The Director is authorized to credit development fees imposed under this chapter in consideration for certain on-site and off-site facilities, improvements constructed or paid for by the developer, or the inclusion of below market rate housing units within the project. A developer is entitled to credit for the value of improvements if the improvement is identified by the City as a priority project to be funded within the three year period immediately following the completion of the facility and the developer (1) dedicates an appropriate site, (2) constructs the improvements, (3) finances an improvement by cash, assessment district, or Mello-Roos Community Facilities District, or (4) a combination of the above.

A decision regarding a fee credit is appealable under Section 18.105.050.

The developer of a project subject to a development fee under this chapter may apply to the Director for an adjustment to or waiver of that fee or for a finding that the project is exempt from the fee. The waiver or adjustment of a fee shall be based upon the absence of any reasonable relationship between the impact on public facilities of that development and either the amount of fee charged or the type of facilities to be financed. Additionally, in considering a fee adjustment, waiver or exemption, for a project with below market rate housing units, the developer must demonstrate that the project would not be economically feasible and could not be built with the imposition of the fee.

The application shall be made in writing and filed with the Director no later than the time of the issuance of a building permit authorizing construction of a new residential dwelling unit. The application shall state completely and in detail both the applicant's factual basis and legal theory for adjustment or waiver, and compare its proposal with the analysis set forth in the technical report prepared for the fee being challenged. The Director may refuse to consider factual assertions or legal theories not set forth in the written application.

The Director shall consider the application at an informal hearing, which may be continued from time to time, and which shall be held within 60 calendar days after the filing of the complete application. The decision of the Director is appealable under Section 18.105.050.

The Director is responsible for administering, collecting, crediting, adjusting and refunding development fees. A decision by the Director regarding a fee imposed under this chapter shall be appealable in accordance with this section. A person appealing under this section shall have first sought a fee credit under Section 18.105.030, or an adjustment or waiver, or a finding of fee exemption under Section 18.105.040. A person seeking judicial review shall first complete an appeal under this section and shall pay all City charges for that appeal.

A person appealing a decision under this chapter shall file an appeal with the City Clerk, who is responsible for processing the appeal toward a hearing. The appeal shall be in writing, stating completely and in detail the factual and legal grounds, and shall be filed within 10 calendar days following the decision being appealed.

The cost of the appeal shall be borne by the applicant, who shall pay a deposit against such cost at the time of filing the appeal. The amount of the deposit shall be established by resolution of the City Council. The cost of an appeal must be paid in full before the appeal hearing takes place.

The City Clerk shall notify the City Manager of the appeal, and the City Manager shall appoint a hearing officer.

The appointed hearing officer shall set the time and place for the hearing, serve notice on the parties, conduct the hearing, prepare written findings of fact and a written decision on the matter, and shall preserve the complete administrative record of the proceeding. The hearing officer may issue directives, including but not limited to directives that legal briefs be submitted in accordance with an established briefing schedule, to the parties in order to facilitate resolution of the appeal. The hearing officer shall consider relevant evidence presented by the appellant and by the Economic and Community Development Department.

The decision of the hearing officer is final and may not be further appealed; it is reviewable by a court under Code of Civil Procedure Section 1094.5.

If a building permit or use permit is canceled or voided and the fees paid have not been committed, the Director may, upon the written request of the applicant and provided that work has not progressed to a point that would permit commencement of a new, changed or expanded use for which a fee would be payable, order return of the fee and interest earned on it less administrative costs.

If a fee is not spent or committed five years or more after it was paid, the Director may authorize a refund to the then owner of the property for which the fee was paid, under Government Code Section 66001.

A decision regarding refund of a fee is appealable under Section 18.105.050.

The City provides public services and constructs and maintains public facilities for the benefit of residents, businesses and employees within the City.

As a result of increasing regional growth, significant residential, commercial and industrial development is expected to occur within the City.

City government requires buildings and equipment for City employees to serve the public. The City now has certain capital facilities, including a City administration building, a police administration building, a corporation yard for public works, a library, a senior center and other facilities needed to serve the public.

The City, as amended in 1999, identifies public facilities which are needed in the City as a part of the City's development during the next 20 years, including those listed in Section 18.105.150(B).

In accordance with its amended General Plan, the City intends to expand and improve its public facilities to serve new development and to maintain existing levels of service of public facilities, including the capital facilities set forth in Section 18.105.150(B).

The General Plan specifies the permitted uses of land within the City and places limits on the intensity and density of such use. The City Council has examined the relationship between the land uses and densities permitted under the General Plan and the rate and amount of actual development of property within the City. Based upon this examination, the City Council has identified trends in growth and development which enable the Council to project, with substantial certainty, the magnitude and extent of future development based upon the City's General Plan.

Based upon projected growth and development permitted under the General Plan, a substantial amount of residential development will occur in the City before the City is fully built out.

This anticipated development cumulatively will generate a substantial increase in the need for City services and the corresponding capital facilities necessary to provide those services. New residential development will thus create an additional burden on the existing capital facilities.

If additional capital facilities are not added as development occurs, the existing facilities will not be adequate to serve the community. This could result in adverse impacts, such as inadequate space for City employees, police services, the public works corporation yard, human services activities and inadequate libraries. This shortage of capital facilities would lead to a deterioration of the public services which the residents, employees and property owners in Union City now enjoy.

To prevent these undesirable consequences, the capacity of the City's capital facilities must be built at a rate which will accommodate the expected growth in the City.

Although the need for public services generated by an individual development project may not be, in and of itself, sufficient to overload the City's existing capital facilities, the cumulative impact of all new development (including development currently submitted for approval) will result in an unacceptable burden.

It is the policy of the City, as provided in its General Plan, that new residential development pay for its share of the cost of the improvements to existing capital facilities and construction of new capital facilities which are necessary to accommodate the public services needs generated by such new development. In the absence of this chapter imposing a capital facilities fee, existing and future sources of revenue will be inadequate to fund a substantial portion of the capital facilities improvements which are necessary to avoid an unacceptable deterioration of public services.

The City has caused to be prepared a capital facilities fee technical report, with appendices, dated March 17, 1999 ("technical report"), which provides various bases for the partial funding, through the establishment of a capital facilities fee, which is required to install and construct certain portions of the facilities needed to implement the General Plan. The technical report, prepared by Economic and Planning Systems, Inc., is on file with the Economic and Community Development Department and the City Clerk. The public facilities for which the capital facilities fee will be used are specifically identified in Section 18.105.150(13) and in the technical report, which includes a schedule of costs. The technical report may be amended from time to time to reflect current conditions and circumstances and more refined engineering costs estimates.

The City Council has examined the extent to which different land uses rely upon the City's services and capital facilities. In its evaluation, the Council has taken into consideration, among other things, the technical report. This report identifies the estimated use of public services and facilities by all new persons coming to the City. The City Council finds that these use factors represent a reasonable estimate of the actual use of public services and facilities.

The public facilities reflected in the technical report are needed to protect the health, safety, and general welfare within the City, to facilitate orderly urban development within the City, to maintain identified existing levels of service within the City, and to promote economic well-being within the City as a whole.

A fair and equitable method of securing some of the revenues necessary to construct the required capital facilities improvements is to impose a capital facilities fee based on the extent to which new residential development generates the need for additional capital facilities.

The technical report identifies capital facilities improvements which are necessary to accommodate future growth.

Individual public improvements identified in the technical report are part of an integrated system serving and providing benefits to development planned within the entire City.

The capital facilities improvements that will be constructed with funds generated by this article will significantly benefit the contributor in that the adverse impacts and inconvenience which would otherwise be caused by a declining level of public services will be substantially mitigated. Persons who undertake new residential development in the City are benefited by a desirable community and the City's reputation for providing, and ability to provide, a variety of well-run public services. Such services make the community a safe and appealing place to live and to work.

The City will obtain and allocate funding from various other sources that are not funded by the capital facilities fee.

Under Government Code Section 66001, and based upon the capital facilities fee technical report and the terms of this article, the City Council finds that:

Periodic review, and possible revision, of the fee resolution (adopted by the City Council under this article) will allow for the adjustment of the fee to ensure that the fee remains a fair and equitable method for the distribution of costs to construct capital facilities necessary to accommodate the public services needs generated by development.

The capital facilities fee technical report, and future council-approved amendments to it, are approved, incorporated here by reference, and provide the technical information upon which the fee is based.

This article is adopted under the police power of the City, Article XI, Section 7 of the California Constitution, and under the Planning and Zoning Law of the State of California (Government Code Section 65000 et seq.).

General. The amount and the calculation of the capital facilities fee shall be established by City Council resolution and is based upon the following considerations:

Type of Development. The categories of residential land uses for which the fee will be charged are:

When Applicable. The capital facilities fee, in an amount to be determined by resolution of the City Council, is applicable to a building permit to construct a new dwelling unit, as set forth in this article.

Residential Fee Unit. The capital facilities fee for residential construction shall be charged for each new dwelling unit, with a specific capital facilities fee amount set for each residential density type referenced in this article.

Capital Facilities Improvements. The fee shall be based on the percentage of the cost of the capital facilities improvements attributable to new residential development as determined in the capital facilities fee technical report. The improvements included in the total cost are set forth in that report and do not and shall not include the costs of improvements needed to alleviate existing deficiencies in the City's capital facilities, if any exist, or the share of costs created by the impacts of new commercial and industrial development.

Amount of Fee—Formula. The amount of the fee shall be established by resolution and may be amended from time to time. The fee shall be determined as follows:

No fee is due if a capital facilities fee was previously paid in full for a particular property and use;

No fee shall be charged for remodeling or for an addition to an existing residential unit;

No fee shall be charged for demolition of an existing residential structure and the building of a new residential structure on the same site, provided the demolished structure was in use as a residential dwelling within two years before the issuance of a building permit for the new residential structure.

No fee shall be charged for the construction of individual, new, owner-occupied single-family homes in Community Development Block Grant target neighborhoods. An owner-occupied home means the unit is constructed by or for the property owner, and the owner shall live in the home for a minimum of five years upon its completion.

The amount of the fee and the public improvement that the fee will be used to finance (Government Code Section 66006(f)); and

Notification that the 90 day approval period in which the applicant may protest has begun (Government Code Section 66020(d)).

The revenues from each capital facilities fee paid under this chapter shall be distributed as directed by the City Council.

Fee revenues shall only be used to fund the following projects in the capital facilities fee account and the City administrative costs incurred in collecting, depositing, distributing and otherwise administering such fee revenues and updating the technical report:

Fund new residential development's share of the costs of the construction or installation of the capital facilities and improvements specified in Section 18.105.150(A) as funds are available or to reimburse the City for such construction or installation if funds were advanced by the City from other sources to pay new development's share of such costs; or

Fund reimbursement, under the terms set forth in Section 18.105.170; or

Fund loans or transfers made in conformance with Government Code Section 66006(b)(1)(G).

As may be authorized by resolution of the City Council, following review and written report from City staff, capital facilities fee revenues may be used to reimburse a developer, upon his or her written request, under this section. A developer must obtain Council approval for reimbursement, by resolution, before any offer of dedication and before any construction begins for a public improvement which may be the subject of a reimbursement request. Reimbursement shall only be approved by the City Council where all of the following four conditions are satisfied:

Reimbursements shall not be authorized if the value of the constructed and dedicated improvement is below the total capital facilities fee liability of the project. Reimbursements for oversizing shall not be available as fee credits against a development's fee liability, except as provided in Section 18.105.030.

Reimbursements for oversizing shall include appropriate financing charges (interest) which shall be based upon the rate at which the City can borrow money at the time the reimbursement is approved by the City Council. Financing charges included in any reimbursement payments to a developer or property owner shall not exceed this interest rate, as calculated by the City's Chief Financial Officer.

In the case of City Council approval of reimbursement, the reimbursement amount will be based on the most current estimate of the infrastructure item, as defined by annual cost review or other recent evaluation of cost, regardless of the actual cost to construct the facility.

A park facilities fee ("the fee") is established to pay for municipally-owned park and recreation facilities.

The City Council shall, in a Council resolution adopted after a duly noticed public hearing, set forth the amount of the fee, describe the benefit and impact area on which the fee is imposed, set forth the municipally owned public facilities to be financed with the revenue from the fee, describe the estimated cost of those facilities, and describe the reasonable relationship between the fee and the various types of future developments and set forth the time for payment of the fee.

To pay for land acquisition for the public facilities designated in the Council resolution and reasonable costs of outside consultant studies related thereto;

To reimburse developers who have dedicated land for such public facilities.