Florida Senate - 2018              PROPOSED COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
       Bill No. CS for SB 324
       
       
       
       
       
                               Ì841860&Î841860                          
       
       576-02569-18                                                    
       Proposed Committee Substitute by the Committee on Appropriations
       (Appropriations Subcommittee on Finance and Tax)
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to impact fees; amending s. 163.31801,
    3         F.S.; revising the minimum requirements for impact
    4         fees; prohibiting the application of impact fee
    5         provisions to water and sewer connection fees;
    6         amending s. 163.3245, F.S.; prohibiting local
    7         governments from requiring certain conditions in
    8         development orders, except under certain conditions;
    9         specifying the process for the local government review
   10         and approval of detailed specific area plans or
   11         related development orders; providing an effective
   12         date.
   13          
   14  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   15  
   16         Section 1. Section 163.31801, Florida Statutes, is amended
   17  to read:
   18         163.31801 Impact fees; short title; intent; minimum
   19  requirements; audits; challenges definitions; ordinances levying
   20  impact fees.—
   21         (1) This section may be cited as the “Florida Impact Fee
   22  Act.”
   23         (2) The Legislature finds that impact fees are an important
   24  source of revenue for a local government to use in funding the
   25  infrastructure necessitated by new growth. The Legislature
   26  further finds that impact fees are an outgrowth of the home rule
   27  power of a local government to provide certain services within
   28  its jurisdiction. Due to the growth of impact fee collections
   29  and local governments’ reliance on impact fees, it is the intent
   30  of the Legislature to ensure that, when a county or municipality
   31  adopts an impact fee by ordinance or a special district adopts
   32  an impact fee by resolution, the governing authority complies
   33  with this section.
   34         (3) At a minimum, impact fees An impact fee adopted by
   35  ordinance of a county or municipality or by resolution of a
   36  special district must, at minimum satisfy the following
   37  conditions:
   38         (a) Require that The calculation of the impact fees must
   39  fee be based on the most recent and localized data.
   40         (b) The local government must provide for accounting and
   41  reporting of impact fee collections and expenditures. If a local
   42  governmental entity imposes an impact fee to address its
   43  infrastructure needs, the entity shall account for the revenues
   44  and expenditures of such impact fee in a separate accounting
   45  fund.
   46         (c) Limit Administrative charges for the collection of
   47  impact fees must be limited to actual costs.
   48         (d) Require that Notice must be provided no less than 90
   49  days before the effective date of an ordinance or resolution
   50  imposing a new or increased impact fees fee. A county or
   51  municipality is not required to wait 90 days to decrease,
   52  suspend, or eliminate an impact fees fee.
   53         (e) Collection of the impact fees may not occur earlier
   54  than the issuance of the building permit for the property that
   55  is subject to the fee.
   56         (f)The impact fee must be reasonably connected to, or have
   57  a rational nexus with, the need for additional capital
   58  facilities and the increased impact generated by the new
   59  residential or commercial construction.
   60         (g)The impact fee must be reasonably connected to, or have
   61  a rational nexus with, the expenditures of the funds collected
   62  and the benefits accruing to the new residential or commercial
   63  construction.
   64         (h)The local government must specifically earmark funds
   65  collected by the impact fees for use in acquiring capital
   66  facilities to benefit the new residents.
   67         (i)The collection or expenditure of the impact fee
   68  revenues may not be used, in whole or part, to pay existing debt
   69  or be used for prior approved projects unless the expenditure is
   70  reasonably connected to, or has a rational nexus with, the
   71  increased impact generated by the new residential or commercial
   72  construction.
   73         (4) Audits of financial statements of local governmental
   74  entities and district school boards which are performed by a
   75  certified public accountant pursuant to s. 218.39 and submitted
   76  to the Auditor General must include an affidavit signed by the
   77  chief financial officer of the local governmental entity or
   78  district school board stating that the local governmental entity
   79  or district school board has complied with this section.
   80         (5) In any action challenging an impact fee, the government
   81  has the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence
   82  that the imposition or amount of the fee meets the requirements
   83  of state legal precedent or this section. The court may not use
   84  a deferential standard.
   85         (6)This section does not apply to water and sewer
   86  connection fees.
   87         Section 2. Paragraph (b) of subsection (3) and subsection
   88  (4) of section 163.3245, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   89         163.3245 Sector plans.—
   90         (3) Sector planning encompasses two levels: adoption
   91  pursuant to s. 163.3184 of a long-term master plan for the
   92  entire planning area as part of the comprehensive plan, and
   93  adoption by local development order of two or more detailed
   94  specific area plans that implement the long-term master plan and
   95  within which s. 380.06 is waived.
   96         (b)1. In addition to the other requirements of this
   97  chapter, except for those that are inconsistent with or
   98  superseded by the planning standards of this paragraph, the
   99  detailed specific area plans must shall be consistent with the
  100  long-term master plan and must include conditions and
  101  commitments that provide for:
  102         a.1. Development or conservation of an area of at least
  103  1,000 acres consistent with the long-term master plan. The local
  104  government may approve detailed specific area plans of less than
  105  1,000 acres based on local circumstances if it is determined
  106  that the detailed specific area plan furthers the purposes of
  107  this part and part I of chapter 380.
  108         b.2. Detailed identification and analysis of the maximum
  109  and minimum densities and intensities of use and the
  110  distribution, extent, and location of future land uses.
  111         c.3. Detailed identification of water resource development
  112  and water supply development projects and related infrastructure
  113  and water conservation measures to address water needs of
  114  development in the detailed specific area plan.
  115         d.4. Detailed identification of the transportation
  116  facilities to serve the future land uses in the detailed
  117  specific area plan.
  118         e.5. Detailed identification of other regionally
  119  significant public facilities, including public facilities
  120  outside the jurisdiction of the host local government, impacts
  121  of future land uses on those facilities, and required
  122  improvements consistent with the long-term master plan.
  123         f.6. Public facilities necessary to serve development in
  124  the detailed specific area plan, including developer
  125  contributions in a 5-year capital improvement schedule of the
  126  affected local government.
  127         g.7. Detailed analysis and identification of specific
  128  measures to ensure the protection and, as appropriate,
  129  restoration and management of lands within the boundary of the
  130  detailed specific area plan identified for permanent
  131  preservation through recordation of conservation easements
  132  consistent with s. 704.06, which easements shall be effective
  133  before or concurrent with the effective date of the detailed
  134  specific area plan and other important resources both within and
  135  outside the host jurisdiction. Any such conservation easement
  136  may be based on digital orthophotography prepared by a surveyor
  137  and mapper licensed under chapter 472 and may include a right of
  138  adjustment authorizing the grantor to modify portions of the
  139  area protected by a conservation easement and substitute other
  140  lands in their place if the lands to be substituted contain no
  141  less gross acreage than the lands to be removed; have equivalent
  142  values in the proportion and quality of wetlands, uplands, and
  143  wildlife habitat; and are contiguous to other lands protected by
  144  the conservation easement. Substitution is accomplished by
  145  recording an amendment to the conservation easement as accepted
  146  by and with the consent of the grantee, and which consent may
  147  not be unreasonably withheld.
  148         h.8. Detailed principles and guidelines addressing the
  149  urban form and the interrelationships of future land uses;
  150  achieving a more clean, healthy environment; limiting urban
  151  sprawl; providing a range of housing types; protecting wildlife
  152  and natural areas; advancing the efficient use of land and other
  153  resources; creating quality communities of a design that
  154  promotes travel by multiple transportation modes; and enhancing
  155  the prospects for the creation of jobs.
  156         i.9. Identification of specific procedures to facilitate
  157  intergovernmental coordination to address extrajurisdictional
  158  impacts from the detailed specific area plan.
  159         2. A detailed specific area plan adopted by local
  160  development order pursuant to this section may be based upon a
  161  planning period longer than the generally applicable planning
  162  period of the local comprehensive plan and shall specify the
  163  projected population within the specific planning area during
  164  the chosen planning period. A detailed specific area plan
  165  adopted pursuant to this section is not required to demonstrate
  166  need based upon projected population growth or on any other
  167  basis. All lands identified in the long-term master plan for
  168  permanent preservation shall be subject to a recorded
  169  conservation easement consistent with s. 704.06 before or
  170  concurrent with the effective date of the final detailed
  171  specific area plan to be approved within the planning area. Any
  172  such conservation easement may be based on digital
  173  orthophotography prepared by a surveyor and mapper licensed
  174  under chapter 472 and may include a right of adjustment
  175  authorizing the grantor to modify portions of the area protected
  176  by a conservation easement and substitute other lands in their
  177  place if the lands to be substituted contain no less gross
  178  acreage than the lands to be removed; have equivalent values in
  179  the proportion and quality of wetlands, uplands, and wildlife
  180  habitat; and are contiguous to other lands protected by the
  181  conservation easement. Substitution is accomplished by recording
  182  an amendment to the conservation easement as accepted by and
  183  with the consent of the grantee, and which consent may not be
  184  unreasonably withheld.
  185         3.In adopting a detailed specific area plan or related
  186  development order, a local government may not include or impose
  187  as a development order condition a requirement that a developer
  188  contribute or pay for land acquisition or construction or
  189  expansion of public facilities, or portions thereof, unless the
  190  local government has enacted a local ordinance that requires
  191  developers of other developments not within a sector planning
  192  area to contribute a proportionate share of the funds, land, or
  193  public facilities necessary to accommodate any impacts having a
  194  rational nexus to the proposed development. When allowed under
  195  this section, the obligation to fund or construct new facilities
  196  or add to the present system of public facilities must have an
  197  essential nexus and be roughly proportionate to the proposed
  198  development.
  199         4.Within 30 days of receipt of an application for approval
  200  of a detailed specific area plan or related development order, a
  201  local government must review the application for completeness
  202  and issue a letter either indicating that all required
  203  information has been submitted or specifying, with
  204  particularity, any areas that are deficient. If the application
  205  is found to be deficient, the applicant must address the
  206  deficiencies within 30 days after receiving notice of the
  207  deficiencies by submitting the required additional information.
  208  The local government must approve, approve with conditions, or
  209  deny the application for the detailed specific area plan within
  210  90 days after receipt of the initial or supplemental submission,
  211  whichever is later, unless the deadline is waived in writing by
  212  the applicant. An approval or denial of the application for
  213  approval of a detailed specific area plan or related development
  214  order must include written findings supporting the local
  215  government decision.
  216         (4) Upon the long-term master plan becoming legally
  217  effective:
  218         (a) Any long-range transportation plan developed by a
  219  metropolitan planning organization pursuant to s. 339.175(7)
  220  must be consistent, to the maximum extent feasible, with the
  221  long-term master plan, including, but not limited to, the
  222  projected population and the approved uses and densities and
  223  intensities of use and their distribution within the planning
  224  area. The transportation facilities identified in adopted plans
  225  pursuant to subparagraph (3)(a)3. and sub-subparagraph
  226  (3)(b)1.d. subparagraphs (3)(a)3. and (b)4. must be developed in
  227  coordination with the adopted M.P.O. long-range transportation
  228  plan.
  229         (b) The water needs, sources and water resource
  230  development, and water supply development projects identified in
  231  adopted plans pursuant to subparagraph (3)(a)2. and sub
  232  subparagraph (3)(b)1.d. must subparagraphs (3)(a)2. and (b)3.
  233  shall be incorporated into the applicable district and regional
  234  water supply plans adopted in accordance with ss. 373.036 and
  235  373.709. Accordingly, and notwithstanding the permit durations
  236  stated in s. 373.236, an applicant may request and the
  237  applicable district may issue consumptive use permits for
  238  durations commensurate with the long-term master plan or
  239  detailed specific area plan, considering the ability of the
  240  master plan area to contribute to regional water supply
  241  availability and the need to maximize reasonable-beneficial use
  242  of the water resource. The permitting criteria in s. 373.223
  243  shall be applied based upon the projected population and the
  244  approved densities and intensities of use and their distribution
  245  in the long-term master plan; however, the allocation of the
  246  water may be phased over the permit duration to correspond to
  247  actual projected needs. This paragraph does not supersede the
  248  public interest test set forth in s. 373.223.
  249         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2018.