Laserfiche WebLink
Indian River County I Impact Fee Update Study <br /> capacity expansion projects. In other words, case law requires that the new development <br /> should not be charged twice for the same service. <br /> Legal Standard Overview <br /> In Florida, legal requirements related to impact fees have primarily been established <br /> through case law since the 1980's. Generally speaking, impact fees must comply with the <br /> "dual rational nexus" test, which requires that they: <br /> • Be supported by a study demonstrating that the fees are proportionate in amount to <br /> the need created by new development paying the fee; and <br /> • Be spent in a manner that directs a proportionate benefit to new development, <br /> typically accomplished through a list of capacity-adding projects included in the <br /> County's Capital Improvement Plan, Capital Improvement Element, or another <br /> planning document/Master Plan. <br /> In 2006, the Florida legislature passed the "Florida Impact Fee Act," which recognized <br /> impact fees as "an outgrowth of home rule power of a local government to provide certain <br /> services within its jurisdiction." § 163.31801(2), Fla. Stat. The statute — concerned with <br /> mostly procedural and methodological limitations — did not expressly allow or disallow any <br /> particular public facility type from being funded with impact fees. The Act did specify <br /> procedural and methodological prerequisites, most of which were common to the practice <br /> already. <br /> More recent legislation further affected the impact fee framework in Florida, including the <br /> following: <br /> • HB 227 in 2009: The Florida legislation statutorily clarified that in any action <br /> challenging an impact fee, the government has the burden of proving by a <br /> preponderance of the evidence that the imposition or amount of the fee meets the <br /> requirements of state legal precedent or the Impact Fee Act and that the court may <br /> not use a deferential standard. <br /> • SB 360 in 2009: Allowed fees to be decreased without the 90-day notice period <br /> required to increase the fees and purported to change the standard of legal review <br /> associated with impact fees. SB 360 also required the Florida Department of <br /> Community Affairs (now the Department of Economic Opportunity) and Florida <br /> Tindale-Oliver&Associates, Inc. Indian River County <br /> September 2014 3 Impact Fee Update Study <br />