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In addition to temporarily suspending certain impact fees, the County has lured a consultant to update the current impact fee schedule and address various impact fee issues raised by the Board, including fee reduction alternatives. At this time, the conclusion of the fee schedule update process is still several months away. Therefore, unless the three impact fee suspension is extended, the suspension will end before the new fee schedule is adopted. On February 4, 2014, the Board directed staff to advertise for a public hearing to extend the current suspension of three impact fees for an additional one year, from April 1, 2014 until March 31, 2015 or until the current impact fee review is completed and a new impact fee schedule is approved and becomes effective, whichever occurs first (see attachment41). Pursuant to the county's ordinance adoption procedures, staff advertised for an impact fee suspension public hearing to be held on March 11, 2014. Besides advertising for the public hearing, staff also prepared a draft impact fee suspension ordinance and provided the municipalities with thirty day notice of the hearing. A copy of the draft ordinance is attached to this staff report. The Board is now to consider adoption of an ordinance to temporarily suspend three impact fees for one year, or until the current impact fee review is completed and a new impact fee schedule is approved and becomes effective, whichever occurs first. ANALYSIS As of this time, the county's impact fee suspension has been in effect for five years. During that time, the number of single family building permits applied for declined in the first suspension period and then remained the same until the last two suspension periods which increased significantly, mainly due to improving economic conditions. The amount of commercial building permits decreased compared to the period prior to the suspension. While the extension of the impact fee suspension will result in additional unrealized revenues, the anticipated revenue loss will not be substantial due to slow to moderate pace of development that the county is currently experiencing. Further, this loss of revenue will not have a substantial adverse effect on the county's ability to fund capital needs in the three areas where impact fees are proposed for suspension (public buildings, correctional facilities, and solid waste facilities). Comparison of Selected Impact Fee Rates Before and After Suspension The table below shows current impact fee rates for selected land uses with no fees suspended and with the three fees suspended. Over the past few years, the suspended impact fees have resulted in lower impact fee payments for both residential and commercial projects. During the suspension periods, however. commercial projects fared better, with an average impact fee reduction of 23% to 34%, compared to an average of 6%reduction for residential projects. The reason for the difference between commercial and residential is that only 6 of the 9 impact fees imposed by the county apply to commercial projects, while all nine apply to residential projects. Since the three suspended impact fees all apply to both residential and commercial projects,the suspension resulted in commercial projects paying only three impact fees (Transportation, Fire[EMS, and Law Enforcement), while residential projects paid six impact fees. 2 95