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facilities, and public buildings, and capacity charges fund expansion of the county's regional water and sewer system. Because those fees are based on fairshare payments by the people benefiting from the capital improvements, impact fees and utility capacity charges cannot be waived or reduced for any individual group or category of construction. On the other hand, those fees increase the cost of housing and put a burden on the production of affordable housing projects. To lessen the impact of those fees on affordable housing projects, the cost of impact fees may be paid by other funding sources. Waiving impact fees does not eliminate the cost of the infrastructure that the impact fees are designed to pay for. Either new development or existing residents must pay the cost of needed infrastructure improvements. If new development, which puts additional demand on county facilities, does not pay its fair share of infrastructure cost through impact fees, then existing residents will have to pay those costs through higher fees or taxes. While waiving or reducing impact fees without a justifiable subsidy is not legal, impact fees for affordable units may be paid from other funding sources. Consistent with that allowance, the county provides impact fee loans and grants to extremely low, very low, and moderate income households thorough the SHIP program. In the past, the county has provided impact fee grants and loans to eligible households as part of several CDBG neighborhood revitalization and housing projects. Also, the county provides impact fee loans associated with new home construction to all Habitat for Humanity clients. In addition, the county provides impact fee grants and loans to eligible individuals needing to connect to the county water or sewer system. Overall, the county has provided many SHIP impact fee grants/loans to eligible households. Since this program has been successful, the county should keep its SHIP Program impact fee assistance strategy for income qualified households. Since 2009 the county has suspended payment of several impact fees, thus reducing impact fee costs for new developments and new housing units. 2013/2014 impact fee study has also revised and reduced many impact fees. RECOMENDATION: The county should maintain Housing Element Policy 4.3 and Policy 4.4, regarding financing of impact fees, payment of impact fees, and payment of water and wastewater capacity charges for income eligible households through SHIP funds. ' BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ACTION: Board of County Commissioners Approval of the AHAC Recommendation Yes [J] No ❑ F:\Community Development\SHIP\AHAC\AHAC 2014\AHAC 2014 report.doc 8 53