the amounts then applicable as the percentage of increase or decrease in the construction cost index for the preceding June 1 - May 30 period as shown by the engineering news record’s San Francisco area construction cost index.

If the payment of a fee is required, such payment shall be made at the time the building permit is approved and issued. Fees shall be held in trust by the city until transferred to the affected school district or districts.

When land is to be dedicated, it shall be offered for dedication in substantially the same manner as prescribed in the city subdivision ordinance. Land shall be deeded directly to the school district or districts under procedures adopted by the city.

(a)    If a final subdivision map, a parcel map, or conditional use permit is vacated or voided, and the city still retains the land, and if the applicant so requests, the council shall order such land returned.

(b)    If a residential development approval is vacated or voided, and if the city still retains the fees collected therefor, and if the applicant so requests, the council shall order the fees returned to the applicant.

(c)    In the event that the building for which a fee has been paid is not under construction within 180 days of issuance of the building permit, or in the event construction stops for 180 days, the fee paid shall lapse and the full amount of the fee in effect at the commencement or recommencement of construction shall be required. The city shall not refund the lapsed fee, but shall grant a credit on such fee in the amount of the previously paid fee, unless a refund has been made pursuant to subsection (b). (Ord. No. 83-28, § 4.)

Following concurrence by the council, pursuant to sec. 25.503, the director of planning and development shall notify each school district affected thereby. The governing body of the school district shall then submit a schedule specifying how it will use the fees or land, or both, to solve the conditions of overcrowding. The schedule shall include the school sites to be used, the classroom facilities to be made available, and the time when such facilities to be made available. In the event the governing body of the school district cannot meet the schedule, it shall submit modifications to the city council and the reasons for the modifications.

All fees or land, or both, collected pursuant to this article and transferred to a school district, shall be used only by the district for the purpose of providing interim elementary or high school classroom and related facilities.

If two separate school districts operate schools in an attendance area where the council concurs that overcrowding conditions exist for both school districts, the council will enter into an agreement with the governing body of each school district for the purpose of determining the division of revenues from the fees levied pursuant to this article.

Any school district receiving funds or land pursuant to this article shall maintain a separate account for any fees paid and disposition of land received, and shall file a report with the council on the balance and account at the end of the previous fiscal year and the facilities leased, purchased, or constructed during the previous fiscal year. In addition, the report shall specify which attendance areas will continue to be overcrowded when the fall term begins and where conditions of overcrowding will no longer exist. Such report shall be filed August 1 of each year, and shall be filed more frequently at the request of the council.

When it is determined by the city council that conditions of overcrowding no longer exist in an attendance area, decision-making bodies shall cease imposition of any requirements under this chapter. (Ord. No. 78-32, § 1.)